(a) The board of county commissioners of each county may appoint a land surveyor, whose official title shall be county surveyor. The county surveyor may appoint deputy county surveyors, and each deputy may perform the duties devolved upon the county surveyor by law. The county surveyor shall be a land surveyor, licensed pursuant to article 70 of chapter 74 of the Kansas Statutes Annotated, and amendments thereto. The county surveyor may be a full-time or part-time county employee, or a contract employee, as determined appropriate by the board of county commissioners. A land surveyor may be a county surveyor in more than one county.

(b) For purposes of this section and article 14 of chapter 19 of the Kansas Statutes Annotated, and amendments thereto, the term “land surveyor” shall have the same meaning as the term “professional surveyor,” as defined in Kan. Stat. Ann. § 74-7003, and amendments thereto.