Editor, Times-Union:
I’ve been inundated with questions concerning the race for your next county surveyor. Since I’ve worked in the County Surveyor’s Office for 43 years (the past nine as your licensed county surveyor), many felt I could help voters be better informed. Here are the questions I’m being asked the most and the abbreviated answers I’ve provided:
1. Who can run for county surveyor? If you’re a resident of the county, you can run.
2. Why would Indiana law not require the county surveyor to be an actual surveyor (licensed professional)? Some counties in Indiana have no resident licensed surveyors or any licensed surveyors who want to be the county surveyor.
3. What are the primary responsibilities of the county surveyor? Indiana law requires the Kosciusko County surveyor to maintain 1,000+ miles of county regulated drains (sixth in the state) and maintain 2,500+ section corners (fifth in the state). This elected position is considered technical in nature and thus no term limit.
4. Could either candidate perform the duties of the office? In Indiana, it’s unlawful to perform any surveying without being licensed (Class B misdemeanor). Any surveying or design work of regulated drains/ditches or any type of section corner work is considered, by Indiana law, to be surveying. So the licensed candidate (Ryan Prince) and his staff could lawfully perform all duties of the office. The candidate that is not a surveyor (James Moyer) could still meet the obligations of the office by outsourcing/contracting the aforementioned duties to a licensed professional. A number of optional services currently provided by the Surveyor’s Office would need to be suspended if a licensed surveyor was absent. Those include landowner assistance with legal descriptions, easements and floodplain interpretation as well as drainage reviews and assisting the Commissioners, Plan Commission, Highway Department, Recorder and local municipalities with survey related issues.
5. What would be the estimated cost of outsourcing the statutory duties per year to a surveying/engineering company? Based on the current workload of the County Surveyor’s Office: $150K-190K.
6. Could the office be restructured in a way to compensate for the outsourcing cost? I don’t have an answer for that as the Kosciusko County Surveyor has been a licensed professional for the past 64 years and hasn’t outsourced the statutory duties.
Come out and vote for your choice.
Michael Kissinger
Kosciusko County Surveyor
Indiana Professional Surveyor Lic. #29900032
North Webster, via email