Profile by Marc S

ProFile By Marc S. Cheves, LS

An Interview with Deral Paulk, LS, City Surveyor of Lawton, Oklahoma

t’s one of those memories of for third place—at around 100,000 growing up in Oklahoma in the residents, and depending on the 50s that ranks up there with results of the latest census—are sampling a plug of a fresh Rush Norman and Lawton. Lawton is Paulk decked Springs watermelon from the located more or less in out in OSU back of a farmer’s truck on a the center of the Cowboy garb. Isweltering summer afternoon... Every southwest portion April, in commemoration of the of the state and Oklahoma Land Run of 1889, the abuts the south- sloped grassy playground of Grover ern edge of Fort Today's municipal Cleveland elementary school became the Sill, a beautiful stage for a lively re-enactment of the 94,000 acre used to distribute the land in event. In a bustling pageant of colorful post. Part of Fort 160-acre plots, rather than the homemade costumes we assembled our Sill lies within the unruly method of ‘land runs’ Radio Flyer wagons-turned-prairie Wichita Mountains, used previously in other parts of schooners and bicycles disguised as hors- which, along with the the Territory. A person wanting a es along the edges of the playground. Arbuckle Mountains far- claim had to register for the drawing. Pint-sized cowboys, pioneer families, ther east, are the ancient foothills of the On July 10, 1901, registration opened at sheriffs, soldiers and federal marshals Rocky Mountains. In addition to being a Fort Sill and at El Reno, Oklahoma. waited impatiently for the noon-time major training center for field artillery, About 29,000 would-be homesteaders gun that would signal the start of the Fort Sill holds another distinction: it is from all over the United States jour- race to claim a homestead—complete where the famous Apache Indian Chief neyed into the southwest Oklahoma with stakes—on the open prairie of the Geronimo spent his last days, and where Territory to register at Fort Sill during playground. The greatest challenge, of he is buried. Today, as the U.S. Army the 16 days registration was open. course, was to pull a fast one on the Field Artillery Center, Fort Sill remains Another 135,000 registered at El Reno. guards and sneak across the borders the only active Army installation of all Lottery planners in Washington, D.C. “sooner” than the rest. the forts on the Southern Plains built had not envisioned so many people This year as the Sooner State marks during the Indian wars, and contains a wanting land in this part of the country. the 115th anniversary of the Land Run, vast impact area where the distant The drawing began July 29th at El the landscape of the prairie has changed whump of exploding artillery rounds Reno. Only 6,500 were lucky enough to dramatically, and the population that can often be heard for miles around. be selected for a homestead in each of began with approximately 50,000 settlers According to the City of Lawton three districts, one of which was has swelled to more than 3 million. website, “Lawton was founded on Lawton.” Oklahoma City, the capital, ranks first August 6, 1901, when the Kiowa- In deciding to interview this issue’s with more than a million residents in the Comanche-Apache reservation, the last ProFile subject, City Surveyor Deral metro area (and an operating oil well on of the Indian lands in the Oklahoma Paulk, several things influenced my deci- the capitol grounds called Capitol Site Territory, was opened by the federal sion. First, a personal connection, but No. 1). Next in line is Tulsa, and vying government for settlement. A lottery was more important, a chance to gain insight

Displayed with permission • The American Surveyor • March-April • Copyright 2004 Cheves Media • www.TheAmericanSurveyor.com Paulk and Porter’s collection of survey memorabilia. The flag behind the case Paulk's father as was given to Paulk by his father, Scout Master and flew on a battleship in WWII.

surveyors wear many hats.

into the problems faced and solutions Prior to accepting the city job in 1996, implemented by today’s municipal sur- Paulk had met and started talking with veyors. Within the confines of ever- Duane Brunner, who was the Lawton shrinking budgets, Paulk’s department City Surveyor at the time. Brunner, who pro-actively seeks work and wisely allots would soon be retiring, wanted someone Michael its resources to provide real value and to carry forward with the plans he had Porter, LS benefit to the citizens of Lawton. started implementing. He knew that the Readers who frequent www.rpls.com various city construction projects could may quickly recognize Paulk by another benefit from having surveyor involve- Michael Porter, handle: Trimble Man. But what they may ment from beginning to end. Paulk had not know is how Paulk wound up in the been instrumental in implementing GPS part of a two-man place he is today, and I thought readers at Topographic, and his skills would might enjoy his story. Going back a few serve him well in Lawton (see more on surveying shop years, Paulk credits his father, a Scout Topographic and Brunner in sidebar). Master and a field engineer with the Paulk, Oklahoma LS 1279, and Lawton maintains an extensive FAA, with instilling in him a love for licensed surveyor Michael D. Porter, network and uses both real time sub- mathematics and an interest in surveying. Oklahoma LS 1514, run a two-man meter and post-processed static to (He claims that 50 percent of the regular surveying shop within Lawton’s Public populate their survey database of visitors to rpls.com owe part of their sur- Works Engineering Department. (Porter information. The Oklahoma DOT vey roots to the Boy Scouts.) Paulk spent has been with the City for 13 years, and relies extensively on CORS, and 20 years working for Topographic Inc. in would have succeeded Brunner but for Lawton cooperates not only with the Oklahoma City, where he rose to the the fact that at the time, he wasn’t DOT but the local BLM representa- rank of President of its Oklahoma licensed.) Today the department has five tive, Richard Widmark, LS, as well. Division. Paulk credits John Keating from full-time engineers, two GIS CAD tech- According to Paulk, cooperation Topographic as another one of his early nicians, four construction inspectors and with local surveyors, in general, mentors in his survey career. a secretary. is excellent.

Displayed with permission • The American Surveyor • March-April • Copyright 2004 Cheves Media • www.TheAmericanSurveyor.com In front of Paulk are project reports, each demonstrat- ing a successful outcome.

When Paulk came onboard in 1996, Paulk related another story about the the City was in the midst of a $35 mil- time they were looking for the line in an lion sewer project. As part of the project, area that had once been a B-52 bombing 150 GPS points were established for aeri- range. When the range officer heard that al control. This work utilized a local pri- they were in the area, his eyes got large, vate contractor, North Fork Surveying due to the existence of unexploded ord- out of Snyder, Oklahoma. (Phil nance. He also smiled as he recalled an Stevenson, one of the North Fork instance where they had left a backhoe owners, has been one of the leading trailer parked in an area, and were work- proponents of GPS in Oklahoma). ing quite some distance away. To their Today, using a Trimble 4600, Paulk and amazement, they watched as artillery Porter have brought the total of GPS rounds were walked across the area until monuments up to 641. the trailer was destroyed by a direct hit. Oklahoma has a PLSS corner filing When he told this story, my eyes grew requirement. More than 250 Certified large. These are the kinds of stories that Corner Records have been filed by the must make it difficult for range officers to department. At the beginning of Paulk’s sleep at night. At work in 20º weather on one of Lawton’s tenure, the City had very few bench Paulk believes strongly in continuing 42-inch water mains. marks. Enough bench marks have now education, and to that end, both he and been installed for FEMA to upgrade Porter teach classes at the Oklahoma Lawton from a Category 9 to a State University extension campus in Category 8, which has resulted in a rate Oklahoma City. Paulk teaches GPS and The Rest of the Story reduction for flood insurance. A current GIS, and Porter teaches CAD (both are project is expected to further reduce devoted OSU Cowboy fans—Pistol Pete Lawton to a category 7. rules!). Paulk feels that the legal aspects Paulk told about several interesting of State Plane Coordinates on legal projects they’ve been involved with. One descriptions are something that surveyors was a hydrant project they did using really need to pay attention to. He is also ProXRs with OmniStar. Another project an ardent supporter of the TrigStar and involved geo-referencing existing storm MathCounts programs. sirens—very important in a state known Paulk says there is excellent cooperation as Tornado Alley. Once the data was between the various units of the Lawton brought into the city’s GIS, decisions city government. His section is responsible about placing 15 more sirens was made for maps for all the other city departments, simpler. The sophisticated siren system as well as maps for City Council presenta- can be actuated by emergency personnel tions. He’s proud of the fact that maps can via cell phones in the event that actual now be generated in 10 minutes as storm conditions can be observed. opposed to the three weeks it used to take. Paulk’s department handles the 911 While in many towns the GIS is maps, and is in the process of adding under the IT department, in Lawton it’s building footprints for E-911. He said under the Engineering Department, and they have a great relationship with Fort the Engineering section is 100 percent Sill, and in fact, a City of Lawton 42-inch behind the efforts of the survey section. water line runs across the post. The GIS, although not publicly available

Displayed with permission • The American Surveyor • March-April • Copyright 2004 Cheves Media • www.TheAmericanSurveyor.com sent orders and declining budgets. which translated means “Labor Municipalities are forced to comply with Conquers All Things.” The work ethic I many regulations for which they have witnessed in Lawton is no exception. no funding. In Paulk’s case, these While we were there, Paulk laid more include regs from the Oklahoma than a dozen project reports on the table Department of Environmental Quality, and quickly showed how, in each one, the Water Resources Board and the the constant money-saving ethic of the EPA. One particular project had been Engineering Department was evident. A A little survey humor. delayed for two years as they waited for schedule of field work is established and Warning: don't try this at home. an archeological study to be completed. everything they do has an outcome- On top of this are various regulations based measuring element. Because the yet, hopes to use MapGuide. The promulgated by city and state codes and survey group has shown its value, it is Engineering Department uses AutoCAD the Oklahoma Board of Registration for involved (as Duane Brunner had envi- Map because their GIS software can’t be Surveyors and Engineers. The depart- sioned) in every project from beginning used for design work, but Map can han- ment’s well-maintained but elderly to end, and it is relied upon by a variety dle the GIS work. For computations, Topcon total station is years past the age of city agencies for its unique contribu- Paulk and Porter use Eagle Point, and that most private sector firms would tion. Larger municipalities are sometimes are able to accomplish 100 percent of the have had it replaced. The department is overwhelmed by the sheer magnitude of linework with careful field coding. also waiting for funding that will allow it the work, not to mention the lack of Paulk and Porter act as a two-man to modernize its GPS equipment with funding, but Porter says that Lawton, crew, and handle all of the necessary RTK to further save time and money for containing 40 square miles, is small fieldwork and office work. He claims city projects. enough that projects actually get finished. that they can gather 400-500 points a As for the future, Paulk looks forward I thoroughly enjoyed my visit with day, and can kick out a finished map to the day when GPS and total stations these folks from a professional as well as within a day. They take lots of digital are combined to enable position gather- a personal perspective. Events set in images of the projects, and with ing at the same time angles are being motion by Sergeant Brunner are playing AutoCAD Map, routinely link photo turned. He would like to incorporate the out in a way that the townspeople may data with drawings. Paulk and Porter new Thales MobileMapper and Navcom not see, but the work they’re doing coordinate closely with the city’s Right RTK base station into the workflow for allows Paulk and Porter to go home at of Way Department, and Paulk indicat- GIS projects. the end of the day with a sense of satis- ed that a real plus for them is having Anyone who has lived or worked for faction over a job well done. And by the two people in that department available any length of time in Oklahoma will tell way, did I mention that Paulk and Porter for courthouse research. you about the strong work ethic that is are Oklahoma State Cowboy fans? When I inquired about unique prob- evident in people across the state. lems that he faces, Paulk immediately Perhaps it comes as no surprise then that Marc Cheves is Editor of the responded with unfunded mandates/con- the State Motto is Labor Omnia Vincit, magazine.

or many of us, the longer we live, the more we experience the weaving of past events and cross paths with individuals who leave a lasting impression on our lives. The timing of those events is often remarkable and unplanned. The people and places mentioned in this Farticle are a good example of that. When my father returned home from active duty as a Seabee in the mid-40s, my parents lived in Lawton, which is where I was born. Shortly thereafter we moved to Oklahoma City. In 1963 I was hired by Mr. John Keating to work for his company, Topographic Engineering. Forty years later, as this issue of the magazine was going to press, I received a wonderful letter from Mr. Keating (you can read his letter in the Feedback section on pg. 75). Then, in 1967, after enlisting in the US Army, I did part of my training as an artillery surveyor at Fort Sill. Shortly thereafter I was transferred to Germany, where Master Sergeant Duane Brunner and I worked on a survey crew for the 4th Battalion, 41st Field Artillery out of Schwaebisch Gmuend. Our mission was to establish wartime launch sites for Pershing nuclear missiles. Of course, this was in the day before technology, and our crew used a T-2, double-taped all distances, and performed calculations with log tables. Needless to say, our crew—with Sergeant Brunner, an instrument operator, a note keeper, two chainmen, two computors, and a crew chief—cut quite a swath as we surveyed across southwest Germany. (Pictured left: Master Sgt. Brunner & Crew, 1970; Right: Retired Sergeant Major Brunner today) Sergeant Major Brunner, originally from Nebraska, retired from the Army in Lawton. When he first applied for his Oklahoma license, the Board turned him down due to the fact that most of his experience came from the military. He eventually obtained his license and went on to become the President of the Oklahoma Society of Land Surveyors. The survey group in the City of Lawton has had four OSLS presidents, starting with Brunner’s predecessor, Joe Scheller. Paulk has been president, and Porter is president-elect. –Marc Cheves