It was a busy summer for two members of the County’s Permits & Inspection team. During the North Carolina Building Inspectors Association’s (NCBIA) annual conference, Director Bob Haynes and Assistant Director Jason Rogers took home the President’s Choice Award and were voted as President-Elect and Director of Area 1, respectively. The hard-earned award is given by the President of the NCBIA to recognize individuals for their effort and contributions to NCBIA’s work toward meeting its goals. “It was totally unexpected, we were honored to receive this award from the work we put into this organization,” says Bob.
Assistant County Manager Sybil Tate says the recognition is no surprise to her. “While Bob and Jason are known as great leaders within this organization, others may not be aware of their leadership outside of Buncombe County. I’m glad to see that they have been recognized throughout the state by their peers for their work on legislative issues that impact the entire development community.” In fact, the tandem are quite busy providing crucial education sessions across North Carolina. “Both have taught building code classes to building inspectors throughout the state and are widely recognized as experts in their field. Their contributions to statewide issues show our peers that we are leaders and innovators,” says Sybil.
While keeping up with new policies and best practices is definitely more than a handful, it’s vital to their industry and the community. “The construction field is ever changing. Keeping current on code changes and legislation helps to create innovative ways to keep the people of Buncombe County safe,” explains Jason. Meantime, Bob says while staying abreast of current trends is part of their role as sworn code officials, it goes far beyond that. “We take pride in our work and efforts to ensure compliance with the state building codes. We continue our departmental efforts to keep pace with ever-changing technologies by utilizing electronic plan reviews. Our department processed nearly 12,000 permits and performed over 55,000 inspections last year, and 99% of those were performed the same day. We have a dedicated team of office staff and code officials that I am very proud to be a part of,” exclaims Bob.
The current President of the NCBIA also weighed in on Bob and Jason’s commitment to the field at a local and state level. “Jason lends a helping hand with our Education Committee. And at this year’s conference, he presented a two-hour course on the state’s legislative updates that was very informative and beneficial to jurisdictions across North Carolina,” says NCBIA President Matt Love. “Bob has been on the board several years now, chairing the Code Development Committee and helping our state be the leader in building safety and codes. He was recently voted in as the President-Elect for the 2023-2024 year, and we are excited and appreciative of everything he has done and continues to do!”
Another fun fact about our dynamic duo: In North Carolina, there are about 6,000 code officials and only 185 of them have obtained their Level-3 Certification in all five trades (building, electrical, mechanical, plumbing, and fire prevention), with Bob and Jason being two of those.
Congratulations to Bob and Jason for their statewide recognition and the positive effect they have on building safety in Buncombe and well beyond. The County is fortunate to have you as leaders in our community and at the state level.