April 8, 2000

Dear Fellow Members;

In the past four months, PLSC has participated in several events. Three of them are: The proposed termination of the Metro State Survey/Mapping Degree program, which was averted; The prudent decision not to introduce mandatory continuing education legislation at this time; and, an issue resolved successfully with Jefferson County regarding the subdivision regulation requiring the PLS to sign for the easement research, which is summarized elsewhere in the current issue of SIDE SHOTS.

First, imagine if Colorado’s only four-year academic degree program for Survey/Mapping was terminated by the State. Perhaps this wouldn’t matter to those of us with licenses and careers in hand. Perhaps those of us directly involved in the committees could take consolation knowing that we did our level best providing man-hours of effort and donations over the past years, and perhaps those of us enrolled in the degree program could feel lucky that we would have a four-year grace period within which to obtain the degree.

Instead, many in PLSC acted aggressively to save the program. The overwhelming message sent to the Colorado Commission on Higher Education was that the whole surveying industry - comprised of practitioners, government, educators, students and the State Board, considered a four-year degree program as essential to the profession. The Metro Program had fallen victim to review due to "low graduate number" - an arbitrarily established quota. At this time, a solution appears to have been found. At the hearing, the wide range of support from the surveying profession was acknowledged by the CCHE. Mission accomplished!

In a related issue, mandatory continuing education legislation was addressed by the PLSC Board on February 25. After full discussion, the issue was tabled. I can assure the membership that the PLSC Board is not against continuing education. We are fortunate to have members who are lifelong advocates of continuing education, but are also experienced in the legislative process. Thus, we know that attempting legislation would be costly, time-consuming and ineffective due to the current political assembly.

We have, however, excellent sources for continuing education: Larry Hagan chairs our voluntary continuing education program. There are six PLSC Chapters offering seminars year around. Metro State offers a four year degree program, and much of it is available at distant sites around the State. Best of all, PLSC is setting the example.

Sincerely yours,

Warren D. Ward, PLS

President