Board Profile: Ronald Piester
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"The current focus is on the U.S., but as the construction
industry evolves beyond the borders of our country,
is it ready to become truly international?" asks Ron
Piester (center). "I think ICC has the basic character
to do this and is on the road toward making it happen."
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For Ron Piester, New York State Department of State Division
of Code Enforcement and Administration Director, and Code
Council Board member, the magic number is 1,600—the total
count of local governments he must oversee quality, timely
service to. With such a large number of different departments
each with unique needs, the position poses unique challenges
for a state with 19 million residents.
"Our department must assist all of them with services
that are customized, based on their resources and what they
need," Piester said.
 Other
challenges his department faces are not unique to the state
department but ones faced by many in the code enforcement
industry—a change in "season."
Piester said the old days of a construction "season"
are long gone. "The whole structure of the industry has
changed. There used to be a construction season, and things
at the department would slow down. Now it is a 365-day season,
regardless of weather.
"There's no 'down time' for us to catch up or further
our training and education. We've had to adapt to this trend
and still provide quality service."
A big change for the state came in 1984 when a state-mandated
code was put into place. Until that point, each local government
had its own code, or "even none at all," Piester
said. This solved some problems, but created others, driving
the state to work toward adopting an international code, which
eventually took place in 2003.
"Moving to the international code helped because we didn't
have the resources to emphasize a statewide one," Piester
said. "Beyond that, the international code let us take
a broader look at the code, not just for our state, but from
an international perspective."
The International Code Council played a key role in New
York's move to an international code. Piester became involved
with ICC in 1999 when he was asked to go to a meeting "to
see what it was all about." At this meeting, his eyes
were opened to the bigger picture of model codes.
 "We
didn't know what we were getting into, but we sat down and
listened to these code hearings. What struck me most was the
variety of people attending, and how they all had in common
the interest of making codes better—they shared information
with each other and accepted what came out of the process,"
Piester noted.
Of course, he added, there was some skepticism as to whether
the state could pull it off, for the simple fact that it involved
the entire construction industry in New York State. "A
lot of people thought it would not happen."
But Piester's department was successful, and as it took each
step, more and more communities came to the state department
for help with training and organization.
Also in the name of encouraging a smooth journey toward the
international code adoption in 2003, his office undertook
a "significant" public relations campaign to provide
information to the communities on what they needed to do to
prepare for the transition.
"Our office trained about 4,000 building and fire officials
in each of these 1,600 jurisdictions and initiated a competency
exam for any code enforcement official actively involved in
working for the State of New York," Piester said. "We
laid out a plan to think logically. Spending time at the beginning
of the process paid off."
His involvement with ICC has paid obvious dividends, and Piester
hopes that ICC continues to push forward with its goal of
making a more international name for itself.
He notes that while the formation of ICC was a big milestone,
the time to push forward is now.
"The current focus is on the U.S., but as the construction
industry evolves beyond the borders of our country, is it
ready to become truly international? " he said, "I
think ICC has the basic character to do this and is on the
road toward making it happen."
 Related
to his work for the state, Piester, a New York native, is
proud to say that he comes from a long line of contractors,
himself spending some of his teen years working in the construction/contracting
business. His grandfather encouraged him to "branch out."
He did just that and earned a Bachelor of Architecture degree
from Syracuse University. "Being an architect in a family
of contractors is a humbling experience."
Piester thanks ICC members from New York, his staff and
all the people who work for the 1,600 communities in his jurisdiction.
"I have a sincere appreciation for our members in New
York for stepping up and doing the right thing. They showed
leadership, and that's not always an easy thing to do,"
Piester added.
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