After nearly two decades of chasing down rogue property lines and dodging "seagull bombs" while surveying silt-filled ponds, Salt Lake County Surveyor Reid Demman is finally putting his surveyor’s tools to rest. First elected in 2006, Demman who will step down in January, has seen it all—from projects like mapping bee health to pioneering drone use, all while keeping Salt Lake County’s boundaries straight. As he prepares for retirement, he jokes that he’ll miss the drones, but not the mud.

“We were the first public surveying office in Utah, and in fact, the first in the nation to develop a process for those surveys to be filed in the office electronically,” Demman said. “This created a convenient way for private surveyors to file their surveys and for the public to access such without having to travel and appear at the County Government Center in person or during regular business hours.”

This push for digital transformation allowed the office to reallocate resources and improve services for the surveying community. Demman said, “Reducing in-person visits to the office allowed my team to repurpose resources more efficiently and provide much improved services.”

The role of a county surveyor might not be glamorous, but it is crucial. Demman’s office managed everything from maintaining the Public Land Survey System to working with multiple municipalities on land-use projects. One of the biggest challenges was balancing the demand for development with the need to protect the integrity of property boundaries. “Your County Surveyor has an enormous responsibility to monitor and protect the system,” Demman explained, emphasizing how even a single disturbed survey monument could lead to disputes over property lines.

The COVID-19 pandemic added another layer of difficulty, as construction projects boomed while social distancing measures made fieldwork more complex. “Construction and activities in roads boomed during the pandemic. It was impossible for field staff to social distance in our crew vehicles,” he recalled. “We had to provide separate vehicles for each field person… and stagger crew starting and quitting times.”

Demman prided himself on breaking down barriers between government entities, making collaboration a cornerstone of his approach. “One of my so-to-speak ‘pet peeves’ with government has always been the lack of collaboration and coordination between various government offices,” he said. Through initiatives like pilot projects and inter-departmental partnerships, Demman worked to ensure that the Surveyor’s Office became an active and integrated part of the county’s broader governmental framework.

He noted that these efforts led to some unexpected collaborations. “Who would even think that the Surveyor is involved with developing a mobile application to monitor bee health or the interactive mapping of cool zones?” he said, smiling.

Demman’s most significant legacy may well be the way he embraced technology to improve efficiency and accuracy. His office was the first public agency in Utah to be licensed to use drones for survey work, a move that not only saved time but also made certain projects safer. 

“We were the first public office in Utah to be legally, and I emphasize ‘legally,’ licensed to operate drones to enhance our work,” Demman said. “It took us nearly two years to get through the process…. I may have had the original vision, but in reality, I had a very tenacious employee to credit for that.”

As he prepares to hand over the reins, Demman offered some advice for his successor: “You must justify your budgetary needs through the public process with the County Council. You provide guidance, vision, direct the efforts, hire and retain talented managers and staff, and provide the ongoing training and resources they need to perform their work. Then you get out of their way and let them do what they do best.”

He also emphasized the importance of being accessible and responsive to the public. “Make sure they get where they need to go and receive the help they need regardless. That philosophy will require my successor to step beyond their role of the County Surveyor and become familiar with the operations of the entire county.”

Demman is looking forward to retirement but doesn’t plan to disappear entirely. “My plans after leaving the Surveyor’s Office will certainly be to spend more quality time with family and friends,” he said. “We have daughters and grandkids living outside of Utah that we intend to visit more often….More golf is also in my future.”

Professionally, Demman will stay involved in the field by serving on the Board of Directors of the National Association of County Surveyors and maintaining his membership in the Utah Council of Land Surveyors. “I am also open to returning to the County to volunteer, serve on committees or work in some limited time capacity to help wherever they will have me,” he said. “It is part of my being to be engaged in issues I feel strongly about.”

As he reflects on his career, Demman expressed gratitude for the support he received from the public. “First off, I want to thank the public for trusting me and for the fantastic support I have received through the years,” he said. “Being concerned with a legacy for myself has never been a priority or even much of a thought….My goal has always been to leave the office in a better position than it was before I got here.”

Two members from his office will compete to take his spot in November. The winner of the Surveyor race between Democrat Kent Setterberg and Republican Bradley Park, will take the oath of office in January.