Building department leaders: McKinney Building Department lauds accreditation value

The International Accreditation Service Building Department Accreditation Program is for governmental agencies and third-parties providing building department services. “Accreditation signifies that the department operates under the highest professional and technical standards and provides a high standard of public safety and services to the community,” said Rick Herzberger, chief building official for the city of McKinney, Texas. Since having joined the ranks of IAS-accredited building departments, McKinney has been a strong advocate for the program.

The city of McKinney serves a population of about 180,000 Texans across an area of 116 square miles. Herzberger maintains a staff of more than 30 people. He believes his department has realized significant gains through accreditation. According to Herzberger, the IAS accreditation has helped his team identify and implement opportunities that “drive a high-performance organization and encourage professional growth, while raising awareness of building codes and safe building practices.” In addition, he explains that their job tasks and procedures have become much more consistent, which strengthens their departmental accountability and improves the quality of customer service. “We have an established and proactive continuous plan of improvement for the department that will be under continual review by IAS,” he said.

Building blocks

McKinney’s enthusiasm and proactive approach caught the attention of the IAS accreditation reviewers. For example, the McKinney team created a best practice matrix that allowed the collection and tracking of the IAS compliance process. “If there was a best practice for submitting information to the IAS evaluation team, McKinney’s submittal would be the model,” commented the IAS evaluation team. “It was well organized with direct links to supporting evidentiary documents so that the evaluation team was able to speed through the review with minimal questions for the building department staff.”

“The City of McKinney is exceedingly proud of the entire Building Inspections Team for its professionalism and desire to improve day-to-day operations and efficiencies. This accreditation confirms the proficiency and effectiveness of our building department and their commitment to safety and excellence.”

— Tom Muehlenbeck, Interim City Manager, McKinney

For the city of McKinney, accreditation was a building block to improve a good system and make it even better. If your building department could benefit from new ideas and system enhancements, IAS provides a one-day training program for individuals interested in better understanding the requirements for the accreditation of building departments and third-party providers of building department services.

This article is part of series from the International Accreditation Service (IAS) profiling building departments and third-party service providers accredited by IAS — a non-profit accreditation body and a subsidiary of the International Code Council. Building Department Accreditation and Building Department Third-Party Service Providers Accreditation are two of the programs offered by IAS to provide evidence that departments have met a national accreditation standard and are competent to provide public safety services for their communities. To learn more about these accreditation programs, visit Building Department Accreditation and Building Department Third-Party Service Providers Accreditation.