It's keeping the focus on the Members.

Editor's note: During the next several months, the Government Relations Department will be featuring occasional articles that will take you behind the scenes and spotlight some of ICC's most recognizable faces.

ICC Government Relations Regional Manager Rick Hauffe with Amy Barenklau (left) and Tamara Hagerman (right) of the Kansas City Metropolitan Association of Permit Technicians.

The best piece of advice Rick Hauffe says he has received since starting his job with the International Code Council came from another Regional Manager in ICC's Government Relations department. "It's keeping the focus on the Members," the 6'5" guitar player recalls. That is a lesson he learned long ago in building grassroots strengths for political campaigns and for nonprofits in previous jobs. Hauffe's bachelor degree is in journalism, which he says is a useful tool for communications in grassroots development. He was a daily newspaper reporter for nine years before entering politics, nonprofit work and public affairs. Hauffe, who started working with ICC in April 2011, is Government Relations Regional Manager in five states: Kansas, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota. His home office is in Sioux Falls, S.D., near the junction of Interstate 29 and Interstate 90. He said that's ideal for staying close to ICC Chapters and Members from Duluth to Dodge City. "It's a great place to be located for this region," Hauffe says. "By car, it is under six hours to Overland Park and four hours to Minneapolis. That keeps transportation costs reasonably low." Thankfully, Hauffe loves traveling, seeing new places and meeting people. "It also helps to have more than 15,000 songs on my iPod to make that windshield time pass easier." Membership development and involvement has been useful for ICC in each of Hauffe's five states. Members routinely provide insight on pending code updates and conflicts, especially in states where code updates depend on local adoptions. In the last several months, local code officials invited Hauffe to make PowerPoint presentations on the history of code development and how model code development works in ICC's unique governmental consensus process. The back-to-basics slide deck Hauffe presents has been well received in several communities in Kansas, Nebraska and Minnesota. "The city council members really appreciate getting the history and the background," he says. "It certainly helps their understanding why current building and safety codes are a foundation to successful economic development in their communities." Hauffe added the presentations help build stronger teamwork between local building and fire code officials and the professional team in ICC's offices. Hauffe said he has made many good friends among code officials, business leaders, government staff and elected leaders in his five states. The friendships are an added benefit to all those hours on the road. He said ICC Chapter Officers and Members are the most effective spokespeople for ICC in making appearances to state legislators, code-related hearings and to mayors and city councils. Hauffe feels most effective when he organizes and helps create messaging for local code officials as well as for state and local stake holders who depend on competent code administration for economic growth. Hauffe adds, "It's one thing for an employee of ICC to make a presentation at a hearing before a state board or legislative panel. It's quite another to hear it from the public servants who are the real local experts and veterans of code administration." A student of politics, Hauffe is quick with his political axioms: "There's a saying in government: 'All politics is local.' The most effective message is how this affects people at the neighborhood level. The most effective messenger comes from public officials who know how public policy affects neighborhoods." A recent example of how effective local code officials and stake holders can be in a public hearing involved a dispute over the adoption process of a new Minnesota State Plumbing Code. Hauffe recalls the effectiveness of former ICC Board Member Ron Nienaber and ICC Chapter leaders working with local stake holders to produce a strong presentation focused on facts, ethical standards and legal points before a state administrative law judge. "Those code officials and the business representatives were impressive in the hearing. Nobody else could have addressed that judge with more authority," Hauffe says with a smile. "They stood their ground on behalf of integrity in the code adoption process and that's a cornerstone value for ICC and its Members everywhere."

Share this story: