News

The Board of Registration for Professional Engineers & Land Surveyors presented four sessions at this year’s Land Surveyor’s Association of Washington conference, February 26 through 28^th at the Tulalip Resort and Casino.

Former BRPELS Board member, Scott Valentine, passed away in Spokane, January 2, 2024. He was appointed to the Board in July 2005, serving two terms until July 2015.

He was a Professional Land Surveyor licensed in Washington, Montana and Idaho and was a former State President of both LSAW and of the Montana Association of Land Surveyors. He lived in Spokane where he owned a small private land survey company, Scott Valentine Surveying. He practiced mainly in Eastern Washington with project work in Idaho and Montana.

His Board goal was to make decisions that are in the best… Read more

A varied group of 11 Professional Land Surveyor (PLS) Subject Matter Expert (SMEs) met at the Board office in Olympia on January 23-24, 2025, to review and validate the questions on two new PLS State Exams.

The questions reviewed were written by a separate SME group and resided in our question bank for several years. Recently, our contracted psychometrician used the bank of questions to create the two new exam forms.

One of the new exams will be used for the March 2025 PLS State Exam.

This was a combined effort of agency staff, board members and subject matter… Read more

BRPELS was at the Tacoma Dome, for the Home & Garden Show the weekend of February 1st, talking with homeowners, landowners, contractors, etc., on the importance of hiring licensed, professional land surveyors, engineers and on-site designers. Our “Don’t Cut Corners” campaign explained it with signs, swag and links to our special webpage https://brpels.wa.gov/protect-yourself

We also promoted the campaign “Get Kids Into Survey,” using our special character “Blaze, the BRPELS Bigfoot,” with a life-size cutout for kids… Read more

BRPELS presented at this year’s “Septic-Con,” the conference for on-site designers and inspectors, at the Tacoma Convention Center, January 24 and 25, 2025. Speakers reviewed rule changes, secondary safety barriers, age trends for on-site licensees, design considerations and complaint trends. About 80 people packed the event, with standing room only.

This year’s presenters included Ken Fuller PE, BRPELS Director, Bob Goodman, Designer and BRPELS On-Site Committee, Bob Suggs, Regulator, Tacoma Pierce County Health District and On-Site Committee, Kyle Goodman, PE, Goodman Engineering… Read more

At a meeting of the Land Surveyors' Association of Washington, Northwest Chapter, members learned more about our agency and its many functions.

Presentations were by BRPELS Deputy Director, Kristina Horton, PLS, and Communication Manager, Greg Schieferstein. Kristina explained the recent history of the agency, makeup of the Board, licensing and investigations.  

“Members were very inquisitive, especially about investigations” Kris said. “Some shared their experience, which matched the process we explained. We were also impressed by the wide variety of knowledge in… Read more

It’s Matthew Rasmussen, PE, PLS

Rasmussen has over 22 years as a registered Professional Engineer and Professional Land Surveyor in Washington.

• Current Deputy County Administrator for Benton County
• Former Benton County Public Works Administrator and County Engineer
• Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering, Geospatial, from California State Polytechnic University, Pomona

Rasmussen replaces James Wengler, PLS CFedS who retires after serving two 5-year terms. He'll remain a Pro-Tem Board member, assisting with… Read more