Shapiro to Chair ICC Building Official Council

New Council will serve needs of Building Officials and others in code enforcement

Steve Shapiro, Deputy Director of Community Development for Hampton, Va., and a past International Code Council Board President, has been named chair of the newly created ICC Building Official Membership Council. The ICC Board approved five discipline-specific Membership Councils: Building Officials; Fire Service; Plumbing, Mechanical and Fuel Gas; Global Members; and Sustainability, including energy. Each Council will advocate for concerns and issues that are of particular interest to its discipline.

“We’ve had Councils for a number of years and now we are reinventing ourselves,” Shapiro said. “The Building Official Membership Council will be able to interact and get input directly from code officials. This is an opportunity for us to ask building officials what it means to them to be an ICC Member and what they expect from ICC.”

Through Governing Committees, the Membership Councils will:

• Build and improve relationships with stakeholders who have an interest in the activities of the applicable Membership Council;
• Provide opportunities to enhance the understanding, acceptance and adoption of ICC codes related to the applicable Membership Council;
• Make recommendations for ICC training, certification and other programs related to the activities of the applicable Membership Council;
• Keep ICC stakeholders informed and engaged in the association’s activities; and
• Act as an advocate for professional or technical interest areas and receive feedback.

This is a way to focus and gives us an advantage to talk to building officials as a community to find out what’s on their minds,” Shapiro said. “I reserve the right to be smarter tomorrow than I am today, but I’d predict two areas of great concern and interest to the Building Official Council will be how to get more code officials to Code Hearings and the code adoption process. I am hopeful we are going to get a lot of information and this is going to be a positive experience.”

Becky Baker, Director of the Building Division for unincorporated Jefferson County, Colorado, will serve as Vice Chair of the Building Official Membership Council. Council members are: Paul Armstrong, city of El Monte (Calif.); William Bechtold, Northern Kentucky Area Planning Commission; Alan Boswell, Tuscaloosa (Ala.), Building Department; Bob Boyer, Palm Beach County (Fla.) Planning and Zoning Division; Terry Cobb, Metro Government of Nashville/Davidson County (Tenn.); William Duck, city of Columbus (Ga.); Gilbert Gonzales, Murray City (Utah) Corporation; Frank Hodge, town of Bluffton (S.C.); Jerry Mallory, Johnson County (Kan.); Scott McDonald, city of Amarillo (Texas); Pat Naticchione, Egg Harbor Township (N.J.); Neville Pereira, city of Pasadena (Calif.); and Chris Young, city of Arlington (Wash.).

Details on how to affiliate with a Membership Council will be announced soon. There is no charge for participation.

The International Code Council, a membership association dedicated to building safety, fire prevention and energy efficiency, develops the codes used to construct residential and commercial buildings, including homes and schools. Most U.S. cities, counties and states choose the International Codes, building safety codes developed by the International Code Council. The International Codes also serve as the basis for construction of federal properties around the world, and as a reference for many nations outside the United States.