Our seminars are led by experienced registered professional land surveyors. They provide valuable insights and practical knowledge essential for your continuing education requirements.
Location
Salvation Army Kroc Center - Kerrville
201 Holdsworth Drive
Kerrville, Texas 78028
Back in 2000 my brother Don and I attended a surveyor continuing education course in Blanco TX. The presenters included a couple of surveyors and an attorney, James Noble Johnson. We were truly impressed by James's presentation as we had never known an attorney who knew so much about surveying. James later became chairman of the Texas Board of Land Surveying.
After the course in Blanco, my brother approached James about possibly hosting a continuing education course in Kerrville with James as the "speaker". Don and I own Voelkel Land Surveying in Kerrville and thought it would be a great idea to host our own course right here in the area to serve the many surveyors in and around Kerrville and thus, Hill Country Land Surveyors Seminar was born.
We offered our first continuing education course in 2001 at the fellowship hall of the Presbyterian Church in Kerrville. It was such a success that we committed to doing it every year since. Each year was better than the previous one as James offered a plethora of surveying and legal knowledge concerning surveying. The most important aspect of James's presentations was attendee participation. Sharing surveying stories and questions became the highlight of each event.
After 11 years of sharing his knowledge with us James passed away too soon. And without hesitation, we had two of the most knowledgeable and respected surveyors in the State of Texas step into the void left by James. The new presenters, Garey Gilley and Ben Thomson, didn't miss a beat and continued to share their surveying knowledge and expertise. Attendee participation remained the highlight of the day as Ben always says, "the only stupid question you might have is the one you didn't ask."
When our board changed the continuing education requirement to 12 hours a year, including 3 hours of rules and ethics, we went to a 1.5 day seminar, with a half day on Friday afternoon and all day Saturday. The changed format has worked well and allows our surveyors to get their entire 12 hours in one weekend.
We continued to meet at the Presbyterian Church until COVID came along in 2020 and the church fellowship hall was no longer available which forced us to move the location of the seminar to the KROC (in Kerrville) and have greatly enjoyed their facility.
When Garey died unexpectedly on the morning of our seminar in 2023, one of our regular attendees, David Vilbig stepped up to help Ben present our continuing education course. Over the years we have built great relationships with so many surveyors. We seem to have our "regular" surveyor friends come every year and are always adding new friends to the core group. I look forward to our time together each year as we share our experiences in both life and surveying.
Don and I would like to invite all surveyors to join us, especially if you share the same passions. We have fun as we cuss and discuss surveying issues. I can think of no better way to satisfy the 12 hours of continuing education. I can say with no hesitation that we have learned something new from every single seminar.
Our upcoming seminar is scheduled for October 2 and 3, 2026. Friday's opening session
will begin at 1pm and end at 5pm. The afternoon session will include drinks and snacks and plenty
of breaks to socialize with each other. The Saturday session will begin at 8am and include a
breakfast bar with coffee, juice and water for drinks. At noon we will take a break for lunch where
BBQ will be served and the afternoon will include snacks and drinks and of course the "social"
breaks will continue throughout the day. The Saturday session will conclude at 5pm.
Put the dates on your calendar ... I hope you can join us for the education and the fun. Our
flyer will be sent via email at the beginning of July. If you can join us, please email me at
lee -- at -- kerrcountysurveyor -- dot -- com to reserve a seat and make sure you get the flyer. The flyer will contain more details on specific discussion topics as well as information regarding the registration fee amount and payment procedure.
Hope to see you in October!!
Lee C. Voelkel
Registered Professional Land Surveyor No. 3909
County Surveyor for Kerr County, Texas
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David is a graduate of Texas Tech University with a Bachelor of Science Civil Engineering degree in 1977. He became licensed as a Registered Professional Land Surveyor (No. 3989) – Texas in 1981 and a Registered Professional Engineer (No. 67207) – Texas in 1990. He is also a Registered Professional
Engineer in Colorado, Louisiana, Missour
David is a graduate of Texas Tech University with a Bachelor of Science Civil Engineering degree in 1977. He became licensed as a Registered Professional Land Surveyor (No. 3989) – Texas in 1981 and a Registered Professional Engineer (No. 67207) – Texas in 1990. He is also a Registered Professional
Engineer in Colorado, Louisiana, Missouri and Oklahoma, and on the National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying. David is a Managing Member of Vilbig & Associates, P.L.L.C. and is directly responsible for the firm’s engineering and surveying operations. Likewise, he presides over the management of business matters of the company. David founded the company in 1981and continues to play a hands-on role in the growth and development of the firm. David’s career reflects over 30 years of professional land surveying and civil engineering experience in connection with airport, military and civil public works projects, as well as corporate land development
activities for residential, commercial and industrial projects. His diversified experience encompasses large scale residential and apartment developments, including shopping centers and industrial parks. David was appointed by Governor Clements to the Texas Board of Professional Land Surveyors (1989-1994) and was former vice chairman. He was also appointed to the Advisory Committee for Texas A&M University, Corpus Christi-Conrad Blucher Institute for Surveying and Science. His technical presentations include Land
Law Conferences of Texas with James Johnson (2002 and 2006), Texas Society of Professional Engineers Annual Conference with James Johnson (2006), Texas Society of Professional Surveyors Technical Presentation-Annual Conference (2011), and Hill Country Land Surveyors Seminar with Ben Thomson (2022-2023).
Ben is a graduate of Texas A&M with a Bachelor of Science Civil Engineering degree, Class of ‘59. He has been active in the surveying and engineering professions since 1960. Dates of licensure include R.P.L.S.- 1965, P.E. - 1967, and L.S.L.S. - 1971. He is also a licensed surveyor in Colorado. Prior to being employed by the Texas Gener
Ben is a graduate of Texas A&M with a Bachelor of Science Civil Engineering degree, Class of ‘59. He has been active in the surveying and engineering professions since 1960. Dates of licensure include R.P.L.S.- 1965, P.E. - 1967, and L.S.L.S. - 1971. He is also a licensed surveyor in Colorado. Prior to being employed by the Texas General Land Office (GLO). he was active in surveying
and engineering in all phases of land development. Subsequently he was with
TxDOT for several years preparing right of way maps and highway plans and supervising all phases of highway construction. Entering full time private practice in surveying and engineering in 1972 he worked in many areas of the state and was a frequent researcher in the records of the GLO. He was employed
at the GLO in March of 1988 and became Director of Surveying in September of that year, a position he held for 18 years. He was promoted to Senior Land Surveyor in September of 2006 and retained that position until retirement in 2008. His 20 years of experience at the GLO included supervision and performance of survey work on state lands with substantial work on littoral and riparian boundaries, assessment, review, and retracement of state land boundaries, review of private survey work submitted to the state for various purposes, extensive gradient boundary experience on streams throughout the
state, assessment and handling of vacant land and excess land matters, court appearances on boundary litigation, and extensive research in the records of the GLO. Since retiring from the GLO he has returned to the full time practice of surveying and engineering at his office in Junction. He holds the distinction of
being the longest serving member of the Texas Board of Professional Land Surveying, serving from 1977 to 2006. He is a life member of TSPS and served on its Board of Directors 1973-1980. He has served on the surveying exam committee of the National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying
since 1990 and chaired that committee for one year.