December HQ Update

July

December 2022

Here’s the latest updates from your NYSAPLS’ Committees, Board of Directors and HQ Staff who are keeping busy with several ongoing projects:

Executive Board: The board met on December 13th. They reviewed the overall association's budget and received committee updates from several of the committees (see committee updates below). They discussed a complaint received from a member about MTS related issues. The board had a lively discussion. The MTS Committee will meet and draft a response. President Garfinkel is seeking another member to attend the PA conference as a representative of NYSAPLS. Under new business, President Garfinkel shared a film project being produced by Third Wave Films on the engineering and land surveying efforts during the creation of the Erie Canal. The board was interested to learn more and how they may be able to assist.

Board of Directors: The board held a virtual meeting on November 18th. You can find the minutes of the meeting on our website. Their next meeting is scheduled in person on January 17th.

Conference Committee: The committee met on December 7th. They reviewed the latest conference progress report showing the attendance, exhibitors, sponsors and advertisements to date. They discussed their plans for joining the NFLSA meeting scheduled on Thursday, December 9th at 6:00pm at DiPaolo’s Restaurant in Blasdell, NY. Ken, Howie, Mike and Amber joined their fellow committee member Greg at his regional meeting to discuss volunteer efforts for the upcoming conference. What a great turnout! Thank you to NFLSA for your hospitality. Reminder: Registration is OPEN! You can view the registration details here: https://www.nysapls.org/event/conf2023. The committee’s next meeting is scheduled on January 11th.

DOT Relations Committee: Committee Chair, Jim Thew and NYSAPLS Counsel, Emily Whalen met with representatives from the NYSDOT on December 7th. The attendees discussed the NYSDOT FOIL process regarding the acquisition of appropriation mapping for boundary retracement surveying.  In addition, we learned the appropriation mapping is stored electronically; however, the mapping has not indexed for retrieval. Therefore, we offered NYSAPLS’ assistance as we have numerous members that have extensive experience in sorting, indexing, tagging, and geospatially referencing record documents in a geographic information system (GIS) for municipalities and facilities. We are hopeful to receive additional information from the NYSDOT office to begin collaborating on this project. 

Education Committee: The committee met on December 15th. They reviewed the 2023 conference education schedule and progress made with CE approvals, learning labs and vendor presentations. They also reviewed the upcoming scheduled programming progress to date for webinars, review courses and workshops. They continued their discussion on the possibility of offering a Certified Floodplain Certification session in New York, similar to the session in MA. 

Ethics Committee: The committee’s last meeting was held November 15th.  They reviewed three open cases. Scott had previously provided the committee with a draft outline for an ethical education session for consideration at the previous meeting and had shared it with the Education Committee for comment. The Education Committee thought the course was a great idea.  Further, they discussed the 2-hour length proposal and whether they would want to extend a First Friday Webinar from 1 to 2 hours and suggested to break the course into two 1-hour programs. The EPC’s next meeting is scheduled on January 17th. 

Finance Committee: The committee has not met this past month, however they continue to review financials regularly. We previously achieved our income goals for the LS Review Workshop and Fall Webinar Series and are focusing on the income and expenses related to the association’s annual conference. We are close to making our membership goals, however as of December 15th, there are currently 120 members who have not yet renewed their membership dues. If you haven’t yet renewed, we encourage to do so now so you enjoy the full benefits of membership.  

Legislative Committee: The committee's last meeting was held November 1st. They reviewed tasks assigned to their committee in the current draft of the NYSAPLS Strategic Plan. The Legislative Committee shared feedback and several suggestions with the Strategic Committee, who also attended their meeting.  They also reviewed draft amendment language intended to acknowledge the 2022 datum and the international foot. The committee contemplated if a much simpler bill was needed that allowed for additional datum changes, or if the elimination of the original legislation was a potential route. Chairman Graf will bring this to the attention of the Board of Directors at their next meeting to seek their opinion and advisement.  Their next meeting is scheduled on January 10.  

Membership Committee: The committee's last meeting was held November 14th. The Strategic Planning Committee joined the meeting to gather the Membership Committee’s feedback on the Strategic Plan draft. They suggested some revisions that were accepted by the Strategic Committee. They also expressed their concern over lack of committee members.  While the strategic tasks all make sense and seem feasible, it may be a challenge to accomplish with only 3 committee members.  In addition, the committee reviewed the latest membership reports along with an update on the participation in our new benefit offered to members through National Purchasing Partners.

Minimum Technical Standards (MTS) Committee: The committee’s last meeting was held December 6th as a webinar practice session.  If you didn’t have a chance to watch the original airing of our FREE webinar on December 9th, visit our webinar recording page to watch it now.  The round table session information can be found on page 14 of the conference registration brochure. We hope you can join us! The committee is still awaiting SBELSG review of the first draft.   

LS PAC Committee: The committee continues to stay current on their regular filings with the NYS Board of Elections. If you are interested in making a financial donation, please visit https://www.nysapls.org/donations/. In addition, we invite you to register for their fundraiser reception that will be held during our annual conference on Tuesday, January 17th at 9:30pm. Tickets are $75 and can be purchased online during the conference registration process and will also be available onsite at our registration desk. The full ticket price will be donated to the NYSAPLS Land Surveyor’s Political Action Committee fund.

Nominations: The NYSAPLS awards committee is currently seeking nominations for Meritorious Service; Surveyor of the Year; Associate of the Year; Lifetime Achievement; and Friend of the Association. Please nominate a deserving individual.  The nomination form can be downloaded here: https://tinyurl.com/nysapls-pillars-2023. Nominations are due December 16th!

Public Relations: The PR Committee wrapped up their Soldiers to Surveyors campaign honoring members who have selflessly served their country and are now working in the field of surveying. The committee continues to launch videos for their “Surveyor’s Corner” – a short series of YouTube videos on surveying related topics, that answer the most commonly asked questions from the public. You can find more details including the videos here: https://youtu.be/5PEOAsZip9c. The committee will also host Surveyor’s Corner during the conference, at the PR Booth in the Exhibit Hall.  Stop by and talk with a PR Committee member to share your coolest surveying job, why you became a surveyor or the best part of your job! 

Strategic Planning Committee: The committee presented the draft 2023-2025 strategic plan document at the November 18th Board of Directors meeting. The board supported and adopted the plan. Now the real work begins! The committee put together a task list for each of the committees to utilize and work from. 

Young Professionals Committee: The committee met virtually on December 5th. They worked on their plans to offer a YP Social at the conference, along with hosting the “Field Olympics”. They also reviewed their outlines in progress for upcoming presentations.

Want to learn more? Full committee minutes are published on our website. Login and check them out today!

Are you interested in becoming more actively involved? We are looking for members to share their “stories” and help us promote the profession. Did you company recently work on an interesting project? Did your regional get together to help out the community? Did your son or daughter earn a Surveying Merit Badge? Are you mentoring a student over the summer with an internship? Help us get out the word on how land surveying is important to the community! Contact Heather Schultz to share your news, heather@nysapls.org .

PS - Want to see your article published in our member magazine? Email me your ideas, amber@nysapls.org.

Thank you for your continued support! Happy Holidays!

Amber Carpenter

Managing Director