2002 Minnesota Code
Chapters 16A - 16E Administration and Finance
Chapter 16B Department of Administration
Section 16B.63 State building official.

16B.63 State building official.

Subdivision 1. Appointment. The commissioner shall appoint a state building official who under the direction and supervision of the commissioner shall administer the code.

Subd. 2. Qualifications. To be eligible for appointment as state building official an individual must be competent in the field of administration and shall have the experience in building design, construction, and supervision which the commissioner considers necessary.

Subd. 3. Powers and duties. The state building official may, with the approval of the commissioner, employ personnel necessary to carry out the inspector's function under sections 16B.59 to 16B.75. The state building official shall distribute without charge one copy of the code to each municipality within the state. Additional copies shall be made available to municipalities and interested parties for a fee prescribed by the commissioner. The state building official shall perform other duties in administering the code assigned by the commissioner.

Subd. 4. Accessibility specialists. The state building official shall, with the approval of the commissioner, assign three department employees to assist municipalities in complying with section 16B.61, subdivision 5.

Subd. 5. Interpretative authority. To achieve uniform and consistent application of the State Building Code, the state building official has final interpretative authority applicable to all codes adopted as part of the State Building Code except for the plumbing code and the electrical code when enforced by the state board of electricity. A final interpretative committee composed of seven members, consisting of three building officials, two inspectors from the affected field, and two construction industry representatives, shall review requests for final interpretations relating to that field. A request for final interpretation must come from a local or state level building code board of appeals. The state building official must establish procedures for membership of the interpretative committees. The appropriate committee shall review the request and make a recommendation to the state building official for the final interpretation within 30 days of the request. The state building official must issue an interpretation within ten business days from the recommendation from the review committee. A final interpretation may be appealed within 30 days of its issuance to the commissioner under section 16B.67. The final interpretation must be published within ten business days of its issuance and made available to the public. Municipal building officials shall administer all final interpretations issued by the state building official until the final interpretations are considered for adoption as part of the State Building Code.

HIST: 1984 c 544 s 68; 1986 c 444; 1991 c 345 art 1 s 66; 1994 c 634 art 2 s 10; 1995 c 254 art 2 s 7; 2001 c 207 s 4