Presidents Message

It's an honor to have been elected to serve as President of the Massachusetts Building Commissioners and Inspectors Association. I follow in a line of devoted Past Presidents of this organization who have worked hard to provide excellent educational programs and promote professionalism in our field, I'm honored to follow them. I hope I do justice to their goals and this organization. We have been providing Building Officials, Architects, Engineers and others quality education since 1939. I have always promoted and supported the education of people in the construction industry, knowing the importance of the industry and having been a teacher and a small contractor.

I have been a member of MBCIA since 1984 and served on the Board of Directors, too many years to count. I have served on other boards ESBOF,MFBO and others. Like all Boards we have a core of directors that make this organization successful. They are overworked and devote a lot of their personal time and effort to provide you with a quality education. Being an all volunteer organization our time is limited and resources are few. I have seen a lot of changes in the Codes we enforce and the work load we are given. Its been a struggle to keep up with all the changes that have taken place; yet, there has not been much change in the attitudes of the Municipal administrators we work for.

We are under paid and under staffed. Our departments don't cost the tax payer money, in fact, we bring millions of dollars into the coffers of most cities and towns, yet our departments are the last to derive any benefit from that . We need to communicate better with our town and city officials, administrators and legislators. We must educate them to what our responsibilities are, as mandated by Legislated law. We must enforce the Codes that we have been sworn to uphold honestly, fairly and consistently.

We must take advantage of every opportunity we can to educate ourselves. With knowledge, we can respect ourselves and others will respect us and the job we are mandated to do. We strive to provide quality education and need input from all of you to help us provide an even better education. This year the CSL licensing requirements mandate that that license holders must have continuing education credits, and we have filed papers to provide that education.

All of us have been trying for years to stop Building Code from being promulgated by legislation. The Legislature enabled the Board of Building Regulation and Standards to do that. We have Legislators, Administrators and the Public that know little to nothing about our responsibilities and the important work we do, trying to legislate Building Code. Through the years I have met many politicians that have no idea what Building Officials' responsibilities are. We are Public Safety, we are the first line of protection for the Public and Firefighters, but we are the last to get any support financially or otherwise to help perform our duties more efficiently. We must work harder to educate ourselves, our administrators, legislators and the public. We are always the first ones they come to when there is a problem. When we do our jobs properly we save lives.

We need people to get involved in protecting our jobs and work to promote our positions as professionals. We need new ideas to enhance our objectives and people that are willing to put an effort into this goal. This is a profession not just a job and we need to demand respect from our administrators, legislators and the public by communicating with them and educating them.

Our elections are due in the Fall. We have openings on the Board of Directors, and we need people willing to give their time, effort and expertise help make MBCIA a more successful organization.

Come join us in our efforts get active on a committee or run for the Board of Directors .

Richard (Rick) Wakem
President