President's Message

Well, it is time for my “swan song” President’s Message.  It is hard to believe that it has almost been a year, but time sure has flown by this year.

Unlike my first term as FSMS President, this year has been a walk in the park.  Yes, we faced the recurring efforts to whittle down our mandatory education requirements for licensure at the start of my present term, but we worked hard on that issue (kudos to David Daniel & Jack Breed) to make it not happen, and then were gifted when a certain legislator decided not to return to office.  We have learned that this former legislator has tried to get a (any) current legislator to sponsor the same legislation for the upcoming legislative session but could not find a current legislator to agree to do so.  Times are good.

The only other possible detriment to my current term is when Tom Steckler retired as our Executive Director, but I have to say that the Society has not missed a beat with Rebecca Porter (her new married name) now in the position.  She has done wonders in her new role.  Not surprising, but definitely gratifying.  One of the trepidations that we had with Rebecca leaving her former role as Education Director is finding a suitable replacement, but that trepidation was quelled when she hired Samantha (Sam) Hobbs as our new Education Director.  Sam is a welcome addition to the FSMS staff, which prior to my first term as President, was a virtual revolving door.  Our Communications Director (the one who hounds me to produce these messages) Justin Ortiz has been making great strides in increasing our social media presence and in modernizing our office AV capabilities which is oh so important in this post-Covid era.  And then there is Cathy (yes, my sister-in-law), who is actually our longest serving employee and helps round out the staff with her work in membership renewals and at our annual conference (yeah, I’m probably leaving out a few of her other tasks).  The end result that that our employees are an excellent fit for FSMS’ main goal, which is to help us help the profession (being a volunteer organization and all…).

I am so looking forward to the immediate future for our Society being led by Howard Ehmke (2023) and Rick Pryce (2024).  We have been hampered in pursuing legislation (e.g., Chapter 177 updating for new Datum) the last four years due the politics involved in having a Secretary of the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (DoACS) who was not of the same political persuasion as the rest of the Cabinet and most of the legislature.  That will change next year.

This year, we have gotten the ball rolling with the creation of our Workforce Development Committee.  Another great point of 2022 is that we were able to secure recurring legislative funding for the UF Geomatics program (kudos to David Daniel and Jack Breed), and this funding includes the hiring of a new UF Faculty member who will be assisting us in our Workforce Development initiatives (the position has been advertised).  Allen Nobles will be the 2023 Chair of this committee (I will be Vice-Chair), so I am definitely looking forward to working with Allen and the rest of the committee in helping our members with workforce staffing and training.

Finally, I want to thank all members for allowing me to continue my service to the profession through FSMS*.  This year marks 25 years of my being on the FSMS Board of Directors.  I have seen good times and I have sure seen some bad times in those 25 years.  I have made numerous lifelong friends and a few lifelong adversaries.  I have been ridiculed.  I have survived several (obviously unsuccessful) attempts to have me kicked out of the Society.  I cannot recall how many times in Board meetings I heard: “I hate to admit it, but I agree with Lou”, or “You know what, Lou is right” as if believing the same as me was some sort of affliction.  I have withstood it all.  Some have said it is because I do not care what others think of me, but I assure you that is not the case.  I am resolute in my beliefs and am staunchly determined to see them through.  And now what I see is the Florida Surveying and Mapping Society at its strongest and admired by our peers throughout this country as one of the preeminent societies representing the Surveying and Mapping profession.  Obviously, I am not solely responsible for this, but FSMS thankfully has many like-minded members who have worked long and hard for what we now have.  Many thanks to those who have helped.  You know who you are.  The train is back on the tracks.  What I and others had to do is done, hopefully never needing to be repeated**.

* Most especially the members of the Miami-Dade Chapter who determinedly elected and then reelected me to the FSMS Board as District 7 Director (17 of my 25 years).  Eternal gratitudes.

** So much for a “swan song”, but I am more than certain that I have earned the right to sing it.

NLTBW

Previous 2022 Messages
January 2022
February 2022
March 2022
April 2022
May 2022
June 2022
July/August 2022
September 2022
October 2022
November 2022