Governor selects Ponca City man for state committee

The Governor has selected and the Senate has confirmed one of Ponca City’s own to serve on a state committee. Chris Henderson, Ponca City Develop Services Director is now part of the Oklahoma Building Code Commission. Their first meeting was Tuesday and their job is to update the universal building code for the entire state.

“They go through that code and determine what parts of that code are best for Oklahoma, as opposed to different parts of the country,” Henderson said. “There are variations, some parts of the United States code needs to be slated toward snow or wind, or in California seismic activity, earthquakes; although now we’re going those too, but the code can be tailored to your part of the country and conditions that are unique to you. For us in Oklahoma it’s wind, hail things of that sort.

This committee was created in 2009 and the code hasn’t been update since. The 2012 cycle was skipped because the 2009 update took so long. Henderson said the idea is for the code to evolve every three years to keep up with technology and keep costs low.

Henderson’s stint with the Oklahoma Building Code Committee is for four years. He said Oklahoma’s 2015 International Building Code should be passed during the spring of 2015. Then the committees job is to educate.

“ The Uniform Building Code Commission is also taking on the task of providing training and continuing education for those people who are employed across the state,” Henderson said. So, they will develop criteria and classrooms and conferences and things of that sort that will basically allow building inspectors to go to get continuing education and certification to be inspectors.”

Henderson will drive to Oklahoma City once a month for the next four years. His specific position on the committee is to be the voice of Oklahoma cities and towns.