- County surveyors are elected officials who serve four-year terms and focus exclusively on land surveying and boundary work.
- In Boone County and across Northern Kentucky, surveyors support the fiscal court with projects involving land acquisition, parks, and road rights-of-way.
- The office’s duties are strictly limited to surveying, not engineering or design, ensuring accurate property lines and public land records.
The role of county surveyor in Northern Kentucky is one of the region’s lesser-known elected positions, but it plays a vital part in maintaining precise property boundaries and supporting county land management.
In Kentucky, each county elects a surveyor to a four-year term. The role has its roots in the state’s early history and remains a constitutionally established office. Although the surveyor’s responsibilities vary across counties, the position generally involves land surveying and boundary work rather than engineering or infrastructure design.
Boone County Surveyor Greg Larison, who is also a civil engineer with Viox & Viox, said his role focuses exclusively on land surveying issues under the direction of the Boone County Fiscal Court. Many county surveyors, such as Larison, are professionals who run private practices or work for private firms while fulfilling their public duties.
“The county surveyor, especially in Boone County, serves at the pleasure of the fiscal court and just strictly handles land surveying issues,” Larison said. “Right now, I’m working on several parcels for the Public Improvement District, or any land acquisition that the county has that they need a survey on. We are excluded from any engineering projects; it has to be 100% land surveying only.”
Larison said the scope of his office’s work includes surveying right-of-way parcels, acquiring land for parks and identifying future road construction sites. In addition, he’s are also responsible for ensuring the accuracy of land boundaries and plots recorded with the county clerk.
“The county’s (Boone County) always been very good about using the county surveyor for strictly land surveying activities,” he said. “They have to use me for those services, as long as my fees are not out of line.”
Though surveyors aren’t as visible as other local officials, their work ensures that public infrastructure, private development and land ownership records are accurate and legally sound.