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Vice-Chair; and Joanne Williamson (Hawaii) was nominated and
elected as Secretary. The ongoing business included discussions Lahontan
on licensure/”Sense of Congress.” Threats to licensure are ongo-
ing at the state level. The “Sense of Congress” initiative is at the Chapter Update
federal level. Discussions were also held on Workforce Develop-
ment, Monument preservation, and Military Outreach, including By: Michael Detwiler, PLS
the Helmets to Hardhats initiative.
Ahhh the smell of fall is in the air in Northern Nevada, the
Proposed Model Law: colors are changing, temps are chilly, and there’s already a light
dusting of snow on Mt. Rose. For us surveyors, that also means
A motion was made to approve several proposed changes to contractors are feverishly calling in staking requests trying to
the NCEES Model Law. After much discussion, the motion was complete their construction projects before the snow and rain
withdrawn, and an ad hoc committee was created to review shuts down the project sites. And maybe you are out franti-
the changes. The State Directors were instructed to talk to cally setting control targets and flying aerial surveys trying to
their states and get feedback. A virtual meeting was scheduled complete topo’s before the snow buries other project sites. So
on October 20 to vote on the changes. During that meeting, is the cycle in a four-season geography.
a motion to table the vote for the Spring 2024 meeting was At the October chapter meeting we held a public agency meet-
made and approved. The NALS Board of Directors and NALS ing, where we hosted Washoe County Recorder Kalie Work and
Past Presidents have provided input, and NALS sent a letter to Washoe County Surveyor Wayne Handrock as our guest speak-
NSPS in opposition to proposed changes. ers. We also had in attendance NVBPELS Executive Director
Patty Mamola and Compliance Derek Vogel, as well as Sparks
and Reno city staff and representatives from several area home
Appointments: builders. Kalie and Wayne presented on the topic of electronic
Jeff Clendenning was appointed as the Military Liaison, and recording. Washoe County currently accepts electronic record-
Cotton Jones was appointed as the Coalition of Professional ing for Record of Surveys and is hoping to roll out a similar
Surveyors (COPS) Liaison. process for other types of maps such as Parcel Maps, Boundary
Line Adjustments, and Tract Maps. All parties who attended
Nominations/Elections: agreed that there are lot of details to sort out, and the meeting
became an open discussion and workshop on the challenges to
The slate of candidates for 2024 officers are: overcome. In the interest of all parties involved, it makes sense
Vice President: Jeff Clendenning (Alabama), Tim Murphy (Il- to help expedite processing times and project schedules by
linois), and James Nicolau (California) finding a way to review, approve, and record makes in a more
Secretary: Nancy Almanzan (Nevada) and Craig Amey (Michi- timely manner. NALS, Washoe County, and NVBEPLS will be
gan) creating a formal working committee to help design this pro-
Ballots will be mailed electronically on December 1 and must cess in the coming years.
be cast by December 20. New officers will be installed at the In November we welcomed photographer, author, and University
Spring 2024 meeting. of Nevada professor Peter Goin. Peter gave a great presentation
on his re-photography surveying work around Lake Tahoe. His
Spring 2024 meeting: work is very unique in that he collects historic photos of outdoor
The Spring 2024 meetings, Lobby Day, and the Student Com- scenes around Lake Tahoe, and then attempts to find those exact
locations again and re-photograph them in present day. His work
petition will be held April 21-26, 2024, in Arlington, Virginia. has many applications, such as shoreline surveys for climate
change research. And beyond that, it’s just really cool to see the
exact same location photographed several decades apart. Some
look similar, some look dramatically different!
In December we will host our Lahontan Chapter Christmas part
at South 40 in Reno. We hope to see many of you, and signifi-
cant others are welcome, to celebrate the holiday season.
This marks my last report as the 2023 Lahontan Chapter Presi-
dent. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank all the members of
the chapter board for their help and leadership throughout the
year. NALS is a volunteer organization, and it will only be as suc-
cessful as the effort we all put into it. I am extremely grateful for
the contribution to the profession by everyone this year, includ-
ing the chapter members who continually attend the meetings
and events. 2024 in lining up to be a great year. We already have
speakers scheduled up to discuss topics such as the new ASPRS
accuracy standards, drone LiDAR, updates from our 2024 NALS
President, a joint meeting with ASCE, and the Western Regional
Survey Conference in Las Vegas in March. On behalf of NALS and
the northern Nevada Lahontan Chapter, I hope everyone had a
successful 2023 and wish you a prosperous 2024!

The Nevada Traverse Vol.50, No.4, 2023 41