Summer 2007

CONGRATULATIONS TO IPLSA HONORARY MEMBER WAYNE C. “DOC” TEMPLE

Dr. Wayne C. Temple, IPLSA Honorary Member and the longest-serving employee in the Secretary of State’s office, recently received a 40-year service award from Secretary of State and State Archivist Jesse White. Doc has served under nine Secretaries of State and as chief deputy director of the State Archives since 1979.  A noted Lincoln scholar, Doc has authored numerous articled and books about Lincoln and Illinois history.  Doc has and continues to be a friend of land surveyors all across Illinois. Congratulations Doc!  (Picture on front cover)

ILLINOIS DEPARTMENT OF FINANCIAL AND PROFESSIONAL REGULATION (IDFPR) COMPUTER BREACHED

A security breach occurred on a State of Illinois server, which contained personal data of about 300,000 licensees and applicants.  IDFPR says that the breach only pertained to real estate.

The breach occurred in January and was confirmed in May. Law enforcement officials asked IDFPR to delay notifying licensees and the General Assembly until the end of May so the notification would not interfere with the criminal investigation.

IDFPR said that there is no indication that the breach resulted in the theft of any personal information, which included addresses, tax numbers and Social Security numbers.

Advisory notices are being sent to licensees recommending that they place a fraud alert, which is free of charge on their credit files.  A fraud alert lets creditors know to contact you before opening new accounts.  To place a fraud alert on your credit files, contact one or all of the three credit reporting agencies at the numbers listed below.  You will then receive letters from the credit reporting agencies with instructions on how to get a free copy of your credit report.

Experian                              Equifax                                 TransUnion

1-888-379-3742                  1-800-525-6285                  1-800-680-7289

When you receive your credit reports, please look them over carefully looking for accounts that you did not open.  Also look for inquires from creditors that you did not initiate and for personal information that is not accurate.

If you find anything suspicious you should contact your local law enforcement officials.  If you have any questions please contact IDFPR at 1-800-532-8785.

IPLSA LOOKING FOR CANDIDATES TO SERVE ON THE IDFPR LAND SURVEYORS LICENSING BOARD

IPLSA is looking for PLSs to serve on the IDFPR Land Surveyors Licensing Board. Chapters are encouraged to submit names of candidates to the IPLSA office.  Nominees must meet the requirements outlined in 225 ILCS 330/7 Creation of the Board of the IPLS Act by residing in the State of Illinois, currently hold a valid PLS license in Illinois, held the PLSs license for under the Act for the previous 10 year period and have not been disciplined within the last 10 years.

Members of the Board serve a 5 year term and shall not be eligible for appointment to more than 2 consecutive 5 year terms.  Persons meeting the qualifications and who are interested in knowing more about serving as a member of the Board should contact the IPLSA Executive Director.

SIT, PLS, JURISDICTIONAL EXAMINATION REFRESHER COURSE OFFERED

A Refresher course for applicants to take the IDFPR Surveyor-In-Training examination, Professional Land Surveyor examination or the Jurisdictional examination will be held at the Days Inn in Springfield.  The 2-day SIT course will be held on Wednesday August 8^th and Thursday August 9^th.  The 2-day PLS course will be offered Friday August 10^th and Saturday, August 11^th.  The Jurisdictional course will be held Saturday August 11^th.  For more information contact IPLSA at mchurch245@aol.com or 217-498-8102 or download the form at the conference and seminars page.

BIG TURNOUT FOR IPLSA OFFICIAL BOARD OF DIRECTIONS MEETING

42 delegates attended the May 5^th IPLSA Official Board of Directions meeting making it the most attended in years.  IPLSA President Jim Rose is quoted as saying “it was great to see such a large turnout”.  Jim went on to say “this is how it is supposed to work.  Chapter delegates show up and become a part of the process.  They then go back to their chapter meetings and inform their chapter members of the results of the Board meeting”. 

QUESTIONABLE SEMINARS – WILL THEY COUNT?

Your IPLSA office receives calls and e-mails almost every week asking if a particular seminar will count toward the IPLS Act Professional Development requirements.  As most of you know the requirements do not offer pre-approval by IDFPR of topics.  IPLSA’s Education and Training Committee reviews and approves seminars offered by IPLSA.  With this in mind I would like to encourage members and non-members to consider IPLSA sponsored seminars first.  Not only are you assured that the topic will be approved, you are helping your association who puts the profits back into the profession.   

ACSM/NSPS UPDATE:

The ACMS/NSPS Government Affairs Update link has been added to the IPLSA page.  Go to the home page and click below the ACSM logo. For NSPS Trig-Star and the NSPS Certified Survey Technician Program click on the NSPS logo.

LEGISLATIVE UPDATE

HB0227 – Creates the Uniform Real Property Electronic Recording Act. (New Act) Authorizes a recorder to receive, index, store, archive, and transmit documents eligible to be recorded in the Recorder’s land documents, subject to specified requirements. Several Amendments – Passed House - still in Senate

HB0279 – Amends the Conveyances Act. Provides that a party to a settlement that will convey legal or equitable title to real estate or any interest in real estate or create any lien on real estate by way of a mortgage may file a notice of settlement with the recorder of deeds of the county in which the real estate is situated. Tabled

HB0380 – Amends the Property Tax Code by setting forth procedures for the valuation of property used for wind energy.   Platting requirements.  Upon the competition of construction, the owner of a wind energy conservation system, at his or her expense, shall cause the wind turbine facilities to be platted by an Illinois Registered Land Surveyor. Several Amendments – Still in House

HB0553 – Amends the Park District Code. Provides that the district shall pre-qualify architectural, engineering and land surveying firms.  Allows the use of lists established by State agencies.  Passed both the House and Senate

HB0598 – Amends the Illinois Professional Land Surveyors Act of 1989. Makes a technical change in a Section concerning displaying a license. Shell bill. Tabled

SB0399 – Amends the Freedom of Information Act. Makes a technical change in a Section concerning the Short Title. This is IPLSA’s bill concerning receiving GIS information. Tabled

NEW ILLINOIS SURVEYOR COLUMN

IPLSA is excited to announce a new column that will be appearing in the Illinois Surveyor starting with this issue.  Ronald E. Koons of RoSaKo Safety has agreed to provide an article on surveying safety for each issue of our newsletter.  Ron recently presented a one-day seminar on Surveying Safety hosted by the Sangamon Valley Chapter of IPLSA.  Many of those in attendance called the seminar a “wake up call” for safety issues that confront surveyors’ everyday.  Ron is available to present safety programs on a firm by firm basis. We hope that you and your employees will benefit from Ron’s column.

MACHINE CONTROL SYSTEMS - WHO’S WORK IS IT?

Several IPLSA members have inquired about IPLSA’s position on machine control.  I believe these inquires are coming from a couple of articles published recently in The American Surveyor magazine and Site Prep magazine. E-mail discussion with the IPLSA Executive Committee is taking place and the issue may be assigned to one of the IPLSA State Committees. Members are encouraged to review the publications and make their thought known on this issue.   

2008 IPLSA CONFERENCE PLANS UNDERWAY

The Chicago Chapter conference has been meeting and formalizing plans for the 51^st IPLSA Annual Conference, which will be held at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Springfield, February 20–23, 2008.   Watch the conference and seminars page at this web site for more information as it becomes available. A conference registration mailing will go out in the fall.

BOY SCOUT SURVEYING MERIT BADGE TO BE OFFERED

Plans are being made by IPLSA member Todd Horton, P.E., SIT for a Boy Scout Surveying Merit Badge clinic later this fall at Parkland College in Champaign, Illinois.  In order to serve as many scouts as possible, Todd is asking for volunteers to help with the clinic.  Contact: Todd W. Horton, P.E., SIT, Program Director, Construction Design & Management Programs, Parkland College, Room M115, 2400 West Bradley Avenue, Champaign, IL 61821, Phone: 217-373-3785, Fax:217-373-3898,

E-mail: Thorton@parkland.edu

IDFPR LAND SURVEYOR LICENSING BOARD MEETS

The IDFPR Land Surveyor Licensing Board met Thursday, June 7^th at the IDFPR office in Springfield.

The Board approved the new land surveying course at Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville. David Phillippe, PLS and Duane Weiss, PLS serving as members education committee of the Board made a site visit on May 4^th to the SIUE campus. The purpose of the visit was to observe and evaluate the proposed land surveying course recently started at the university last year.  After a few suggestions from the committee members, which were adopted by the university, the Board approved the program. 

For information on this program contact: Dianne Kay Slattery, P.E., Chair of the Department of Construction, Phone: 618/650-2088 or e-mail: dkay@siue.edu.

For admissions information contact: SIUE Admissions Office, Phone 618/560-3705 or e-mail: admissions@siue.edu

Legal Descriptions Standards

The Board continues to work on a draft, which should be completed in the next few months

Machine Control

The Board suggested that IPLSA form a committee to look into machine control. This committee needs to see if machine control fits under the definition of land surveying, the get back to the Board with their comments.

Complaint Committee

The IDFPR Designs Professional Complaint Committee has met on two occasions since the Board has met. 

• As of the May 5th meeting, the department had the following number of cases: 57 Architecture, 21 Professional Engineer, 32 Structural Engineer, 10 Professional Land Surveyor and 22 Design Professions Business.
• As of the June 6th meeting, the committee had the following number of cases: 110 Architects, 19 Professional Engineer, 19 Structural Engineer, 27 Professional Land Surveyor and several Design Professions Business cases.

New person in charge of Business Prosecutions

Mr. Bill Laskaris has been named Chief of Prosecutions taking the place of Mr. John Larts, who served as Chief for the past several years. 

Design Professional Sunset Requirements

M. David Brim, IDFPR Design Professions Coordinator has informed all of the Design Professionals that they should be forming a committee to review their respective Acts and Administrative Rules.  All of the Design Professions Act and Administrative Rules will sunset on January 1, 2010, unless the Illinois General Assembly approved continued licensing.

ILLINOIS TRIG-STAR WINNER ANNOUNCED

Mr. Eric Seo a 2007 graduate of Champaign Central High School is this years Illinois Trig-Star winner.  Eric received $150 from the IPLSA East Central Chapter and $250 from IPLSF Foundation fund.  Being the Illinois Trig-Star winner, Eric took the National NSPS Trig-Star exam. We will let you know how he places.

Mr. Seo was born in New Mexico and moved to Korea when he was three. He returned to the United States three years ago settling in Champaign, Illinois.  Eric will be attending Carnegie Mellon University.

IPLSA wishes to thank Gale Hake, PLS and Ed Clancy, PLS for hosting trig-star programs this year. Gale offered a program at Freeburg High School sponsored by Rhutasel & Associates, Inc., and Ed offered programs at Champaign Central High School, Christ Lutheran Buckley High School, Rantoul Township High School, Urbana High School and Centennial High School.

Next years Trig-Star information is a viable.  IPLSA members are encouraged to contact their local high school math departments early in the 2007-2008 school years.