Yup, me again.  Your eyes are not deceiving you.

At the start of my prior term as President, my biggest concern was having to prepare the President’s Messages each month.
Well, as it turned out, that was the least of my concerns, and I actually found these messages easy to prepare.

But things are different now, and I am back to fretting about having to prepare these monthly messages.  However, that is a good thing, as now, we are free to deal with new and exciting issues to continue to move things forward.

I want to thank Hal Peters for stewarding us through another COVID related year.  This year, we will be back to in-person meetings, and not just our Annual Meeting.  Zoom meetings were convenient, but face-to-face meetings are so much more productive.  If you have been on the FSMS Board or attended a Board meeting, you know exactly what I am talking about.  It’s not just the time spent in the actual Board meeting, but the in-person camaraderie shared between Board members and guests at, for example, our dinner the night before our Board meetings.

2022 begins my 24^th year as a FSMS Board member, and I can remember many great ideas sprouting from the totality of our Board meetings, not to forget our other Society related meetings, such as our Annual Meetings and Strategic Planning Retreats.

Speaking of Strategic Planning, this year we will resume our Strategic Planning Retreat after a two-year COVID related hiatus.  This year’s Retreat is scheduled for March 18-19, 2022, at the University of Florida’s Austin Cary Learning Center in the outskirts of Gainesville.  If you have not yet been there, it is an idyllic location in the woods.  This Retreat is open to all.  If you have an idea for the betterment of the Society, and more importantly, the profession, bring it!  If you have a professional issue that you want to bring to the Board, by all means, this is the venue for that.  Look for more information to follow in The Florida Surveyor and on the FSMS website. 

One challenge that we have had for the past few years, is that we will once again face legislation to change the way that PSM’s are licensed through dilution of our current 4-year degree requirement.  I realize that there are FSMS members that favor this change.  I, along with most Board members, do not, mostly because if our 4-year degree requirement were diluted, we (current licensees) will no longer be considered professionals (by prior ruling of the Florida Supreme Court that in order to be considered a profession, a 4-year degree requirement for licensure is mandated).  With the deregulation mindset of our Republican led Legislature, our “profession” may be deregulated, and I do not know any PSM who wants that.  Be careful what you wish for is an apropos statement.  The time is NOW to contribute to the FSMPAC, and to be a squeaky wheel with your local legislator(s).  None of us can afford to be deregulated.

Self-reflection:  See now, that wasn’t so tough.  Only 11 more to go…