January February 2018

4 The Oregon Surveyor | Vol. 41, No. 1 From the PLSO Chairman Pat Gaylord, PLS Chairman of the Board MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIRMAN Rebranding and strategic planning are a part of our overall goal to give a clear message to potential members about our value to the profession. T hank you for the opportunity to serve as your 2018 PLSO Chair. It’s truly an honor to be able to work for you and to follow in the footsteps of Dave Williams. Dave and I worked hard on your behalf last year to honor our mis- sion statement and yet steer PLSO in a slightly new direction. This includes the rebranding effort which has been widely discussed throughout last year, but more on that later. We just kicked off 2018 with another great conference in Salemwhere we enjoyed a great program and raised nearly $30,000 for our scholarship and outreach efforts! Wow! On top of that, we recognized Lee Spurgeon as Surveyor of the Year. I can’t think of a person worthier to receive the honor this year. Lee’s ongoing contribu- tions to PLSO have spanned many years and benefitted this organization imme- nsely. In 2017, Lee was instrumental in preparing the Amicus Brief that PLSO sub- mitted to the Oregon Supreme Court last year in the matter of Bailey vs Parker. The intent was tohelp the court understand the potential impacts of a lower court decision in southern Oregon. The court accepted the brief we submitted, but ultimately did not take the case. It is still considered a success because the case did not move forward to create legal precedent. Also, in 2017, Lee has been an active member of the rebranding task force and has contin- ued hismany efforts to support mentoring and developing the PLSO ride-along pro- gram. Congratulations, Lee! For 2018, I hope to continue DaveWilliams efforts to raise the bar of professionalism throughout PLSO and our profession here in Oregon. With the support of our Board of Directors, we will continue to put the finishing touches on the first stages of the rebranding effort and to set the stage for an update of our Strategic Plan in late 2018 or early 2019. The PLSO Strategic Plan was first created nearly 20-years ago and it served the organization and many chairs before me very well. Of course, over a 20-year period the face of our or- ganization has changed, technology has changed and the youth we hope to en- courage to follow in our footsteps find their information very differently than they used to. All of those things combine to bring forth the need for changing our image and resetting our goals. Boy has the face of the organization changed. Since 2006, when I was the PLSO Chair the first time, our membership num- bers have declined by roughly half. We have demonstrated time and again that due to retirements and other factors our membership is declining. The trend will continue unless we do something differ- ent to bring new people into PLSO and the profession. Rebranding and strategic planning are a part of our overall goal to give a clearmessage to potential members about our value to the profession. That can be a tricky message to convey since every person wants something slightly different from their membership dollars. First and foremost, I can say that I find the relation- ships I have developed as a member of PLSO to be the most valuable thing I have gained. This includes friendshipswithmany people around the state, mentoring from other surveyors who have already solved similar problems and comradery that comes from things like the annual confer- ence. Additionally, we have an unending number of learning opportunities at our annual conference and chapter meetings if you choose to take advantage of them. I hope many of you feel the same because my final goal for the year is to grow PLSO’s membership by at least five percent. That will take an effort from all of us to pick up the phone and invite someone to a meet- ing or to tell themabout the opportunities to improve themselves, their employees and their businesses through an affilia- tion with PLSO.