January 2006

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Upcoming ACSM-IPLSA-MSPS Conference and Technology Exhibition:

Meet Me in St. Louis, the 2007 ACSM-IPLSA-MSPS Conference and Technology Exhibition, March 9–12, 2007 at the America’s Center in downtown St. Louis, Missouri.  For additions and changes to the conference agenda please see the Conference and Seminars page.

IPLSA will hold its annual meeting (short version) during the annual banquet on Friday, March 9, 2007.

National Museum of Surveying

The Board of Trustees of the Michigan Society of Professional Surveying Foundation voted unanimously at its December 12, 2006 meeting, and was affirmed by the Michigan Society of Surveyors on January 4, 2007 to move the Museum of Surveying from Lansing, Michigan to Springfield, Illinois.  They further approved the formation of a new foundation to govern the museum and to officially name it the National Museum of Surveying.

A building is being purchased on the north side of the square in downtown Springfield, across the street from the Old State Capital where Abraham Lincoln served as a State Representative and a block away for the recently opened Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum (ALPLM).  

Why Springfield?

• Abraham Lincoln’s Surveying Career
• Centrally located in the United States
• Intersection of two major interstates
• 32 addition historic sites
• 2.5 million site visitors per year
• Over 600,000 visitors to ALPLM the first year of operation
• 186,000 school motor coach visits per year
• $2 million in marketing Springfield to visitors
• $500,000 in marketing conventioneers to Springfield
• Distribution of 600,000 visitor guides all over the world
• Marketing of historic sites by:

Illinois Bureau of Tourism,

Central Illinois Tourism Council

City of Springfield Convention and Tourism Office

IPLSA’s Role:
It will be important for the members of IPLSA to help support the National Museum of Surveying.  The museum was founded in 1989 by the Michigan Society of Professional Surveyors Foundation

Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation Land Surveyors Licensing Board Meets

On January 11, 2007 the IDFPR Land Surveyors Licensing Board met in Springfield.  The board was informed that the TOPO Standards were passed by the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules and should be published in the January 19, 2007 edition of the Illinois Register.  Watch the IPLSA website for further information.

M. David Brim, Design Professions Coordinator, informed the board that 1,361 land surveyor renewals were sent out by IDFPR this past fall. 1,248 PLS licenses had been renewed, which leaves 113 not renewed.  Those not renewed will go on inactive status on February 1, 2007.  Brim also reported that 4 waivers had been requested.  The board was to review the waiver requests in closed session later in the meeting.

The board received a letter from Dianne Kay Slattery, P.E., C.P.C. the Associate Professor and Chair of the Southern Illinois University Edwardsville Department of Construction.  The letter was a request for the board’s approval of the proposed Land Surveying Specialization in Construction the Management program being developed at SIUE.  The board will consider the request.

No action was taken on adding legal descriptions to the Administrative Rules of the Illinois Professional Land Surveyors Act. A sub-committee of the board is drafting the proposed Legal Description Rules.

Design Professionals Successful in 2006 Veto Session of the Illinois General Assembly

Background: Since 1987, the Local Government Professional Services Selection Act has governed how design professionals i.e. architects, engineers and land surveyors are hired to design public projects for local governments.  As a result of a November 2006 court ruling effectively gutting the law, more than 30,000 licensed members of the Illinois Design Professionals were in jeopardy of prosecution or losing untold business opportunities while the true intent of the law is in question.   

As a result of the court ruling Illinois Deign Professionals believed a legislative remedy was urgently needed to clarify how they are hired by local government.  By the time we realized we needed legislation to correct the problem, the Ninety-Fourth Regular Session of the General Assembly had adjourned and our only option was to wait for the Ninety-Fifth Session or to try to pass legislation in the Fall Veto Session of the Ninety-Fourth Illinois General Assembly – not an easy feat for many reasons, one was that no new legislation could be introduced during the veto session.

Fortunately, we found an existing bill we could use to carry our proposed legislation, which was added in a form of an amendment to Senate Bill 1453.  The amendment read Amend Senate Bill 1453 on page 1, line 19 by inserting after the period the following: In no case shall a political subdivision, prior to selecting a firm under Section 7, seek formal or informal submission of verbal or written estimates of cost or proposal in terms of dollar, hours required, percentage of construction cost or any other measure of compensation.

In order to convince the legislature about the merits of our proposal, we decided to make a list of talking points and questions that legislators might ask.  Because of the shortness of the Veto Session (not even two weeks), we divided the list of legislators and assigned members of our Design Professional’s team to contact them. This one-on-one contact was crucial to the bill’s eventual success.

Our bill was heard by the Executive Committee of the Illinois House of Representatives on November 14, 2006 just days after the negative court ruling.  The College of DuPage and the Illinois Municipals League put up a strong vocal fight and managed to garner some opposing votes.  During the House floor debate, which lasted over an hour, the bill’s sponsor Representative David Miller did a tremendous job fighting off strong opposition, who were putting out misinformation that greatly, confused the issue.  We needed an extra-majority vote of 71 yeas for an immediate effective date (above the usual 60 votes) and won with 86 yeas, 23 nays and 6 voted present.  It was a solid success.

After passage in the House the bill went to the Senate.  At first there were problems since the Senate Rules Committee didn’t release our bill. But, with the help of key design professionals who again lobbied lawmakers, the Rules Committee granted emergency status to our bill, allowing it to proceed.  Three hours later, we were in a Senate Committee Hearing, where once again the debate lasted over an hour.

This time, the Community College Trustees Association and the School Board Association joined the Illinois Municipals League in strongly opposing our bill.  Despite attempts to delay the bill until January and force a compromise with the opponents, the bill passed out of the committee with no votes to spare.  The bill’s sponsor Senator Jeff Schoenburg understands procurement issues better that most legislators, and spoke expertly on the pitfalls of price bidding design services, both in Committee and on the Senate floor the next day.  The bill passed the Senate on a 45-5-2 roll call vote, which was a tremendous victory in the face of strong opposition.

This experience provides members and lobbyists several lessons as David E. Kennedy, Executive Director of the American Council of Engineering Companies of Illinois pointed out:

• Do not underestimate your influence with legislators.

• Develop a relationship with your legislators before having to contact them on an issue, just as you would a prospective client.

• Stand-up for your profession and oppose those who would circumvent or change QBS.

• Appreciate and nurture your friendships and allies, as coalitions are the way to legislate success.

•  Trust your association. Its leadership, and trust your members; we make a great team.

 
Editor’s note:  I wish that I could take the major credit for getting SB 1453 passed, but I can’t.  What I learned from this experience is that being a part-time lobbyist is not the way to be effective in dealing with the legislature. It was the leadership of the other Design Professionals and their full-time lobbyists that worked together for this tremendous victory. I, along with all IPLSA members owe these association professionals a great deal of gratitude for their hard work and dedication to our profession.  Bob Church.

New Lincoln Documents Found

The October – December 2006 quarterly newsletter of the Papers of Abraham Lincoln, published by the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, Lincoln Editor reported that seventeen new cases, in which Abraham Lincoln was involved, were recently discovered.  The previously unknown cases were part of an auction of a collection of Henry E. Luhrs.

Several of the cases had to do with land issues. Lincoln’s surveying career provided him the knowledge to understand the cases.  The land issues were as follows:

Champaign County Circuit Court, White v. Rankin & Wiley, Debt, 1856. John P. White contracted with John T. Rankin and James Wiley to build a home on a lot in Urbana, IL. and to convey to him the deed to the property.  Rankin and Wiley apparently failed to meet the terms of the agreement, and White sued them for a $2,400 debt.  Rankin retained the services of Lincoln who presented evidence that the house was complete and that Rankin was prepared to convey the property.  White later dismissed the case.

Edgar County Circuit Court, Baber v. Woodward, Ejectment, 1850-1851.  Andrew J. Baber sued Moses Woodward had allegedly ejected him from land that Baber rightfully owned.  The court ruled that Baber was the land owner and had allowed Woodward possession for one year, time enough to remove his personal property from the premises.  Lincoln wrote the court’s final order.

Sangamon County Circuit Court, Canfield v. Short, Conveyance, 1856-1890, Charles W. Canfield entered into a contract to purchase 125 acres at $20 an acre from Joshua W. Short.  After Short refused to convey the property, Canfield sued him to obtain a court order for conveyance.  Short retained Lincoln & Herndon, who presented evidence that Canfield had not paid for the land according to the contract.  Canfield later dismissed the case.

Stevens v. Stevens, Dower, 1839 – 1840, When Samuel H. Stevens died in April 1839, he owned 861 acres of land in Sangamon County, Illinois.  Steven’s widow, Lucette Stevens his son and only heir, Phineas Stevens, asking the court to assign her dower.  Since Phineas Stevens was a minor, the court assigned a guardian ad litem to safeguard his interests.  The guardian ad litem did not contest the petition for dower.  Lincoln wrote the final court decree, which ordered three commissioners to assign the dower and convey the property to Lucette Stevens.