ICC ePartners
Arp Named Code Official of the Year
Donald "Mickey" Arp of Chattanooga, Tennessee,
was named Code Official of the Year, which is given to an
individual whose contribution to the profession is meritorious
and worthy of recognition.
Arp, a 42-year veteran of the building safety industry, is
an active member of the Lower Eastern Chapter of the Tennessee
Building Officials Association, and last year won the organization's
Code Official of the Year award. He is a charter member of
the Tennessee Plumbing and Mechanical Inspector's Association,
where he has taught code classes for contractors, inspectors
and tradespersons.
Arp began his career in 1964 when he entered the apprentice
plumbers program. After learning and mastering the trade,
he then began a distinguished career with the City of Chattanooga,
first serving as a plumbing inspector before becoming the
city's chief plumbing, gas and mechanical inspector, a position
he has held for the past eight years. Arp is also active in
his community, supporting a program for at-risk kids called
Youth Build Chattanooga, which takes high school dropouts
and enrolls them in a nine-month program to earn their GED
and learn a trade.
"Mickey tirelessly demonstrates his professional abilities
to his peers by his daily commitment to the code profession,"
Berkel said. "He consistently furthers the cause of building
safety in the City of Chattanooga and requests that his staff
do the same."
"This is the greatest honor that I have received,"
Arp told conference delegates. "Thank you."
Robert Davidson of Davidson Code Concepts was the recipient
of the ICC Fire Service Award, which recognizes a member who
has shown outstanding service, professional abilities and
leadership in the fire prevention profession, and the development
of the International Fire Code (IFC). Davidson serves on the
International Residential Code Development Committee and was
chairman of the IFC Code Development Committee in 2005. He
also has supported ICC and the New York City Mayor's Task
Force on Adopting a Model Code for the City of New York.
Davidson is the retired Fire Marshal for South Brunswick,
New Jersey. He commanded a Fire Safety/Special Operations
Division and was responsible for the supervision of the Fire
Safety Bureau and the Office of Emergency Management. As Fire
Marshal, he was also responsible for oversight of all buildings
and laws, ordinances, and regulations effecting health, safety
and welfare, including code compliance and enforcement.
"Time doesn't really allow me to thank everybody, but
I've enjoyed and love working with you all. This public honor
is something I never expected to get, to achieve," commented
Davidson. "I do need to thank my father who put fire
code textbooks in my hands by the time I was 13 years old
and pretty much got me started. I want to thank my wife and
my children for all the time I put towards this endeavor;
I'm pretty much always working. I need to thank ICC and the
staff members, and also the legacy code groups and their staff
members, for all their help, guidance and assistance they've
provided over the years to help this process continue. And
I need to thank the members here-those of you who participate
in this code development process have really helped me along
with a lot of assistance, but more importantly, have provided
me with professional friendships. Code hearings are grueling
and wear us out, but it's those friendships and networking
opportunities I've made through the years that really make
this an enjoyable two weeks that go by. I thank you all."
The ICC Affiliate Award was presented to Shirley Muns, Research
Engineering Associate and Code Specialist at Texas A&M
University. Last year, Muns was on the road for more than
180 days conducting ICC training and code workshops for the
Energy Systems Lab at Texas A&M-and many of those days
were spent on her own time. In addition to managing training
and workshops, Muns also reviews and updates materials, study
guides and energy codes.
"Shirley is passionate about her career in the building
industry and travels the globe to promote energy codes and
energy efficiency," Berkel said. "Through her hard
work and determination, Shirley has made her presence known
internationally as a building safety expert."
Community Service Awards were presented to Jill Gray, co-founder
of the North Central Texas Permit Technician Chapter of ICC,
and the Washington Association of Building Officials (WABO)
chapter.
Since it was formed, the North Central Texas Permit Technician
Chapter of ICC has continued to grow with Gray spearheading
many community service projects, including support for Habitat
for Humanity, the Red Cross and local food pantries, which
aided Hurricane Katrina victims that relocated to the area.
The chapter is also planning support for a local organization
called the SoupMobile, which delivers food to the homeless
in the Dallas area.
WABO coordinated with the state of Washington to provide
assistance to the Gulf Coast following Hurricane Katrina.
In the process, the chapter deployed two disaster-response
teams to Louisiana and Mississippi to assist in the inspection
and evaluation of homes and businesses.
International Accreditation Service (IAS) President Chuck
Ramani presented two Awards of Recognition to the cities of
Las Vegas and Henderson, Nevada. Las Vegas was the first building
department to receive IAS accreditation last year while Henderson
became the second city to earn the distinction in August.
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