To amend sections 305.15, 315.02, 315.08, 315.14, 315.15, 315.16, 315.17, 315.18, 315.22, 315.25, 315.28, 315.29, 315.31, 315.32, 315.33, 315.34, and 315.39 of the Revised Code to eliminate the requirement that a county engineer be a registered surveyor and require that the county engineer have a registered surveyor on the county engineer's staff or contract for the services of a registered surveyor.

Section 1. That sections 305.15, 315.02, 315.08, 315.14, 315.15, 315.16, 315.17, 315.18, 315.22, 315.25, 315.28, 315.29, 315.31, 315.32, 315.33, 315.34, and 315.39 of the Revised Code be amended to read as follows:

Sec. 305.15.  When the services of an engineer or surveyor are required with respect to roads, turnpikes, ditches, bridges, or any other matter or duty imposed on the office of county engineer, and when, on account of the amount of work to be performed, the board of county commissioners deems it necessary, upon the written request of the county engineer, the board may employ a registered professional engineer or registered surveyor and as many assistant engineers, rodmen rodpersons, and inspectors as are needed, and may also enter into contracts with any person, firm, partnership, association, or corporation qualified to perform engineering or surveying services in the state for this purpose and fix the compensation therefor. In awarding such contracts the board shall not be required to comply with sections 153.40 and section 5555.61 of the Revised Code. If no such contract is entered into, the board shall furnish suitable offices, necessary books, stationery, instruments, and implements for the proper performance of the duties imposed on the engineer, surveyor, assistant engineers, rodmen rodpersons, and inspectors by such board.

Sec. 315.02.  No person holding the office of clerk of the court of common pleas, sheriff, county treasurer, or county recorder is eligible to hold the office of county engineer. No person is eligible in any county as a candidate for such the office of county engineer or shall be elected or appointed thereto to that office unless he the person is a registered professional engineer and a registered surveyor, licensed to practice in this state.

Sec. 315.08.  The office of the county engineer shall contract for under section 305.15 of the Revised Code or perform for the county all duties authorized or declared by law to be done by a registered professional engineer or registered surveyor, except those duties described in sections 307.37 and 307.38 and Chapters 343., 6103., and 6117. of the Revised Code. The engineer shall prepare all plans, specifications, details, estimates of cost, and submit forms of contracts for the construction, maintenance, and repair of all bridges, culverts, roads, drains, ditches, roads on county fairgrounds, and other public improvements, except buildings, constructed under the authority of any board within and for the county. The engineer shall not be required to prepare plans, specifications, details, estimates of costs, or forms of contracts for emergency repairs authorized under section 315.13 of the Revised Code, unless the engineer determines them necessary. The office of the county engineer shall have a registered surveyor on its staff, who may be the county engineer or another individual if the county engineer is not a registered surveyor, or shall contract for surveying services in accordance with section 305.15 of the Revised Code. A registered surveyor acting under contract pursuant to section 305.15 of the Revised Code shall be considered to be acting on behalf of the office of the county engineer.

Sec. 315.14.  The county engineer shall be responsible for the inspection of all public improvements made under authority of the board of county commissioners. The engineer shall keep in suitable books a complete record of all estimates and summaries of bids received and contracts for the various improvements, together with the record of all estimates made for payments on that work. The office of the county engineer shall make or contract for all surveys required by law, shall perform or contract for all necessary services to be performed by a registered surveyor or registered professional engineer in connection with the construction, repair, or opening of all county roads or ditches constructed under the authority of the board, and shall perform other duties as the board requires, provided that the duties described in sections 307.37 and 307.38 and Chapters 343., 6103., and 6117. of the Revised Code shall be performed only pursuant to an agreement between the county engineer and the board. An agreement of that type may provide for the county engineer's performance of duties described in one or more of those sections or chapters, and may provide for the county engineer's performance of all duties imposed upon a county sanitary engineer under Chapters 6103. and 6117. of the Revised Code or only the duties imposed upon a county sanitary engineer under Chapter 6117. of the Revised Code in relation to drainage. The board shall determine the compensation for performance of the relevant duties described in sections 307.37 and 307.38 and Chapters 343., 6103., and 6117. of the Revised Code and shall pay the county engineer from funds available under the applicable section or chapter or from the general fund of the county. The performance of the relevant duties described in sections 307.37 and 307.38 and Chapters 343., 6103., and 6117. of the Revised Code shall not constitute engaging in the private practice of engineering or surveying.

Sec. 315.15.  When a the office of the county engineer or his deputy is called upon to make a survey to be offered as evidence, the adverse party having notice of the time of the making of such the survey, the county engineer or deputy, upon application of either party to the cause of action, shall administer an oath to any witness brought to prove any corner or line of such the survey, or the existence of any natural or artificial object or mark which that is necessary to identify any corner or line of such the survey. Such The testimony shall be reduced to writing, subscribed by the witnesses, and return thereof made returned to the court along with the return of the survey.

Sec. 315.16.  When a survey or calculation is to be used as evidence, all calculations, by the county engineer or other person, to ascertain the contents of a tract of land shall be made by latitude and departure. On such any plat, the person making such the survey or calculation shall note the variation of the magnetic needle from the original course of such the survey.

Sec. 315.17.  When a tract of land is situated in two or more counties, or when the beginning of the entry or survey on which such the tract of land depends is in a different county from that in which than part of such tracts of land are that tract, the court of common pleas, in either of such the counties, may issue an order of survey to the county engineer of either of such the counties, who and the office of the county engineer shall survey such the tract of land and run and lay down the entry or survey lines necessary to establish it.

Sec. 315.18.  On the application of any person producing to the county engineer a certificate from the proper officer, the office of the county engineer or the engineer's deputy may survey all lands that have been sold for taxes, which lie within the engineer's county. When a portion of any land or lot has been sold for taxes, and, after the sale and before a survey of the land or lot, the land or lot is set off to another county by the erection of a new county or change of county lines, the office of the engineer of the county in which the sale was made may make the survey, and the county auditor of the same county shall make the deed.

Sec. 315.22.  No survey made by or on behalf of the office of the county engineer or his deputy, unless made by an order of the court of common pleas, or made in accordance with sections 315.15 to 315.18 of the Revised Code, shall be considered evidence.

Sec. 315.25.  The county engineer shall make and keep, in a book provided for that purpose, an accurate record of all surveys made by him or his deputies or on behalf of the office of the county engineer for the purpose of locating any land or road lines, or fixing any corner or monument by which it may be determined, whether official or otherwise. Such surveys Surveys shall include corners, distances, azimuths, angles, calculations, plats, and a description of the monuments set up, with such references thereto as will that aid in finding the names of the parties for whom the surveys are made, and the date of making such the surveys. Such The book shall be kept as a public record by the engineer at his the office of the county engineer, and it shall be at all proper times open to inspection and examination by all persons interested therein any person. Any other surveys made in the county by competent surveyors, certified by such surveyor to be correct and deemed worthy of preservation, may, by order of the board of county commissioners, be recorded by the engineer.

Sec. 315.28. (A) Any person who owns or is interested in a tract of land within this state, any corner or line of which has become lost or uncertain, or is in danger of becoming lost or uncertain by the removal, destruction, defacement, or perishing condition of any corner, witness or line tree, monument, or other cause, may call on request the office of the county engineer of the county in which the land lies to make a survey of such that land, and may cause to be planted plant at any corner, or at proper places in any line thereof, a stone or post, noting particularly the situation and condition of the original corner trees or monuments called for in the original survey, if found, and of all other trees or monuments which it that may be important or advisable to note, and of all the places of notoriety over or by which the lines of such the survey pass.

(B) If it is a single tract is divided by a county line, such an owner or interested person may call on request the office of the engineer of any county in which a part of such the tract lies to survey that land as described in division (A) of this section. The office of the engineer shall make out a plat and certificate of such the survey, under his the engineer's hand, noting the names of the chainmen chain holders, markers, and other assistants in such the survey, and of all other persons present at the planting of any stone or post. The engineer shall also note the variation of the compass from the original calls at the time of making such the survey.

Sec. 315.29. (A) When the corners of a survey as provided in section 315.28 of the Revised Code have been destroyed, the owner of such the survey or of other lands, the title of which is affected by the loss of any such the corner, may call on request the office of the engineer of the county in which the land is situated, who shall attend on the ground where it is intended to establish such the corners, at such the time as the applicant appoints. The

(B) The engineer shall issue a subpoena, directed to any constable or other person fit to execute it, to cause such witnesses, from outside as well as within his the engineer's county, as the person demanding such the warrant or other interested person requires, to come before him the engineer. The

(C) The engineer shall examine such the witnesses on oath, touching the existence and situation of such the corners, or any other matter in relation to the entry or survey of such the land, and he the engineer shall take the testimony in writing which shall be signed by the witnesses and certified and signed by shall sign and the engineer shall sign or certify. In

(D) In making a survey of the land and planting stones or posts at the corners, as provided in section 315.28 of the Revised Code, the engineer shall have reference to and be governed by the depositions so taken, and shall specify them in his the engineer's certificate of survey, in which the engineer shall also be mentioned include the names of the persons present at the planting of any cornerstone or post. No

(E) No person who resides outside the county where such depositions are to be taken shall be bound to attend unless traveling fees, both going and returning, and for one day's attendance, have been tendered him the engineer. No witness attending from outside the county shall be obliged to attend more than one day unless additional fees for such attendance are tendered.

Sec. 315.31.  Any county engineer making whose office makes surveys under sections 315.28 to 315.30, inclusive, of the Revised Code, shall record the plat and certificate of such the surveys in a book kept by him for that purpose, together with the depositions, notices, advertisements, and the evidence in relation to such the depositions, notices, and advertisements, and shall, on demand, deliver the original plat and certificate of the survey to the person at whose instance such the survey was made or depositions taken.

Sec. 315.32.  The plat and certificate made by the office of any county engineer, or the depositions taken by such engineer, as provided by sections 315.28 to 315.31, inclusive, of the Revised Code, or a certified copy of such the plat, certificate, or depositions from the engineer's office shall be evidence in any court in any cause in which the title of any land to which they apply is affected, but the recorded depositions of witnesses so recorded shall only be received when such those witnesses are dead or outside the jurisdiction of the court.

Sec. 315.33.  County engineers, chainmen, and markers The office of the county engineer shall receive a fee for services rendered under sections 315.28 to 315.32 of the Revised Code, but the fee shall not exceed the actual cost incurred by the county for labor, equipment, and materials. Witnesses shall receive the same fees and mileage as allowed by section 2335.06 of the Revised Code. All such expenses shall be paid by the persons applying for a survey and depositions, who may recover, from the persons owning the adjoining lands that are benefited by the perpetuation of such the testimony, their equal proportion of the expense incurred in obtaining such the evidence.

Sec. 315.34.  Within his a county engineer's own county, a county the office of the county engineer may call before him into attendance, examine on oath, and take in writing the testimony of any witnesses for the establishment of any surveyed or agreed corner of the lands of any person who applies to him the engineer, after notice has been given to the person holding adjoining lands, as required in taking testimony for the establishment of old or decayed corners of land by pursuant to the procedures described in section 315.30 of the Revised Code. The taking of testimony Testimony under this section shall be under taken pursuant to the same regulations and restrictions and in the same manner as provided by sections 315.28 to 315.33, inclusive, of the Revised Code.

Testimony taken under this section and shall have the same effect in law as evidence taken to perpetuate old or decayed corners under such those sections. The engineer, other officers, and witnesses are entitled to demand and receive from the persons interested in the surveys and establishment of corners, under this section, the same fees as are allowed by section 315.33 of the Revised Code for similar services.

Sec. 315.39.  Any person violating section 2921.31 of the Revised Code shall be liable for all damages sustained by any other person by the hindrance of the county engineer or his deputy a person in the engineer's office in carrying out the duties of the engineer and the office of the engineer, and all expenses and costs that accrue in consequence of the attendance of by having the sheriff, who, upon the call of such the engineer or deputy, shall person from the engineer's office, accompany and protect him the engineer or person from the engineer's office.

Section 2. That existing sections 305.15, 315.02, 315.08, 315.14, 315.15, 315.16, 315.17, 315.18, 315.22, 315.25, 315.28, 315.29, 315.31, 315.32, 315.33, 315.34, and 315.39 of the Revised Code are hereby repealed.

Section 3. Section 315.02 of the Revised Code, as amended by this act, applies only to county engineers whose initial election or appointment to that office is after the effective date of this act.