End of Fiscal Year 2012-2013

Well another fiscal year ends.  What's that?  It's like the typical calendar year that goes from January to December.  We look forward to certain times of the year like April for taxes, December for shopping, June through August for summer vacations.  In our government sense, it goes from July 1st to June 30th.  So the things we look forward to are mid-year budget adjustment, fee changes, County ordinances changes, budgets of departments "finalizes", County budget approved, etc....I think you get the drift.  Also, many County and City officials take a "break" in July, some don't have regular meetings in July.  Being a cross-over from private business to public service, these differences are not obvious until you live through them a few times.  So sometimes you may wonder, are they really that busy over there?  While there are many things that go on "behind the scenes" in government, I have learned to address questions that are unique to this situation.

But all this being said, my staff appreciates the patience you have given us in trying to provide good customer service.  I call us the Four Musketeers.  I'll let your imagination fill in the rest.

Gwen

Enjoy the start of summer!  The heat is definitely here!

County Surveyor Indexes now available ONLINE NOW!

Yes, you have read that right!  We have put the County Surveyor Indexes online.

So what does that mean?  It means you can do some map researching online on our website.  This is a start in a long awaited request from just about everybody I've talked to about doing map research here.

This is our very first launch on such so over time, it will improve.  Let's consider this our "beta" version.  Great cudo's my staff for making such a great effort.  The only thing we will miss is the friendly phone calls from our customers.

Ok, here's the snapshots to get you interested...

You must use Microsoft Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox as your browser for now.

First find The Santa Clara County - County Surveyor's website.
You can try one of the links for the County Surveyor's Website below:

Office of the County Surveyor

or

http://www.sccgov.org/sites/dso/County%20Surveyor/Pages/Map-Research-Procedures.aspx

You will hopefully see this page:

Next, go to the County Surveyor - Record Indexes

(yes you will need to accept the disclaimer to continue)

So far so good, right?  Go ahead and you should now be at this page:

Yes, now this IS a new page that we just added.  A very talented person created this.


(very cool isn't it?)



So now let's cruise the links....

Let's take a look at the Map Research link.

We have the basics on map researching.
There is a step-by-step on how to determine the County Grid Number.

This is the same County Grid Number that we've used for a long, long time and it IS still the way we do indexing for now.

Of course, for the advanced user, you can just check out all the links and see what they do.










There are other links for:

• Cadastral Maps
• Record Map Index
• Corner Record Index
• Tract Number to Map Index

Some of the links take little time to load.
(if you cannot get the indexes to load, check to see if you are using MS Internet Explorer or Firefox)

Some highlights:
   - you can search and view the Corner Records
   - you can obtain the Book and Page of a map from the Tract number or name
   - you can determine the County Grid Number from our Cadastral Maps

Yes, the Cadastral Maps have not been updated since about 1989 due to the mapping program being discontinued.  Someday we hope to integrate the County GIS, but that is another item on our list.

And I bet this is something  you've been waiting to see:

So check it out.  We know there is room for enhancements.  Send us feedback, let us know how you like it.

Thanks!
Gwen

New Deputy County Surveyor

Yes, you are reading that correctly.  We have a new addition to our small and mighty staff.

Please welcome Bill Slepnikoff, PLS as our new Deputy County Surveyor.  Some of you may know him as a familiar face.  He has connections with many people in the land surveying community.  You may have seen him at the CLSA (California Land Surveyors Association) or at some other survey related function, or perhaps you may have worked with him on a project or two.  As we orient him into the County government environment, please be patient, it takes a bit to know how things work (or don't work) around here.  I apologize for not announcing it sooner (He started just after Thanksgiving!), things got a bit hectic here with the computer changeover and network challenges.  And of course the holidays came and went as some of you may have experienced.  Well he has made it through the first 90 days (sound familiar?) and so far we haven't scared him off.

Here's a pic so you can recognize him next time you come by our office.


Bill Slepnikoff, PLS
Deputy County Surveyor
   
Office of the County Surveyor
70 West Hedding St
East Wing, 7th floor
San Jose, CA  95110
Bus: (408) 299-6862
Bus Fax: (408) 275-6412

And he and Chris made photo of the month for our CLSA East Bay Chapter newsletter.
Way to go guys! X marks the spot all right!


Thank you Bill for joining the County Surveyor's staff.

Gwen

BTW - And thanks to our ISD department for making this topo layer (and more) available.

For information on what you will need in order to view it, see below.  I know some of you have already figured it out, that's ok, we know who you are.

Map.aspxhttp://www.sccgov.org/sites/gis/Santa%20Clara%20County%20Interactive%20Map/Pages/Santa-Clara-County-Interactive-Map.aspx

County GIS now has topo layer

OMG another blog....ok I'm making up for not blogging awhile back....

Yes, now you can go to our County GIS and see the topo layer.  Happy?  I bet a lot of people will spend time zooming around this layer and checking it out.

A little refresher on how to get to this site:

Go to:
 
http://www.sccgov.org/arcgis/SCCPubInteractiveMap/

(yes you will get to read the "Welcome" etc.  Close it to continue. )

so good so far?
Now go to the "Maps" tab and click the "Map Layers".  Look for the "Topography" layer and check the box.

Hopefully you will be contour lines.  So enjoy this little tidbit!

National Surveyors Week

Yes, we have a week of recognition!  It's National Surveyors Week!  Yes it does exist and actually has been for several years now.  San Jose City Surveyor Patty Cannon, PE, PLS and I were presented with a proclamation from the City of San Jose to proclaim National Surveyors Week in 2010.  In 1986, the County   Board of Supervisors had a proclamation for Surveyors Week also.  This year, National Surveyors Week is set for March 17-23, 2013.

The National Society of Professional Surveyors (NSPS) has requested "The President" to design this week as "
National Surveyors Week".  Ok, I think you get the theme of this now.

So a few excerpts from the Executive Director of NSPS...just in case the print is a tad small to read...and some big points to make...


"...Former surveyors include George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Abraham Lincoln..."

Thomas Jefferson is credited with creation of the Public Land Survey System ("PLSS"), the rectangular system that continues today in 30 states which includes California.  Well that hits home a bit.

And, as NPSP points out, there are over 45,000 professional surveyors in the US.  In California, I recall someone saying there are about 4,000 licensed land surveyors.  What is scary is that compared to the population of California, it's a very small percentage.  So we land surveyors are becoming a rare profession. Hopefully not an extinct profession yet but not very common let's just say.  Awhile back we had a display of land surveying items, courtesy of the Mt Diablo Surveyors Historical Society.  (thanks Don!)

So, we are recognized in history.  So I encourage you  to go out and celebrate!

G

How Do You Find A Surveyor?

I wish I had a dollar for every time I was asked that question here.  Once upon a time, we would reply "Look in the yellow pages" but that response is somewhat dated nowadays.  We could say look online or Google is (which is one of my favorite phases).  Now we refer them to the California Land Surveyors Association website commonly know as CLSA.  You can search by zip code, by area of practice or by name.  The list is comprise of CLSA licensed members in private land surveying business.  The list will also indicate if they participate in the Professional Development Program.  This is currently a voluntary program but may become mandatory sometime in the future.  For us CLSA members that are in the public sector, our names would not be on this list but it is a great way to keep track of the seminars and workshops attended.  That's great that CLSA will keep this on record for us members.  One less thing for me to track!  Like it.

Here is CLSA's website:
http://www.californiasurveyors.org/index.asp

And a preview of the site:

On the right under "Member Login" you can click the Find A Surveyor to start a search. 

Fill out the form (of course)

And there you have it!

We are thankful for CLSA for providing this.