Southern Nevada Chapter of the Code Council and Code Administrators Association of Kentucky Earn 2024 Chapter Merit Award

The International Code Council’s Chapter Merit Award recognizes a chapter that distinguishes itself through activities that demonstrate the Code Council’s goals and objectives. In 2024, two chapters were honored with the award: the Southern Nevada Chapter of the Code Council and the Code Administrators Association of Kentucky.

Both organizations put in place creative code-related programming and had wide participation by members at events for both code development and community engagement, as well as a high focus on mentoring and attracting the next generation building code officials.

To read more about the Code Council’s Annual Chapter Awards, click here.

Cross Jurisdictional Commitment 

The Southern Nevada Chapter of the Code Council (SN-ICC) is responsible for code development across a wide region that includes:

• North Las Vegas
• Las Vegas
• Henderson
• Boulder City
• Pahrump
• Mesquite
• Clark County and the Clark County School District
• Nye County

It’s an area of diverse needs where the built environment ranges from large-scale warehouses and solar farms, to the Fremont Street Experience and the Las Vegas Strip.

With around 250 highly active and dedicated members, the chapter plays a central role in code development and adoption, working closely with the Southern Nevada Building Officials Association and the Nevada Organization of Building Officials to ensure consistency across the jurisdictions and throughout the state.

The Importance of Education and Giving Back to the Community

Linda Gallant, President of the SN-ICC, explains, “One of our challenges is to manage consistent code adoption and amendments across jurisdictional lines to simplify code compliance for our contracting community. One way we do that is through education.”

For 28 years, the chapter has facilitated an annual training program called EduCode, which has grown to become one of the largest providers of Continuing Education Units (CEUs) in the country.

EduCode is presented annually by the SN-ICC, in partnership with the Southern Nevada Building Officials and the Code Council. This year, the program offered both in-person and online classes to over 2,500 code professionals from across the nation.

Along with the commitment to education, SN-ICC is currently focusing on workforce development as a priority. SN-ICC volunteers actively engage with local high schools and colleges, including career and technical focused high schools, to raise awareness about the wide range of job opportunities in the field, from permit technicians to plans examiners to building inspectors.

A key part of this effort is a robust scholarship program. In collaboration with the Public Education Foundation (PEF), the chapter awarded $73,000 in scholarships to 38 Nevada students in 2024. These scholarships support college-bound high school students, current college juniors, seniors and graduate students attending a Nevada college and studying architecture, engineering, construction management or public administration.

“When high school and college students receive their awards, they are invited to our July meeting, where we introduce them and offer a $10 annual membership to encourage participation and help them network,” Gallant added.

The chapter’s commitment to community involvement extends beyond their core mission. One of the most long-standing is the SN-ICC efforts to reduce child drowning deaths. Since 2009, the chapter has provided $2,500 grants to eight local parks and recreation departments to offer free swimming lessons for toddlers.

This SN-ICC team regularly organizes various outreach initiatives, such as volunteering at local food banks, packing lunches for children and participating in events like National Night Out.

The chapter also supports local plumbing and electrical trade organizations with student competitions even at the elementary level. This year, the organization sponsored the Walker Elementary Robotics Tournament, a team of fourth graders who were honored for their top-scoring autonomous program and design.

In the past year, SN-ICC has realized a 10 percent increase in Code Council membership. Additionally, the Chapter is highly engaged in Building Safety Month and holds one of the most extensive outreach and social media campaigns among Code Council chapters.

Code Administrators Association of Kentucky Contributions and Connections

The Code Administrators Association of Kentucky (CAAK), a chapter of the Code Council, is recognized as a national leader among statewide code administration trade organizations. Since 1973, CAAK has worked to ensure consistent and professional building code enforcement across Kentucky. Headquartered in Lexington, Kentucky, the chapter has over 650 members, including building inspectors, fire officials, contractors, engineers and architects. 

Like SN-ICC, a major focus for CAAK has been attracting and retaining the next generation of code enforcement professionals.  

One distinctive effort is a first-of-its-kind mentoring program led by Lexington-Fayette County that pairs experienced building inspectors with new hires to help onboard and develop their skills. Currently, four inspectors from the building program volunteer as mentors, meeting with new inspectors once a week for a question–and–answer period to provide guidance and support. The goal is to expand the mentoring program to other jurisdictions across the state in the coming years. 

CAAK has taken a similar unique approach to attracting the next generation of building inspectors and code officials.

Les Fugate, President of CAAK, explained, “The challenge has long been to entice young people at the high school and early college level to our industry, instead of the more common scenario of being more a backup career for 20– to 30-year veterans in the trades.”   

To achieve this, CAAK is integrating codes into education programs. The chapter has collaborated with Bluegrass Community and Technical College to create a Building Inspectors’ Certification program within the school’s Architectural Technology Department. Chapter members also regularly present to the Architectural Technology program, encouraging involvement in building safety programs and participation in Code Council training programs. 

Social media is also helping attract a new generation of code professionals. A CAAK member created a video to encourage young professionals to consider careers in building safety. The video introduces examples of code books used by the state of Kentucky and highlights how a career in building codes contributes to community safety. 

CAAK is also actively involved with the Code Council, sending representatives to annual meetings and hearings to participate in the code development process and learn about global influences on building codes. 

Fugate notes the importance of this involvement. Fugate concluded, “The built environment is constantly changing, and to stay on top of all those new influences and changes, participating in the Code Council allows CAAK to learn about new technologies and approaches from other parts of the world. Being involved allows CAAK to provide its technical expertise and perspective as the codes are developed. It’s neat to see technologies coming out of Europe and Australia and different places. And it’s also fun to be a part of seeing new members and new countries getting involved.” 

To learn more about the Code Council’s annual awards, click here.