October 2019

Greetings to all my friends and colleagues. I hope you are all doing well and enjoyed your summer. One definite thing we can all be grateful for is no hurricanes this year so far.. hope I didn't just jinx it. :) 

I have been attending various Chapter meetings around the state over the last couple of months and I must say I am impressed by ALL of you.  The leadership is great and the participation of the members is wonderful. You should all be proud of yourselves and continue with the great work you are doing.

Last week I was pleased to be able to attend the National Society of Professional Surveyors Fall Meeting in Orlando. Attending both the Spring and Fall meetings this year has been a real eye-opener for me and am so grateful for the opportunity to represent Florida there as your FSMS President. Folks always ask "What does NSPS do for me?" and I can answer that question now more fully.

While most of us are working in "our own little world" (myself included) oblivious to things that could dramatically influence or impact our day to day work, there are "others" who watch out for our profession both locally here in Florida as well as on the national level. I attended the NSPS Government Affairs Committee meeting last Friday. They are monitoring no less than 20 legislative bills ranging being  derived from Appropriations to Commerce to Education to Homeland Security to Labor to Transportation to FCC and Department of the Interior. The range of topics is staggering and AFFECTS US ALL.

 We all know the inadequacies of the current NFIP program and FEMA Maps. This is something that NSPS has been working on legislatively for funding and supporting bills that get agencies to work together. This is just one example and there are so many more examples.

NSPS is working hard on their "Get Kids into Surveying" program. We all know both locally and nationally how important this is to the future of our profession. They have posters and programs that are available for the asking. This year they attended the American School Counselors Association national meeting. What an opportunity to get Geomatics (Surveying and Mapping) known to those that guide our young people into suitable professions.

Workforce Development is another area of critical importance to our profession. We are ALL facing the same problems across the country in finding solid technical staff for both field and office as well as dwindling numbers of people in pursuit of licensure. One avenue that most of us may not have considered are the pool of candidates coming out of the military, many who have surveying experience. There are programs that can assist you with finding these candidates and getting them on board before they are discharged. Many are so very grateful to have a job they can go straight into to support their families.

Trigstar is another program that is alive and well at NSPS. They have some great folks taking the lead in this area and were able to award a $5000 scholarship to a deserving candidate this year. The NSPS Foundation manages some 15 or so scholarship funds.

We all struggle with declining Membership at both the state and local chapter levels. NSPS can help with that. They have proven Membership Drive procedures that can be utilized at both levels to improve membership numbers. I will be bringing this to the attention of the State Membership Committee for their consideration.

I hope you see the benefit of being an NSPS member and I encourage you to get involved at that level. It is worth the effort.

"I know of no more encouraging fact than the unquestioned ability of a man to elevate his life by conscious endeavor." --Henry David Thoreau