[0:00] (upbeat music) [0:17] (soft music) [0:18] - I am Bernadette Gillespie [0:19] and I am the Building Official for the City of Bloomington. [0:22] I have been with the city going on 11 years. [0:25] So as the building official, [0:26] I'm responsible for all of the code enforcement [0:29] for the Minnesota State Building Code [0:30] in the city of Bloomington. [0:31] And so the team that I work with, the plan reviewers, [0:34] the inspectors, they do the technical work [0:37] of doing plan review for all new structures [0:39] that come into the city [0:41] and then do the inspections on those structures. [0:43] We also have a code enforcement component to our job. [0:46] And so anytime there's an existing structure [0:48] that may have structural failure [0:51] or they're not continuing with their maintenance, [0:54] we may have to write orders and do enforcement [0:56] to make sure that they bring it up to code [0:58] for life safety purposes. [0:59] So my position is supporting that team that does that work [1:03] and supporting the field staff and the plan reviewers [1:05] and then also just making sure that everyone's in alignment [1:08] with the state building code. [1:10] I came from a really big city, Maricopa County, [1:13] City of Phoenix, and so I was looking for that same level [1:17] of busyness, development. [1:20] And so at the time, 10 years ago, Bloomington was just, [1:23] you know, the south loop was being redeveloped. [1:25] There was a lot of multifamily that was going on, [1:27] and I had always wanted to be a building official [1:31] and I wanted to be a plan reviewer. [1:33] I think my favorite parts are [1:36] seeing the growth of my staff and then also the fact [1:39] that we really truly are responsible for life safety. [1:42] And so making sure that people are safe in their homes, [1:45] making sure people are safe in the buildings [1:47] that they're staying in, the apartments, the hotels, [1:49] just makes my job really rewarding. [1:52] It really truly is like a family. [1:55] And so being able to lean on each other, [1:58] being able to collaborate, [2:00] the city has so many things to offer [2:03] and so many ways that we can be effective [2:05] and influence what's going on in the city. [2:08] And so although I'm in building and inspections [2:10] and I'm the building official [2:11] and I'm in charge of kind of that code enforcement [2:13] and life safety, [2:15] I could also be part of like the employee resource groups, [2:18] you know, all of this other work that's going on [2:20] that makes your job fulfilling. [2:22] It's not just the job and the people that go with that, [2:25] you know, we work really closely with planning, [2:27] work closely with Port Authority, with HRA, [2:30] and so being able to collaborate [2:31] with all of those different groups [2:33] and have successes come out of that is really positive.