PLSO The Oregon Surveyor May June 2020

Professional Land Surveyors of Oregon |  www.plso.org 27 OSBEELS T he vast majority of complaints OSBEELS receives are filed by the public. By law, the board is re- quired to review/consider all submitted complaints. Once a complaint is re- ceived, it is evaluated to determine what, if any, rules or statutes within OSBEELS’s jurisdiction may have been violated. The investigators themselves are not able to make a final determination on this matter, however, they will present the complaint to the Law Enforcement Com- mittee (LEC) for a preliminary review. If more information is needed, the investi- gator may notify the complainant with a deadline to provide clarification prior to submitting it to the LEC. The LEC meets every other month throughout the year on even-numbered months, with board meetings held in odd-numbered months. The LEC and staff investigators do not contact potential respondents (person the complaint is about) until after a complaint has been reviewed and determined to be substantial enough to open a case. The LEC has determined that if a submitted complaint does merit further investi- gation, then potential respondents do not need to be contacted until that de- termination has been made during a preliminary review. After review, if the LEC determines a complaint is insufficient or outside of OSBEELS’s jurisdiction, it will decline to open a case, and the complainant will be notified. If the LEC determines there is reason to move forward with a formal in- vestigation, the investigator will contact the respondent about responding to the allegations with relevant information. The complainant and respondent can communicate directly with the investi- gator at any time during this process to ask questions or request information. The investigator will not always contact the complainant during an investigation unless additional information is needed. The investigator will review all informa- tion provided by both the complainant and the respondent, and compile a case summary to be presented to the LEC, who then determines whether there has been a violation of statute and/or rule. After thorough review, if the LEC deter- mines that there was no misconduct on the part of the respondent, or that the issue is outside the scope of OSBEELS’s jurisdiction, the LEC may make a rec- ommendation to close the case. This recommendation then goes to the full board at its next meeting, who then de- cides whether to accept or reject the LEC’s recommendation. If the review reveals there has been a vi- olation, the LEC will propose disciplinary actions and direct the investigator to is- sue a Notice of Intent (NOI). A NOI is a legal document that summarizes the al- legations against the respondent, the proposed disciplinary actions from the committee, and provides options to dis- pute the NOI should the respondent disagreewith the allegations or disciplinary actions. The NOI is not a final order, and no action will be taken by the board at this time. NOIs are mailed to the respon- dent via certified mail, and respondents are given 21 days from the issuing of an NOI to respond. If the respondent fails to submit a response, or if the 21 days expires before the respondent has sub- mitted a response, OSBEELS will issue a Final Order by Default. If a respondent receives the NOI and disagrees with the allegations, they can request an informal conference with the LEC during a meeting. This is an oppor- tunity for the respondent to talk with the LEC about the issues identified in the NOI. The respondent can and should be ready to discuss why the allegations con- tained in the NOI are not accurate and/ or to negotiate terms for the proposed disciplinary actions. If no settlement is reached during the in- formal conference, the respondent’s right to a formal hearing with an Administra- tive Law Judge remains, and the case will proceed to hearing. OSBEELS is dedicated to investigating cas- es in an efficient and thorough manner, however, there is no set timeline for res- olution, as the nature and complexity of the allegations varies. Cases are typically handled in the order complaints are re- ceived, but the LEC has the discretion to assign certain cases higher priority if they deem it necessary.  x More detailed information about the com- plaint and investigation process is available on the OSBEELS website: • oregon.gov/osbeels/ rulesstatutes/Pages/ Rule-and- Statute-Enforcement.aspx • oregon.gov/osbeels/Documents/ Flowchart/20170912-LEC- ComplaintFlowChart.pdf Jason Barbee may be contacted directly for more information: [email protected] . The OSBEELS Board’s Investigation and Complaint Process In the Spring 2020 issue of the Oregon Examiner, OSBEELS’s new administrator, Jason Barbee, authored an article explaining the board’s investigation and complaint process. Our board member Tim Fassbender recommended we share it with PLSO, so we could share it with you. We have condensed the article for space.