From the President
Greetings to all, I hope this note finds you in good health and with a
back log of work. Some of you may be receiving this newsletter for the
first time, others may have received it in the past but have not
received it for a while. I have requested that this issue be sent to all
SC licensed surveyors whether you are a member of the SCSPLS or not.
First let me take a minute to say thank you to every person that has
stepped forward to serve as Board members, committee chairmen and
committee members in the past and to those who have agreed to serve this
coming year. Your service is greatly appreciated. Secondly, I would like
to personally thank each of you that attended the 2007 Convention/Trade
Show and especially those of you that helped with the Convention/Trade
Show. Also, thank you to each Vendor that participated and/or
contributed to the Convention/Trade Show.
Now I would like to formally invite each of you that are not current
members of the SCSPLS to join. This will be the best $150 you will spend
personally or professionally each year. Here are a few of the benefits
of membership: Upon Board membership approval, you will automatically
have $10,000 life insurance with AD&D and can purchase additional
amounts without medical evidence. The SCSPLS provides educational
seminars at several locations across the state at a lower cost to
members. We actively participate and support the national surveying
organization (NSPS) which looks after the surveying interest on a
national level. The society enables you to network your services to
other surveyors all across this state and some other states and
vice-versa. We are in direct contact with the Board of Registration on
all types of issues as they arise. We have hired a Lobbyist to watch out
for bills passing through the State House that would affect the
surveying profession and to help us work our issues through legislation,
which by the way is who basically controls our profession in one way or
another. This brings me to the main topic of my message, MEMBERSHIP! We
need your input at the local and state SCSPLS meetings. Give us your
comments and thoughts, we are your voice to the law makers. We need your
money to help run this organization and continue to provide our many
services to all surveyors, but most of all we need you in our
organization. When we go before local or state governmental
organizations, committees or commissions, and we are representing less
than 50% of the total number of licensed surveyors in this state, we
have no clout. Our voice is weak. But if we go before these groups with
85-90% of the South Carolina’s licensed surveyors, as members of our
organization, we carry a much stronger voice at the local and state
levels. I feel very strongly about this issue and encourage each of you
to become a SCSPLS member. It can only help you, your business and your
profession. This is our profession, we are the experts, if we don’t
manage it ourselves, someone else will! We can’t continue to let local
and state officials, pass and enact ordinances that affect our surveys,
plats and clients without getting our input. I hope with our increasing
numbers we can get some issues with county and state officials resolved.
It’s going to take a lot of work, but if we can urge others to join, our
voice will be heard.
Here are a few things that are going on this year that you should know
about. Our website is being upgraded and features are being added to
better serve you and make it easier to find information as well as
register for events. We now accept Visa and Master Card for payments of
any kind. We are beginning the updating of our “Minimum Standards
Manual”. This is going to be a big issue. It will now be called our
“Standards of Practice”. Get to a local chapter meeting and get
involved, we need everyone’s input. We have moved the 2008 “Trade Show”
from Myrtle Beach to the “Education Seminars” in Columbia, March 2008.
The Convention, Awards Banquet, General Membership meeting, Survey
games, golf outing and some educational opportunities will still be at
the Kingston Plantation for 2008. We are still coordinating these
events, more information will be made available at a later date. The
four year degree requirement is rapidly approaching (2010). This will be
addressed some time this year. The SC Board of Registration is working
on a project to help introduce and recruit students into the surveying
profession. This is going to be a busy year. We need members on
committees to help the Chairman. Chairman - delegate; your committee
will be a better committee. I would like to see a social at each General
Membership Meeting. Get the local chapters involved. We need more people
involved.
Finally, I would like to stress the membership issue one last time. The
profession needs you. We need your membership to make the SCSPLS
stronger. We must all join together to guide our profession and protect
it from being regulated from outside the profession. We need local
agencies to involve our organizations when making new ordinances that
affect our surveys, plats and clients and stop using our boundary plats
as hostages and as a way for them to enforce ordinances (this is for
another issue). The larger our membership, the louder our voice; the
louder our voice, the more people listen. The more people listen, the
stronger we are. Please join us. By the way, we have pretty darn good
time at the socials.
Thank you for your time. I’m looking forward to visiting as many
chapters as I possibly can during the year.
Bobby Foster
2007-08 SCSPLS President
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