News

City of Las Vegas First in U.S. to Earn Building Department Accreditation from IAS

		Click photo for larger image

Chuck Ramani, IAS President, awards the IAS Building Department Accreditation Certificate to Paul Wilkins, Las Vegas Building and Safety Director.		On hand to support Las Vegas Building and Safety Director Paul Wilkins (center) were Michael Bouse, IAS Board Director (left), and Ron Lynn, ICC Board Director (right).

IAS President Chuck Ramani (far right) congratulates the City of Las Vegas in earning Building Department Accreditation. (left to right) Councilman Steven D. Ross, Councilman Steve Wolfson, Mayor Oscar B. Goodman.		In the photo are (left to right) City of Las Vegas Councilman Steven D. Ross, Councilman Steve Wolfson, Councilman Gary Reese, Mayor Oscar B. Goodman, IAS President Chuck Ramani, Melva Wilkins (Mother of Paul Wilkins), Building and Safety Director Paul Wilkins, Councilman Larry Brown, Councilwoman Lois Tarknanian and Councilman Lawrence Weekly.

To view certificate of accreditation, click here.

The City of Las Vegas Department of Building and Safety has earned national accreditation by the International Accreditation Service (IAS), making Las Vegas the first city in the nation to receive this important recognition. Accreditation signifies that the city's Building and Safety department operates under the highest professional and technical standards. IAS president Chuck Ramani, P.E., C.B.O., presented the IAS accreditation certificate to Building and Safety Director Paul Wilkins, C.B.O., during the morning session of the City Council meeting, May 3.

International Accreditation Service, a subsidiary of the International Code Council, has offered Building Department Accreditation since January 2005. Several major cities across the nation are currently going through the accreditation process, but the City of Las Vegas is the first city in the nation to gain accreditation.

"All public service organizations should have a standard to work to, even building departments," City Manager Doug Selby said. "Accreditation is a sign of competence, of credibility, and a check on our ability to provide value to our customers. It's also a way to benchmark our performance against industry best-practices, and we want to be the best. Through the leadership of department director Paul Wilkins and the efforts of his staff, we have met that challenge head on."

In November 2005, the IAS building department accreditation on-site evaluation team conducted a full evaluation of the city's Department of Building and Safety.

The twelve categories of accreditation criteria used to assess the department included basic jurisdictional information, department staff, permitting, budget, construction codes, plan reviews, professional credentials/licenses, inspections, certificate of occupancies, on-site evaluations, annual reports, reevaluation, and complaints/ appeals.

Throughout the process, IAS evaluators carefully assessed critical elements of the building department including customer service, code interpretation and enforcement, and fiscal strength. This team of five IAS-trained evaluators, including practicing building officials, assessed the building department's expertise and its compliance with the IAS Accreditation Criteria for Building Departments/Code Enforcement Agencies. The team also visited construction sites to appraise the performance of the city's inspection process.

International Accreditation Service, a subsidiary of the International Code Council, assesses and accredits competent building departments, special inspection agencies, testing and calibration laboratories, inspection agencies and fabricator inspection programs. In operation since 1975, IAS is one of the oldest accreditation bodies of its type and is a nonprofit, public benefit corporation recognized worldwide.

The International Code Council, a membership association dedicated to building safety and fire prevention, develops the codes used to construct residential and commercial buildings, including homes and schools. Most U.S. cities, counties and states that adopt codes choose the International Codes developed by the International Code Council.

To learn more about IAS and its accreditation programs, please click here, call 1-866-427-4422, or e-mail us.