County's map-maker moving on
Staff writer
Joan Watkins has loved her job as a cartographer in the appraiser's department for Marion County. She's loved it for more than 17 years, but is taking the early-retirement option starting Friday, to pursue some other interests.
There will be a come-and-go retirement reception for Watkins from 2 to 4 p.m. Friday in the lower level of the courthouse.
County Appraiser Dianna Carter said, "It's hard to lose someone who has so much experience and is such a good employee. It's like losing part of your family.
"We all wish her the best and know she'll enjoy her retirement," said Carter.
When Watkins began working at the courthouse, Max Hayen was the county appraiser. Marion County was one of the first in the state to do an in-house mapping and residential re-appraisal, she said.
Most counties were "farming" (contracting) out such work at that time, Watkins said.
Mapping and map-making (cartography) intrigued her from the start, she said. "I liked art, and liked to draw, and it was a challenge."
Her job, she said, involves creating, maintaining, and correcting ownership maps of property in the county.
"We have 11,860 ownership parcels of real estate that we maintain maps of. This determines property boundaries and ownership for taxation purposes.
"I work with the public a lot, with title people, appraisers, engineers. I help with deed research and legal interpretations, and boundaries according to deeds," Watkins said Thursday.
"We have field appraisers who look at properties and may find a use change or a type change, or an ownership change.
"Deeds are the most important item in determining ownership."
She said when subdivisions are formed, they have to be drawn on maps as updates. This is done according to recorded plats from the Register of Deeds office.
She has seen a lot of changes, Watkins said, in her time with the appraiser's office. Computers and automation are the most obvious.
"We started using Arc-Info software in 1988, drew all the county maps on it. We were not as proficient in computers as we now are."
She said all redrawing and redoing is now done with Autocad Map software. She began using it two years ago. "Right now, we're using it to put text on maps — acreage amounts, status of ownership, parcel numbers, lot and block numbers, etc.," Watkins said.
"We will be able to do lots more, and the public will have greater access to information, with the Web site," she said, referring to the Marion County site.
Maps eventually may go on the site, too, but that is some time away.
The mapmaker's job has been "a rewarding part of my life," she said. Her co-worker, Lee Dalrymple, a GIS (Geographic Information System) technician, has redrawn all the county maps.
He also is redrawing all the maps of cities in Marion County. "We have been redoing all the detail and text. It will be a definite asset to all when completed," Watkins said.
"I enjoyed the manual drawing much more," she added. "I will miss everyone; all of the help and support from other departments, as well as my co-workers and my boss, Dianna Carter.
"And I will really miss helping the public. My wish for the new person (her successor) is only the best," Watkins said.
Watkins does a lot of text work, she said. This includes interpreting deeds, looking at use/value on land, asking about road rights of way, and many other duties that crop up.
She looks at maps, clarifies things for people. She does legal research.
In her free time, she draws and writes poetry. She hopes to take some classes in oil painting.
She and her husband Melvin have a daughter, Debbie Steele, who works at the Marion County Farm Service Agency office here.
They have three grandchildren.
Melvin and Joan are native Kansans, but had been living in Arizona several years when they moved to Marion in 1981.
She worked in admissions at St. Luke Hospital for 3 1/2 years before taking the appraiser's cartography job.
She is a Wichita native, and her husband was born in Minneapolis, Kan.
