PLATS & PLANS SR TECHNICIAN

Job Responsibilities

This position is accountable for supervising the design and preparation of plats, plans and legal descriptions as performed by Plats & Plans Lead Technicians and consultants as well as performing those duties themselves. The incumbent is also responsible for interpreting title and survey data. This work shall be done in such a way as to facilitate the timely acquisition of required right-of-way to meet the department’s highway program. The incumbent is also responsible for overseeing and cataloging all in-house historical data for the Land Acquisition section.

Staff:                                                           2-3 Direct
Plats and Plans:                                         10 to 40 projects with 100 to 600 parcels per year
Cost of Right-of-Way acquired through
use of District Plats & Plans:                      $2 - $3 Million per year

This position reports to the Chief of Plats & Plans. Reporting to this position are the Plats & Plans Lead Technicians.

This position has a direct influence in the Plats and Plans unit in assuring that obligated construction funds are not lost by providing the timely completion of high standard legal right-of-way documents. The incumbent assists the Chief of Plats and Plans and others in mitigating litigation costs through proper evaluation of all title evidence. The incumbent designs right-of-way plans to provide the most adequate and economical right-of-way and has responsibility for seeing that the more complex right-of-way plats, premise plats, easement plats, court exhibits and legal descriptions are prepared completely, accurately and in accordance with predetermined priorities. The incumbent establishes work schedules, allocates resources required to complete assigned projects and monitors the progress of the work performed by the Plats & Plans Lead Technicians. This person also monitors and reviews the work of the Plats & Plans Technicians as well as consulting engineering firms retained by the department for the preparation of right-of-way plats and legal descriptions. This position works to ensure state and district CADD standards are adhered to in preparation of right-of-way plat and plan documents. The incumbent works with the Chief of Plats and Plans, district CADD supervisor, and Central Office in providing input for most-efficient and best practices for these standards.

Typical problems involve the design and development of right-of-way plans, plats and legal descriptions which often are extremely complicated because of conflicting ownership and title evidence of record. The greatest challenge of this position is to provide protection to private property owners as well as the department by ensuring that highway improvements are constructed on land owned by the department.

Job Responsibilities (continued)

The incumbent prepares requests for title commitments and coordinates the requests with the title company. This person also interprets legal descriptions of land from title reports and determines the location of the property lines. This person also investigates discrepancies in title descriptions and assists in supervising the drafting of court exhibits for condemnation cases, including research and assembling of support information. The incumbent analyzes and correlates right-of-way requirements, ownership and title evidence, field survey data and authenticates the locations of property lines and record monuments. The incumbent uses the computer for right-of-way plans preparation and performs other duties as assigned. This person transfers consultant work onto computer system to retain right-of-way plan information and utilizes LAMS (Land Acquisition Management System) to input data and upload right-of-way information.

Responsibilities are accomplished with the assistance of:

Plats & Plans Lead Technician position is accountable for interpreting title, survey data, design, and preparation of such plats, plans and descriptions as prepared by consultants to facilitate the timely acquisition of required right-of-way. Responsible for overseeing and cataloging all in-house historical data for the bureau.

Job Responsibilities (continued)

The work of this position is broadly governed by Illinois and federal statutes and by municipal and county ordinances and resolutions with much freedom for personal and professional interpretation. The incumbent has the responsibility of training, instructing, and overseeing the Plats & Plans Lead Technicians.

The incumbent has daily contact with personnel of the Land Acquisition section as to policy, clarification, advice and the district bureaus of Program Development, Project Implementation and Operations regarding the status of past, present, and future right-of-way plats and plans and legal documents as needed. The incumbent also communicates with local surveyors and consultants in researching boundary lines and right-of-way issues. This person maintains complete files and records of acquisition parcels in the form of plats, legal documents and agreements involved in each acquisition and oversees the archiving of such right-of-way documents for permanent electronic and hard copy storage.

The performance of the incumbent is measured by the degree of dependability to meet predetermined work schedules and their ability to search for all stored historical data required by the bureau. The incumbent's competence and quality of work product is indicated in the acceptance of plats and legal descriptions. This person must have the ability to work with minimal assistance and guidance from the Chief of Plats & Plans. The ultimate measure of performance is the total absence of costly claims and litigations the department can be subjected to should the incumbent be less than competent and perform at a sub-professional level.

Principal Accountabilities

1. Performs and oversees right-of-way design activities as necessary for the preparation of plats, plans, legal descriptions, and related documents necessary for the acquisition of right-of-way.
2. Reviews the right-of-way documents prepared by fellow associates and consulting engineering firms retained by the department.
3. Completes research of ownership and title records, maintains, on the computer, an index and permanent hard copy storage system of accumulated data and historical files.
4. Furnishes the Survey unit with coordinates of all necessary section corners, center line and proposed right-of-way points for the staking of the proposed right-of-way lines of all in-house projects. Also furnishes coordinates and staking plans of those projects prepared by consulting engineering firms.
5. Prepares title commitment requests and coordinates the requests with title companies.
6. Prepares work orders for consultants to produce right-of-way documents necessary for the acquisition of property for highway projects and oversees that work.
7. Performs duties in compliance with departmental safety rules. Performs all duties in a manner conducive to the fair and equitable treatment of all employees.
8. Performs other duties as assigned.

Qualifications

Position Requirements

• Education/Experience
  • Completion of two years of college in civil engineering technology, pre-engineering or a job related technical/science curriculum PLUS five years of engineering experience OR
  • Seven years of technical experience in engineering.
• Successful completion of a background screening.

Position Desirables

• Extensive knowledge of departmental land acquisition policies and procedures.
• Basic ability to prepare right-of-way plats and plans using Computer Aided Design and Drafting (CADD) workstations.
• Understanding of land survey practices and experience in writing/interpreting legal descriptions.