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Board Profile: Wally Bailey
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"We play such an integral part in public safety and homeland security
from either natural or man-made disasters, and we need to be recognized for that,"
says Code Council Board President Wally Bailey (left). "The public needs
to know about it. Governmental officials need to know about it. And we need to
work with other folks within the construction community to build ourselves up."
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Wally Bailey, C.B.O., 2006-2007 President of the Board of
Directors didn't set out to serve on the International Code
Council board. Being ICC President wasn't one of his career
goals. But with his vision for ICC and passion for his profession,
one may well argue that his path to leadership was inevitable.
 He
started the relationship with his ICC legacy organization
slowly. "I began attending annual code meetings and code
change hearings," he explains. "The more I attended
the meetings, the more I wanted to be involved, and as I got
more involved with code development committees and got more
years and more maturity with the organization, I began to
realize that I had something to offer the industry as a whole.
I ended up becoming a leader without knowing I did!"
He's a leader with vision, and his goals reflect his passion
for his profession. "I've got so many ideas, that all
I can do is establish a foundation for those to move forward,"
he says, "and they are all important."
He outlines three main goals, and the first is to raise
awareness about the importance of building safety.
"I want our organization to quit sitting back and being
so passive about the role of code officials in this country.
We play such an integral part in public safety and homeland
security from either natural or man-made disasters, and we
need to be recognized for that," he maintains. "The
public needs to know about it. Governmental officials need
to know about it. And we need to work with other folks within
the construction community to build ourselves up. The entire
construction community could be lifted up more as providing
a great deal of public safety. Architects, engineers and contractors
all play an integral role in making sure that buildings are
safe."
 This
issue frames what is easily his biggest goal for ICC, and
with the help of the ICC staff, he's developing a national
campaign to raise the profile of code officials in America.
His second goal is integrated with the first: to improve
relationships with other agencies involved in the building
industry. "There are many organizations that are interested
in becoming a strategic partner with the ICC. I've always
thought, since I became a code official, that we don't do
enough to help educate design professionals as they come out
of the schools of architecture, for example. Many schools
of architecture do not teach codes. Many of them don't have
the codes in the schools! We're starting to work more closely
with the American Institute of Architects to develop ways
to train design professionals."
His third goal is to have ICC play a more active role in
building greener, sustainable buildings. "There are many
organizations that have been, for several years now, involved
in this discussion, and the ICC has not. It's time for the
ICC to become a part of that," he argues. "There
are people saying, 'We can't build green with the I-Codes,'
but we are developing programs and material that show you
can."
Bailey's involvement with ICC won't end with his term of
office in September. When he looks ahead 10 years, he has
a clear vision of what he hopes to see. "I would like
the ICC membership to be unified, and because of our unity,
we will be making a large difference in all national public
safety issues as they relate to buildings. I mean that we
would be recognized as THE authority, and a politician, whether
local, county, state or national level, would know that if
there were an issue related to public safety and buildings—whether
it's building codes or fire codes or plumbing, electrical,
whatever—that they would know their first phone call
should be to the office of the International Code Council.
Our name would be such a household name that any person you
ask would know that we are the code authority when it comes
to public safety and construction codes in this country."
 He
admits that ICC has a long way to go to be at that point,
but if every member were as much of an advocate for the profession
as Wally Bailey is, that goal would be reached much sooner
than in 10 years.
"I personally like to think that every day we've saved
a life that we don't know about," he argues, "because
there was something that we required on a building, and because
of that, the accident did not occur. There may never have
been a fire, there may never have been that fall or that tripping
accident, or someone may not have been electrocuted. There's
a saying, 'When we do our job, nothing happens.' That's very
true.
"I was asked a couple of years ago who ICC applied to,"
he continues. "The I-Codes and the work that we do in
the ICC affect everybody. That's how important we are. More
than likely, if you are going into a building, it has been
built according to either the International Code or one of
the codes prior to it. Whether it's a place where people are
going to sleep, to raise their family, to be entertained,
to worship, to be educated, or whatever the function, if they
are going into a building, they are going in with an expectation
of it being safe. For that reason, the ICC has a place in
society that applies to everyone, whether they realize it
or not."
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