March April 2018

4 The Oregon Surveyor | Vol. 41, No. 2 From the PLSO Chairman Pat Gaylord, PLS Chairman of the Board MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIRMAN Are you ready to get involved? The old adage, “Many hands make light work” is certainly true no matter what organization you belong to. B y the time you read this March will be in our rearview mirror, and so far its been a very busy year for PLSO. Your Board of Directors has been working hard on your behalf on topics including PLSO participation in West Fed, rebranding, legislation, and much more. Be sure to thank them for their dedica- tion on our behalf. Our lobbyist, Darrel Fuller, working to- gether with ACECOregon (American Coun- cil of Engineering Companies of Oregon) and other interested stakeholders, was successful in stalling the proposed revi- sions to Quaifications Based Selection (QBS) in this session of the legislature. This was an uphill battle on this bill and one that we were very lucky to have post- poned. Thank you, if you wrote a letter, sent an email, or made a phone call to assist with this effort. If you were unable to during this session, please consider getting involved during the next session to support PLSO’s efforts. This QBS bill, or one like it, will be back in 2019 and we have a lot of work to do to be ready for it. Speaking of work to do, as I type this let- ter, the PLSO rebranding effort continues with revisions to our brochures, trade show booth, and other collateral mate- rials underway. Your Rebranding Task Force will be weighing in on the new ma- terials and guiding the process as they have been for nearly a year now. In an effort to meet our goal of making PLSO relevant to all professionals in the State of Oregon, I attended the ODOT Surveyors Conference on March 13 and promoted the value that PLSO offers to all survey- ors and encouraged those in attendance to join the ranks of membership. Grow- ing membership demonstrating that our efforts are relevant and valuable tomem- bers will take efforts like this in order to entice those who are not members to come check us out. PLSO is stronger the more diverse we become, so be sure to invite a fellow surveyor to a chapter meeting. Better yet plan an engaging topic for a local Chapter meeting and then invite a fel- low surveyor and invite someone from another profession like a realtor, attor- ney or title person to join you and learn about what we do. Maybe eventually those other professions would like to become Special Members of PLSO to learn more about a profession they work with daily. In February, I attended the Western Re- gional Surveying Conference in Las Vegas. With the help of our NSPS Representa- tive, Bob Neathamer, I met with some surveyors from around the country at the NSPS meeting that was held during the conference. This was a great confer- ence with a large and diverse group of surveyors from several states. We have many of the same challenges facing us both on our day-to-day projects and as a profession. All the more reason to be a member of NSPS and why the ongoing discussion of PLSO’s West Fed participa- tion is a healthy one to ensure we are getting the most out of our limited re- sources. No matter what, national and regional voices are just as important as PLSO’s voice at the state and local lev- el. You have numerous people working on your behalf to make sure our voice is heard through West Fed, NSPS, and the Young Surveyors Network. Be sure to get involved in the discussion. Are you ready to get involved? The old adage, “Many hands make light work” is certainly true no matter what organi- zation you belong to. While I know we are all busy with work, family, and living life, carving out a few minutes or a few hours (a month) of your valuable time is important to the health of PLSO and our profession in Oregon. Giving back to your profession is part of what it means