By Andrew Getty
In last week’s Weekly Adirondack, Jan from Woodgate, a fellow writer for the paper, (“Just Call Me Mrs. Lucky”) wrote an amazing story about herself.
There seems no way to completely describe the wisdom, strength and sincerity of the article… but you could feel it.
Sometimes it is easy to get frustrated with what you do or to doubt what your job is all about.
Does it really matter? Who actually cares?
Hopefully the trials and tribulations that this code office goes through have some higher meaning.
Hopefully, our work has saved a life, prevented an injury, prevented or at least reduced property damage, or maybe reduced the ozone layer, thus reducing global warming… hopefully.
The true nature of any code enforcement office is that the benefits of our work may actually NOT be measurable.
If there are no statistics, bad or good, there is nothing to measure.
Not too long ago a friend called just to say “thank you” for doing our job. Someone he knew was saved by a carbon-monoxide detector. If it were not for the detector—CO being hard to smell—they may have lost their life. He thanked me for making sure the detector was installed and tested.
Rarely does any code office get complimented, so the kudos is appreciated. It’s nice to know that part of what we do makes a difference.
Too bad everything in life couldn’t be that easy. You know, just buy a simple device, wire it up, turn it on and when the thing starts to sound off, you call for help and everything is fixed.
But life just does not work like that.
Jan, please know if we could just go buy one of those simple devices, wire it up and turn it on to fix everything, we would. But life doesn’t work that way.
Jan and her husband ended up in the Woodgate area, when a piece of property they were trying buy and build on in the Town of Webb had a whole bunch of regulatory problems.
Yep, this code office had to administer the news about all the special approvals they would need to get a permit to build on the land of their choice.
After giving it their best shot, Jan and her husband ultimately abandoned that property and found themselves in Woodgate.
However, knowing where they ended up and what they created, tends to say they made the right choice. Jan, your place in Woodgate is beautiful; beautifully maintained and the menu was all you—well done, straight forward and, of course, delicious.
My only regret was that when driving by, it was usually during the off-hours, and you were not open. My loss.
Nobody will ever know if their choice to ultimately locate in Woodgate is better for them than what they chose not to do in Webb. It is what it is.
However, what town Jan and her husband ended up in is not as important as the community.
Whether it’s Forestport, Woodgate, Old Forge, Inlet, Eagle Bay, Stillwater, Big Moose, McKeever, Okara, Thendara, Herkimer, Hamilton or Oneida… we are one community and we share each other’s joys, prosperities and loss.
So… this article is not so much about any particular code, rule or regulation. It’s not about any specific local or regional agency. It’s not about plan review or inspection procedures.
It’s about knowing—or rather believing—that what you do makes a difference in someone’s life. It’s about doing your part; and when you are done, leaving things better than you found them.
As much as your article had to be tough to write, you did it with grace and leave things better than what you found.
This article has to be easier, but it’s hard to find the closing words. There are no good closing words other than to say to you, your husband and family, that there is a huge community here that wants to help any way we can… even if that means giving you the space, respect and privacy you wish and deserve.
You are all in our… the entire community’s thoughts.