Cherokee County Building Department Earns Honors

CHEROKEE COUNTY, GA — Cherokee County earned two awards at the Building Officials Association of Georgia annual conference at St. Simons Island in May.

The county was named 2021 Jurisdiction of the Year, and Paul Laney, director of Building and Development Services, was awarded the 2021 Member of the Year award.

Both awards are given to building officials and organizations showing commitment to increased job knowledge, competent code enforcement and assistance to fellow code officials and the public.

Laney served as president of the Northwest Georgia Inspector Association (the local Building Officials Association of Georgia chapter) from 2019-2020, and he’s currently the secretary of the organization. In 2020 and 2021, Northwest Georgia Inspector Association conducted monthly web training with 50 attendees each month. This year’s training included the changes to the electrical code.

While Laney and the organization were able to conduct training virtually during the pandemic, they have been able to resume quarterly lunch and learns to provide builder training.

County Manager Geoff Morton, who served as community development agency director during the time the application was evaluated, and the award bestowed, said he was proud of the building department for their continued work to assist the building community.

“This award is for the education and outreach efforts that Paul Laney and his team planned and provided for over the last two years to not only local building officials and inspectors but also to the builder community,” Morton said. “The building and energy codes were updated in 2019 and the electrical code in 2021 and Paul wanted everyone to stay ahead of the upcoming code changes. Paul has done an excellent job of anticipating those changes and not only educating the regulating community, but also the builder community."