Thanks for 2013

Just a moment to say "thanks" to all who have gave us support throughout the year.  You gave us patience when we are short staffed, constructive comments when we are looking to improve, humor to keep our chins up, and most of all, your professionalism.  I would like to thank my staff for their patience and motivation to do a "good" job.  Even though we all work for that paycheck, what brings us to a higher level is that we like what we do and that is land surveying.  There are so many careers to choose from and many which make a lot more money, yet some of the most dedicated people are those in land surveying.  Perhaps it is a calling to us that complements our own persona.  Like a favorite pair of jeans, an old T-shirt we always wear, it just feels right and good at the same time.

I would also like to thank the many people who have been a part of my surveying career.  Recently, I received CEAC - County Engineers Association of California award for County Surveyor of the Year.  This is a great honor and quite a pleasant surprise.  This would not have been possible without the dedicated staff who work in the County Surveyor's Office here.  They have taken on various "hats" and used their hidden talents to help make this Office better, for the public at large and for the internal and external customers alike.
All while facing the difficulties and challenges of working in a governmental institution.  So I share this honor with my dedicated County Surveyor staff.

It takes a special kind of person to perform public service and truly be effective, and at the same time content to work in such an environment.

"Success is no accident.  It is hard work, perseverance, learning, studying, sacrifice and most of all, love of what you are doing." - Pete

Happy New Year 2014 to you all.
   - Gwen

Researching at the County Surveyor's Office

Well I fell off the blogging for a bit.  Did a bit of traveling through the states, saw great views, got some rain (monsoon season in the US?) experienced desert heat, gusty winds and spend a lot of money buying gas.

Every good survey starts with a good amount of time doing research.  Especially for a boundary survey.  The kind we lose sleep at night pondering whether we looked and evaluated every corner, monument, tree, lines of occupations, etc. before we place our precious LS stamp on the map.  And it's done....at least we think so.  Then we suddenly awake from a nightmare when we hear the words "did you find this corner right here?"

The importance of researching a piece of property can never be underestimated.  In the 58 Counties in California, it seems like there are 58+ ways to do research.  The California Land Surveyor Association (CLSA) has a publication, the award winning California Surveyor.   In the current issue, several Counties have an article on how to perform researching at the County Surveyor's Office.  There are several articles on the importance of researching especially in dealing with land boundaries.  And sometimes the saying goes, finding a map with the monuments on it is "priceless".  And not finding the map with the monuments you are using "costly".

So check our the latest issue of CLSA's California Surveyor.

http://www.californiasurveyors.org/index.asp

And a great photo is on the cover too!  (nice pic Steve!)

Being a Californian, I guess next time I'll do more research on the weather in other states!

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