NORWICH – Engineers, firefighters, contractors and municipal codes enforcement officers from all over the state gathered at SUNY Morrisville’s Norwich campus on Wednesday for a series of free training seminars that addressed the challenging issues that many municipalities, including the City of Norwich, are facing.
For many officials, Wednesday’s training seminars were an opportunity to fulfill seven free hours of the state mandated 24-hours of training necessary to maintain a licence in code enforcement or other related field. Each session offered was the result of local municipalities – including the nearby cities of Binghamton, Utica, Oneida and Cortland, as well as Watertown, Albany and New York – working together to find what common concerns each faced; concerns such as vacant and abandoned structures, fire prevention and property maintenance, and public safety.
“Some of these courses can be very expensive, so this is something we try to do to help out one or two times every year,” said City of Norwich Codes Enforcement Officer Jason Lawrence. “For one, it helps (officials) meet state regulations; and two, it’s a way to gain knowledge of the presenters.”
Lawrence explained that each presenter at Wednesday’s conference is also currently working in the field of fire prevention or code enforcement.
Wednesday’s conference was also an opportunity to build networking connections between municipalities. Each city, village and township present had something to bring to the table, said Lawrence. Building off the experience of other municipalities helps regions like the City of Norwich more readily address codes issues.
“The discussions here are one of the biggest helps in this case,” he added.
Tim Cowan, fireman and code enforcement officer for the City of Oneida, offered a presentation on the marketability – and fire and safety concerns – presented by vacant and abandoned structures, a concern held by most every local municipality in attendance. According to Cowan, continuing education in fire and codes enforcement is a critical part in ensuring public safety, and special seminars that are geared toward common concerns of local municipalities are one of the best ways to embellish those aspects of public safety.
“This is certainly one way to meet state requirements,” Cowan said. “Plus, we try to expand on what (codes officers) already know or if we’re able to pick up some new information, it’s worthwhile. In many instances, training like this bridges the gap between fire and code enforcement.”
The City of Norwich has hosted similar conferences in the past, yet this is the first time it was made a one-day occurrence. Officials are already planning to host another codes enforcement training seminar in the fall.