I earned state certification as a fire safety inspector in 1987 and was soon assigned oversight of all fire department inspections

for our organization.  After promotion to Lieutenant in 1990, I was tasked with the additional duties of fire prevention, public education and fire protection systems plan review.  At this time, Mayfield Village was in the midst of unprecedented expansion 

of our commercial tax base and municipal infrastructure.  Existing commercial buildings were being renovated and new 

occupancies were being planned.  After adding two large multi-story buildings to it's campus near I-271 in the early  90's and establishing Mayfield Village as its corporate headquarters, Progressive Insurance acquired land on our north border with Lake County and began planning to develop their next phase.  This would involve the construction of 4 multi-story office buildings,

two parking structures, an environmental controls building and one of two national data centers.  This complex would

eventually house more than 2,000 employees.  

 

The fire protection systems required for these buildings were complex and  elaborate in many cases.  From multiple fire pumps,

to atrium smoke evacuation, clean agent suppression systems, and waterbased foam systems-all installed at one campus.  The construction project for what became known as Campus 2 continued for 5 years.  In addition, we saw the addition of a

skilled nursing facility, an assisted living facility, a new car dealership, police 

station, fire station and community center, along with several large scale renovations of our High School.   In the late 90's local legislation was passed that required fire alarm and detection 

systems to be retrofitted into every existing commercial occupancy that was without a complete fire suppression system.  This retrofit applied to many small businesses and strip mall type occupancies in addition to a 32 building garden apartment 

complex.  

 

The experience that I gained by reviewing and evaluating the construction documents for all of these systems was 

an invaluable tool in honing my skills as a fire plans examiner, In addition to greatly expanding my familiarity and understanding

not only of the fire and building codes, but of the vast number of specific standards adopted by those codes.  The culmination 

of this work experience along with my years as a code enforcement official and the relationships cultivated with industry

professionals, building officials, contractors and AHJ's is what I bring to the table.

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