1. Background

Staff and Structure: The Surveying Department is directly accountable to, and supervised by, the County Commissioners. It is staffed directly by Eugene P. Galvagni, Jr., PLS, and William A. Cote. Mr. Galvagni is the official County Surveyor and Mr. Cote is Chief of Survey Crew. Mr. Galvagni has worked in the Surveying Department for over thirty years and Mr. Cote has worked there off and on for about twenty years.

Geri Porter, the Executive Assistant to County Commissioners, Janice Ditomasso, the Assistant to Executive Assistant of County Commissioners, and Carol Shoff, the Junior Clerk to County Commissioners (collectively hereinafter referred to as "the Commissioners' staff"), provide all of the administrative support to the Surveying Department, including answering phones, drafting letters, sending and receiving mail, billing, budgeting, acting as liaison between the program and its clients and the public, handling the payroll account, paying bills, and providing all bookkeeping services, such as maintaining daily ledgers. The County Treasurer's Office also provides indirect in-kind support through management of the accounts, budget, and payroll.

Mr. Galvagni is charged with managing this department, which he has done since 1990. His current work includes: (a) performing field and office survey work, (b) maintaining county survey records, (c) prioritizing and scheduling jobs, (d) working with the public and officials, (e) preparing and implementing the department budget, (f) providing and researching county survey records, (g) requesting and obtaining approval from county commissioners to perform work requested by towns or cities, (h) billing towns and cities for work performed, (i) managing Pontoosuc Lake and its dam, and (j) maintaining office equipment.

Mr. Cote is directly supervised by Mr. Galvagni. His work includes working with the public and officials, performing field and office survey work, maintaining county survey records, providing and researching county survey records, and assisting Mr. Galvagni with the management of Pontoosuc Lake.

Service: Approximately 55% of the services provided by the Surveying Department consists of actual survey work for the County, towns, and cities. Such work includes surveys to establish or re-establish: (a) sideline layouts, new layouts, alteration or relocation layouts, and cross sections and profiles for city, town, and county roads, (b) property lines for governmental acquisitions or sales of property, (c) property lines in disputes or transactions between private citizens and government entities, (d) property lines for government entities to ascertain their boundaries and assets in terms of real property, (e) property lines of railroads, (f) property lines and other boundaries for public construction projects, (g) topographical surveys and maps for building sites, (h) property lines for parks and conservation lands, (i) easements (drainage, sewer, water, etc.) and (j) borders/dimensions of landfills.

Some revenue is generated from these services. In the 1980's it was decided that the Surveying Department would charge $25/hr for its surveying services. In fact, however, this policy was never formally or strictly implemented. Instead, the Surveying Department charged only for "larger jobs." It's not clear how a "larger job" has been defined. In addition, even with respect to these "larger jobs" the Surveying Department charges on a per-job basis (not an hourly basis), which is a pre-job estimate of what the entire job would cost at $25/hr. This estimate usually equals approximately 20% of the market rate for private-sector surveyors.

About 20% of the services provided by the Surveying Department consists of (a) consulting, (b) providing information or technical assistance, and (c) performing research for people or entities with respect to real property questions they may have. Such people or entities include towns and cities, attorneys, utility companies, surveying firms, engineering firms, title searchers, and the general public. These consulting or research services are based on existing county records, plans, plots, layouts, Commissioner records, and the knowledge and experience of Messrs. Galvagni and Cote with respect to Berkshire County. Mr. Galvagni believes that this is a very important and valuable service, primarily because it saves private and public individuals and entities the substantial resources they would otherwise have to spend hiring someone to do all the research for information that is otherwise easily and efficiently accessed and recalled by the Surveying Department.

The records maintained by the Surveying Department include layout plans and records of town, county, and state highways, rail rights-of-way, and dams, in addition to records of any survey work ever performed by the Surveying Department. The maintenance of these extensive historical records in this central location at the Surveying Department provides a substantial benefit to the towns, cities, and residents of Berkshire County. Indeed, the records maintained by the Surveying Department constitute the largest source of highway layouts (state, town, and county), turnpike layouts, railroad layouts, and cemetery plans in western Massachusetts.

Approximately 15% of the Survey Department's services pertains to the management of Pontoosuc Lake. Some of this work involves frequently checking the dam (at least two to three times a week, which totals about 6 hours per week) to insure that it is operating safely and water levels are maintained at proper levels. Based on these checks, the Department maintains a log of the status of the lake and the dam and determines the proper outlet flow in order to avoid problems with flooding. In 1984 and 1985 these inspections revealed that the dam had major structural problems that were in need of immediate repair. A private company was hired to perform these repairs.

As part of its frequent inspections of the lake, the Surveying Department is also charged with maintaining and cleaning the gates on the dam to insure that they operate properly. At times, particularly in the Fall before heavy levels of precipitation, the Surveying Department must open the dam's gates to draw-down the level of the water for the winter and thereby reduce the pressure on the dam and the risk of flooding. This draw-down is also performed as part of the County's plan to manage weed growth in the lake.

To conduct a draw-down, the Surveying Department must formally petition, and appear in a hearing before, the Pittsfield and Lanesborough Conservation Commissions to provide sufficient justification for lowering the water level. This process sometimes requires a hearing before the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection. Massachusetts officials have classified the dam as a "high-hazard dam," meaning that if it is breached, lives and property are at risk. Nevertheless, to obtain approval to lower the water level is not an easy task. Thus, the Surveying Department must make a strong showing in the hearing as to why it is necessary to lower the water level. This usually requires many hours of preparation to gather, document, and present evidence. Substantial assistance is provided by the Commissioners' staff.

The remaining 10% of the Surveying Department's time is spent performing general office/administrative tasks, such as preparing the budget, attending meetings, providing various reports, and inventorying, maintaining, and requesting supplies and equipment.

2. Actual Service Usage

It is difficult to gauge accurately the actual or desired usage of the Surveying Department by the towns and cities. There are a number of reasons for this. First, the Surveying Department often performs work that is of such a small scale that it does not, and never has, billed the towns or cities, nor recorded the work. Such work may range from performing a survey for a simple layout or plan, to researching county records to respond to a question from a town or city.

Second, the Surveying Department periodically receives requests by the towns and cities to do surveys that are so large or complex that the Department cannot do such surveys within the time frame demanded by the towns or cities. This is due to inadequate staffing in the Department and inadequate technological resources. In these instances, the Department must decline such request and the town or city is left with no alternative but to hire a private surveyor at substantially greater cost. This occurs about 10% of the time the Surveying Department is requested to perform work. The amount of work lost as a result, however, is substantially greater because the lost work is comprised of larger jobs. The Surveying Department would need the following additional staff and equipment in order to operate at full potential capacity: an engineer, a draftsman with Computer Assisted Design and Drafting ("CADD") experience, CADD software, a plotter, an auto-desk, a scanner, and other equipment.

Third, even though there are some records that generally show actual usage by towns and cities, these records fail to delineate precisely the extent or nature of such usage.

Notwithstanding these points, there are a number of factors that should be taken into account when attempting to assess actual usage: Mr. Galvagni states that usage with respect to research or information requests is 100%, meaning that every town or city in the County, or a person or entity working on their behalf, periodically contacts the Department with information or research requests. This is largely true because there is nowhere else to obtain such information and it is efficient for towns or cities to do this rather than performing a new survey.

Mr. Galvagni reports that almost every town or city, except for about four, periodically uses the surveying services of the Surveying Department. For reasons that are not entirely clear, Pittsfield, North Adams, Dalton, and Great Barrington use private surveying services. Mr. Galvagni believes this is largely because new officials in these towns and cities are unaware of the Surveying Department's services.

Keeping in mind all of the above, actual records show major projects were completed and billed (many projects are ongoing for more than a year) in the following years in the following towns and cities ("estimated" means the job has not been completed and/or billed):

Year - Towns or Cities Total Receipts

a. (a) 1999 - Pittsfield, Egremont, Lanesborough, Lee $3,400.00 (estimated)
b.
c. (b) 1998 - Stockbridge and Egremont $2,000.00 (estimated)
d. (c) 1997 - Lee (3 projects), Pittsfield (2 projects), $3,100.00
e.Monterey, Richmond, Clarksburg,
f.
g. (d) 1996 - Cheshire, West Stockbridge (2 projects), $2,900.00
h. Tyringham, Egremont, Williamstown
i.
j. (e) 1995 - Sheffield, Egremont, Mt. Washington, $9,875.00
k. West Stockbridge, Pittsfield, Richmond, Sandisfield,
l. Adams, Lenox, Tyringham, Lee (2 projects), Becket,
m. Savoy, Lanesborough (2 projects), North Adams, Hinsdale,
n.
o. (f) 1994 - Adams, Pittsfield, West Stockbridge, Sandisfield, $3,900.00
p. (g) 1993 - Williamstown, Sandisfield, Sheffield, Adams, $4,200.00

Pittsfield, Richmond, Mt. Washington.

In assessing service usage, it is also helpful to know that in 1997 the Berkshire County Task Force survey showed that twenty-one of the thirty-two towns and cities indicated support for the Surveying Department. County records indicated in 1997 that thirty of the towns and cities had participated in this County program.

Mr. Galvagni believes that the services provided by the Surveying Department would be used to an even greater extent if it had proper staffing and up-to-date equipment and more emphasis were placed on informing the towns and cities of the services provided and the monetary savings that the towns could glean from using these services, as opposed to retaining a private surveyor. He said that even though the County sometimes sends out an information memorandum to the towns and cities regarding the Surveying Department, such information is often not retained or passed on to others, or the towns and cities have significant personnel turnover rates and the new personnel are not provided such information.

3. Service Costs and Funding
The Surveying Department's annual budgets for the fiscal years 1996/97-1998/99 were as follows: 1996/97 = $115,901.66; 1997/98 = $112,235.85; 1998/99 = $125.279.13. For fiscal year 1998/99, $116,587 was allocated for personal salaries, which is comprised of the following: salary = $79,217.00, group insurance (including retirees) = $27,876.00, and retirement benefits = $9,494.00. The balance, which is $8,692.13, was allocated for other department costs, which are specifically listed in the 1998/99 budget.

The Surveying Department has generated the revenues listed in the preceding section. In this regard, it is important to remember that for those projects for which the Department actually bills towns or cities a very substantial discount is provided. Mr. Galvagni estimates that the Department's practice is to bill at rate equal to about 20% of what would be charged for the same services in the private sector.

Other costs incurred in relation to services provided by the Surveying Department include costs necessary to maintain the dam. Such costs include the surveyors' time (approximately 300 hours per year) and approximately $2,000.00 that is incurred each year in relation to water level draw-downs. In 1984 and 1985 a private company was hired to perform major structural repairs on the dam. The total cost of such repairs was about $242,526.00. To pay for this the County received a loan of approximately $125,000.00, which it paid back in about two years. The balance was paid with matching funds from the State. In addition to these repairs, the channel recently necessitated about $15,000.00 in repairs.

Additional costs incurred by the Surveying Department include the in-kind services provided by the Commissioners' staff and the County Treasurers' Office. The cost of these contributions is very difficult to quantify. A reasonable estimate, however, of the time the Commissioners' staff spends per year performing the services described above equals 550 hours (30 hours are related to Pontoosuc Lake draw-down procedures and issues). The Treasurers' Office spends approximately 130 hours per year working on behalf of the Surveying Department.

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