As the long-time building inspector in Williston Park, Kerry Collins is a man who understands the inevitable ups and downs of his daily routine and takes a philosophical view of it.
“You’re dealing with the public, which has a lot of positive and negatives,” said Collins, who has headed the Williston Park building department for 25 years.
But when people vent their frustrations over their particular problem to him, he makes a point of maintaining a calm demeanor, and simply trying to talk the issue out in a rational way. Collins long service and steady hand by the village board of trustees with a certificate of recognition in the fall.
“You’re never going to please everybody. You have to enforce things in a diplomatic way,” Collins said. “You never hammer people. You ask them to help you.”
On the whole, Collins said he enjoys his work and tries to simply employ common sense, whatever the issue at hand happens to be.
“It’s a wonderful experience in any life. You get to talk to people and work in an environment that’s comfortable,” Collins said. “My work ethic requires that I like what I do.”
Collins maintains an amiable demeanor when conducting building inspections and reviewing applications for certificates of occupancy and all the rest that his job entails. But the 53-year-old said he is always ready to enforce the codes that guide his judgment if a resident or business owner wants to take a hard line.
“I’ve got the guns, and the bullets too. But I’d rather work together. It’s always a win-win with the government, and you’re going to lose,” he said. “If you’re not going to maintain your property, I’ll go to the next step.”
The code is the code in the end, but if someone needs time to correct a situation due to difficult financial circumstances, Collins said he’s always willing to work with them.
Collins said he likes being out of the limelight. He’d prefer to leave that to politicians, who he said are frequently abashed to discover that campaign pledges they make aren’t always consistent with the village codes and regulations that are already in place.
“Every administration has certain goals. Every decision we have has an impact on government,” Collins observed. “But we’re governed by municipal law, and campaign promises may not mean very much. Whatever you want to do, you have to follow municipal law.”
He has often found himself in the position of giving the village officials he’s working under a reality check in explaining gently explaining that what they want to do isn’t quite possible. And the issues that come up are often recurring themes. Collins said he maintains a file of letters he’s received from residents since 1985 about particular subjects, “and if I dig one out, all I have to do is change the name.”
Village of Williston Park Mayor Paul Ehrbar, a long-time resident who’s known Collins for years, said he has a new appreciation for the contribution the building inspector makes to the village since he’s been in office.
“I’m very pleased with him. He’s a hard worker. He puts in a lot more hours than people realize,” Ehrbar said. “He looks to be very helpful and informative with people. He does his job.”
And he always makes a point of consulting the village attorney on individual issues before he makes a determination, because he realizes that written laws offer a certain flexibility in their own immutable way.
“This is not just construction. This is code enforcement and everything in that code is open to interpretation. You have to interpret it for the benefit of the community,” Collins said.
Collins recalled that he was fortunate to have a mentor in the late Teddy Kimlingin, who held the building inspector’s job for 30 years before Collins took over.
“He told me where all the skeletons are,” Collins said. “And it’s a small closet.”
A simple man, Collins said he’s too wrapped up in his work to spend time at doing much of anything else. He does enjoys spending time with friends and family, but he enjoys watching sports in his leisure time, and playing the occasional round of golf.
