Drainage Committee - Section Corner Report

This is the first of two articles concerning section corner perpetuation in Montgomery County.  Today’s article provides background and next week’s article is about problems.

By the late 1700’s, accurately marking land boundaries across the country was necessary as white settlers migrated west and claimed land.  The “Land Ordinance of 1785,” adopted by the Continental Congress, called for a Rectangular Public Land Survey.  The first rectangular survey in Indiana was done in 1797 by Israel Ludlow; Montgomery County was surveyed between 1819 and 1822.

The first surveys divided the land into townships of 36 square miles.  Contracted federal government surveyors further divided the townships into square mile or 640 acre  “sections.”  The surveyors measured the boundaries and set a wood post at each section corner and half way between the corners (half-section).  Each section, therefore, has eight original “corners.”   Now there is an additional corner in the center of the section. Maps of the old corners and the surveying notes, as well as all subsequent ones, are kept in the county surveyor’s office.  The notes detail who did the survey, when, and any reference points used to locate the corner.

Since each section shares boundaries with other sections, except those on the boundaries of another state, the number of sections closely corresponds to the number of square miles in a county.  Montgomery County has slightly over 500 square miles and approximately 1600 section corners.

Today, as in the past, the section corners are critical reference points for accurately delineating landownership. Without solid, accurate points, the whole fabric of land ownership in the county comes apart.  Lost corners result in inaccurate land surveys, which, in turn, are the cause of property disputes.  When land surveyors cannot count on finding accurate corners, they have to recreate them.  This raises the cost of the work, a cost that is passed on to the client or absorbed by the surveyor. 

Over the years, the original wood posts and even the replacement stones became “lost” or damaged due to farming and the construction of homes, roads and bridges.  To maintain accurate land boundaries, in 1965, the Indiana General Assembly passed the Perpetual Corner Records Act (IC 36-2-7-10).  The act requires the county surveyor to locate five percent (5%) of the section corners each year, with replacement of the markers when needed.  Today, the markers are metal rods.

Locating the section corners may be very simple or it may involve extensive digging and/or research.  Where they cannot be found, registered land surveyors look for evidence of the original corner.  For example, if a fence line intersects a road and that point makes sense based on proportional measurements of other known points, the surveyor can be fairly confident that he or she has found the corner.  Standards for the work are specified in the Indiana Administrative Code (865 IAC).

A dedicated fund established by law is the primary source of funding for section corner perpetuation. The county does not have to budget for this money; it is a $5.00 fee that comes in automatically from each deed filed in the county.  In Montgomery County the collections amount to about $10,000.00 per year.  This money pays for the corner posts, surveying equipment, and labor.  Although Montgomery County has budgeted additional money for section corner work in the past, it did not do so for 2006.  In 2002 and 2003, the county spent nearly $40,000 each year on contract surveying.  In 2004 and 2005, the amounts were approximately $25,000 and $11,000, respectively, from budgeted and/or dedicated funds. 

By law, a registered land surveyor must do the section corner perpetuation. If the surveyor is not registered, he must hire a registered person.  (Our current county surveyor, like many of Indiana’s elected county surveyors, is not a registered land surveyor.)  

The law requires that the person, or firm, hired to do section corner perpetuation live in the county.  A person or firm from outside the county may be hired if there are no resident registered land surveyors in the county or if the resident surveyor declines the work.  Obviously the intent is that a resident registered land surveyor be offered the opportunity to do the work.  Although there are four land surveying firms with Montgomery County addresses listed in the Yellow Pages, and numerous registered land surveyors living in Montgomery County, the firm hired by the surveyor during the years of our review, 2002 to present, is from Indianapolis.

In spite of regular expenditures of dedicated funds and budgeted funds, Montgomery County is making little progress toward section corner perpetuation.  Next week’s article will describe the nature of the current work and why progress is not being made as required by Indiana law.  The League of Women Voters will suggest a series of questions that the County Commissioners might ask before they engage the services of any firm to do additional section corner perpetuation.

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Section Corners, Part 2
Newspaper Article - printed in the Journal-Review, December 29, 2005

 Little progress is being made toward section corner perpetuation in Montgomery County.  The reasons for the lack of progress are explored in this article.  The League of Women Voters also poses questions the County Commissioners should  ask before continuing the work.  The history, purpose and process of section corner perpetuation in Montgomery County were described in last week’s article.

Two private land surveyors estimate that section corner perpetuation is only 5 percent to 20 percent complete in Montgomery County.  Assuming this estimate, there are approximately 80 to 320 reliable corners from a total of 1600. By contrast, many counties in Indiana began section corner perpetuation in 1966 and have completed the work. 

The county is, however, spending money on section corner perpetuation.  From 2002 until present, a private firm from Indianapolis has been paid approximately $115,000.00 from dedicated and budgeted funds for the work. 

Our research suggests several problems. One problem concerns research.  Often a surveyor will find metal markers near one another.  One of the two or more markers is obviously wrong. Assume that at one point, markers are four feet apart. On any given day, two registered land surveyors could draw survey lines based on different markers.  This is how a homeowner could discover that her property line is in the middle of her driveway. This is how someone could sell timber and then be sued by a neighbor who claims the timber is on his property.

Finding the correct marker involves research of past surveys, a process that takes additional time but is a requirement of the standards of professional land surveying. 

In August 2005, the firm reported to the surveyor that a search was made of 104 locations.  Fifty-five monuments  (corner section markers) were found.  Only two, according to their report “have been labeled as corners while the other 53 have been labeled “Preliminary.”  Until the reports are final and signed by a registered land surveyor, the corners are not officially found.  There is no indication in the report that further work will be done on the corners labeled Preliminary.  In addition, the reports marked Preliminary seldom include reference to research.

In addition, the current agreement is for perpetuation only in the roadways.  Because many corners are not in the roadways, full perpetuation will not result.  Also because additional corners are not referenced, the possibility of inaccuracy is increased.

Specificity about hourly rate, time frame for the work, reporting, or reference to a larger plan is also absent from the agreement.

Finally, the firm currently doing section corner work is from Indianapolis.  The law requires the surveyor to hire someone who resides in the county.  It also provides for hiring someone from outside the county if there is no registered land surveyor in the county or if a registered land surveyor declines the work.  Local firms and individuals have been invited to bid on a contract for the work in the past but not in recent years.

Before the County Commissioners renew the existing agreement or contract with anyone to perpetuate the county’s section corners, the League of Women Voters urges them to seek answers to the following questions: 

• Exactly how many corners are there in the county?  How many, therefore, must be perpetuated each year to meet the state standard of 5%?
• When did we start perpetuation and how many are now perpetuated?  Are any sections completely perpetuated—all eight corners and a center corner?  In the past year or the past several years, how many corners have actually been certified (signed by a registered land surveyor) and recorded at the county surveyor’s office?
• Is there a plan for perpetuation?  Does a good plan require doing all nine corners of a section or are a few key corners adequate?  Is there a logical approach?  For example, should we work from known corners in another county or should we work in areas of the county with growth?  What logic are we currently using?
• What percentage (or number) of section corners is located within roadway limits?  How will the remainder be perpetuated?
• How many section corners can be located for $10,000 (the amount raised from the section corner perpetuation dedicated fund)?  Could the work be done slowly but carefully within this dollar amount?
• Are all resident county land surveyors given an opportunity to bid on a scope of work or contract each year?  If not, why?
• What are the costs to Montgomery County citizens, obvious and hidden, of inadequate section corner perpetuation?
• What counties might be consulted as models for section corner perpetuation?
• What are the professional standards for section corner perpetuation?  What level of quality would an outside reviewer assign to section corner perpetuation in Montgomery County?  What changes are required to improve the quality?

The League suggests that the Commissioners seek the answers to these questions from our county surveyor, the firm currently doing our work, and one or more of our county’s registered land surveyors.  Valuable information and insight is also available from a member of the Professional Land Surveyors Board of Registration who has offered his services at no cost to our county.

It is both timely and important that section corners in our county are properly maintained.  The League of Women Voters supports and commends the County Commissioners as they improve section corner perpetuation and all other aspects of county government.

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