by: Ellen Edwards

The FACM Executive Board will be preparing the ballot for the next election in mid July. We are accepting nominations for the following offices: President-Elect, Secretary, and Treasurer and for the positions of Director of Districts 4, 5 and 6. If you are interested or if you want to nominate someone you will need to notify me prior to July 10, 2000.

You can contact me during the day at:

At the last FACM Executive Board Meeting in Orlando it was decided that the winners of the Cadastralist of the Year and Outstanding Achievement Award each year would receive a paid registration to a conference (either Spring or Fall) along with their plaque. The paid registration to be used within the next year after the award is received.

So, awards time is upon us again! With these new awards we can think of no reason not to find some deserving person to nominate. We are accepting nominations for Cadastralist of the Year and Outstanding Achievement until August 1, 2000. Take a good look at that co-worker or employee who is deserving of this award and take the time to fill in the form (either from the newsletter or get it here) and mail or fax in. Send completed forms by mail to:

FACM member Ronnie Taylor who is the National Geodetic Survey liaison assigned to Florida suffered a mild heart attack while attending the ACSM Conference in Little Rock in March. Taylor, who is the new President of the American Association for Geodetic Surveying, experienced chest pains while at the conference but managed to attend the ACSM Board meeting where he was appointed Secretary and also recorded minutes. After returning home to Tallahassee, a hospital visit revealed he had sustained the heart attack while in Arkansas. Ronnie has under-gone angioplasty 4 or 5 times according to a source and is working a regular schedule.

Fifteen counties applied for funds through the Property Tax Administration's first attempt at offering grants for parcel map conversion efforts. According to Mapping & GIS Section supervisor Jerry Wood, up to $35,000 per applicant is available in FY 00-01 based on a number of factors. Applications were primarily considered according to intended use of funds for either initial conversion or enhancements to meet the requirements of the Department's Cadastral Mapping Guidelines. Continuation of the grant program for FY 01-02 is planned subject, as always, to availability of funds. Counties selected to receive funding include Calhoun, Franklin, Gadsden, Holmes, Sarasota and Walton.

Kevin Gorham reported that by using PC Anywhere software he was able to provide remote assistance to counties on at least two occasions during the month of May. The software allows a user to view and manipulate data on a remote computer and, in Kevin's case, he was able to avoid the expenses associated with travel to provide technical assistance. Kevin has been selected to participate, from the mapping perspective, in a study of "best practices" of other states' revenue departments being conducted by Florida DOR Property Tax Administration. A questionnaire is being compiled which will be mailed to the states in the near future.

The Mapping & GIS Section met in early June to evaluate the progress of the mapping program during the past year and to attempt a strategy for the future. Joining in the meeting were representatives from Dept. of Community Affairs, Dept. of Transportation and Dept. of Environmental Protection to discuss and explore opportunities for joint efforts of funding or worksharing.

The Mapping & GIS Section hosted a certified ArcInfo training session in late April. In addition to the Department's mapping staff, several county personnel also took advantage of the opportunity to receive the training close to home. Among the attendees were Clay Goolsby of the Hamilton Co. PA's office, Robbie Rebuck of the Holmes Co. PA's office, Penny Ford of Gulf Co. Emergency Management and, Hon. David Ward, Jefferson Co. Property Appraiser.