(a) Except as otherwise provided by law, the county board shall fix the compensation of county surveyors or their deputies, including their necessary expenses. All records of surveys are public records and must be made available by the county surveyor at all reasonable times to inspection by any person. The county board shall, at the expense of the county, provide to the county surveyor all proper and necessary files for keeping these records. The county survey records must be kept in the office of the county surveyor or of the county recorder of the county. If an office for the county surveyor is maintained in a building maintained by the county for county purposes on a full-time basis, then the records shall be kept in the office of the county surveyor.

(b) If a county closes an office of the county surveyor that the county maintained in a building maintained by the county for county purposes on a full-time basis, the county shall transfer all certificates of location of corners filed with that office under section 381.12, subdivisions 1 and 3, to be recorded in the office of the county recorder.