Minto CBO recognized by OBOA

MINTO - Minto chief building official Terry Kuipers was presented with the Eugene McAdams Memorial Award for his contributions to the Bluewater chapter of the Ontario Building Officials Association (OBOA) at the Feb. 5 council meeting.

The award “recognizes a member of our building official association who’s done great work, not only through our association but through the wider community as well,” said OBOA president Matt Farrell.

He explained Kuipers was recognized for “his role in carrying out some of the activities not only with the building officials profession but in the greater development community.”

Farrell noted Kuipers was chair of the Bluewater chapter for over five years “and has shown great leadership during that time.”

When major changes were made to the building code, Farrell said, Kuipers organized a group of building officials to put together a presentation to explain the code changes to over 50 developers.

“And that’s really important in our business. You really want to avoid some of these problems as much as you can so you avoid being an enforcement arm down the road,” said Farrell.

“From the association’s standpoint and the provincial standpoint, Terry’s become one of our best instructors province-wide. He’s known as an industry expect in the energy efficiencies areas,” and is currently leading a group working to make the building permit application process more efficient, said Farrell.

“We see what you do here and I know this council really appreciates what you do here,” said Mayor George Bridge.

“But the fact that you’re helping across the board in your profession, that’s a big outreach and I think that’s what we all like to see from our employees.”