The night of the International Code Council’s 2023 banquet in March 2024, Jim McClintic sat in his seat with his camera to his eye—completely unaware of what was about to happen and standing ready to photograph the award recipient.

He had organized the trophies earlier in the evening but hadn’t looked at the names of the recipients—he was just helping, like he’d done for years. 

So when his picture first appeared on the slideshow during the presentation for the award, he thought it was a joke and he laughed.

“I’m sitting there and they showed a picture of me, and I thought ‘that’s pretty funny,’” said McClintic. “They showed the third, and I’m still not quite getting it.”

“When they showed the fourth….I realized that I had gotten the award,” he said. “It totally surprised me.”

He said that he never expected anything in return for his work and was humbled by the honor.  

The thing about McClintic is that he’s the guy that keeps on giving beyond what’s required of him—it might be the way he was raised in the “work-to-eat era” as he called it, or maybe it’s because he's just him. 

Most of his colleagues would probably agree with the latter. 

“He’s just a great guy,” said Rob Durfee, a professional building inspector for Sandy City who has worked with McClintic for 17 years. “He’s a guy that cares about everyone.”

McClintic became only the second person in the Utah Chapter of the International Code Council to be awarded with two lifetime achievement awards—he was presented with the longtime Jess M. Miller Award in 2018 and now the Gilbert Gonzales Award for 2023.

The success he’s seen in his career, McClintic said, can be attributed to his team. 

“I don’t want this to be a ‘me thing,’” said McClintic, “it’s a group effort with this department.”

McClintic started working in Sandy City’s Community Development department 33 years ago when he first started as a building inspector. Since then he has been promoted to plans examiner and finally into his current position in 2020 as Sandy’s Chief Building Official.

“I can’t think of anybody more than Jim and his colleagues in the building inspection department who’ve done more to protect life and safety in our buildings,” said Sandy Mayor Monica Zoltanski. “This man eats, drinks and speaks building code.”

Sandy’s Community Development team is in charge of working with contractors who are building or planning to build in Sandy. They make sure buildings are up to code with safety regulations to keep the community safe and keep builders responsible. 

For McClintic, the Gilbert Gonzales award is a powerful reminder of who it’s named after and how his legacy pushes McClintic and his entire team to be better every day.

Who is Gilbert Gonzales?

McClintic said that perhaps the biggest lesson he learned from Gonzales was to “never be afraid,” he told the City Journals. Even when he was at his weakest, McClintic said that Gonzales helped people and “always had a smile.”

Gonzales died from cancer in 2017. The award McClintic received was named in his honor that same year to recognize “outstanding individuals for their lifelong achievement in the building and safety industry,” according to a note that McClintic’s team wrote about him. Since then, only six individuals have been awarded with the Gilbert Gonzales award, including McClintic.

Gonzales was well known in his field across the state for going the extra mile. He not only did his job well, but he mentored and helped as many people as he could.

“He always wanted to promote professionalism and raise the bar for building departments,” said McClintic. “He always wanted to do more.”

Leading up to Gonzales’ death, McClintic and his colleagues worked tirelessly to build him a home. McClintic would work during the day and then at night, he would head over to work on Gonzales’ house. Unfortunately, it wasn’t completed before he died. 

The award isn't an annual award, but is only presented when an individual is nominated by ICC leadership to members that go above and beyond throughout their career. 

Who is McClintic?

A major accomplishment of McClintic’s career was his co-organization of the Utah Safety Assessment Program, with Gonzales that he’s still chair of today. 

In case of emergencies like earthquakes or other natural disasters, those inspectors certified by the program can be assigned in groups along with local fire departments and engineers to check the safety and stability of buildings across the state. 

During his career, McClintic has served as President of Utah’s ICC chapter in 2012 and numerous committees including being a board member of the Utah Chapter of ICC, the Unified Architecture/Fire Advisory Committee and the Code Change Committee, and manager of the Utah Chapter Code Forum. He currently serves as historian on Utah’s ICC board.

The title of historian was made specifically for McClintic, Durfee told the City Journals. He has taken hundreds of thousands of pictures at banquets, events and just about everywhere else.

“There’s nowhere you go without Jim’s camera,” Durfee said with a chuckle.

James Sorenson, Sandy City community development director, said that all the photos hanging in the office were taken by McClintic to record the department’s history.

“It’s nice to be recognized,” said McClintic. But he finished, in true McClintic fashion, “there’s still work to do.” λ