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Highlands Today

Building Official Keeps Sebring Homes Safe

Jasmina MeyerHighlands Today

City of Sebring Building Official Ed White completes an inspection of a home on Lakeview Drive in response to an anonymous complaint recently in Sebring.

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By JOE SEELIG

Highlands Today

Published: November 10, 2008

SEBRING - Getting that house, home addition, commercial building, pool or even a shed constructed in a manner that's code compliant and safe for the consumer is the number-one concern for long-time Sebring resident Charles "Ed" White.

White is the city of Sebring's building official and celebrated his first year on the job Friday.

He was hired after his predecessor, Jim Jacobs, retired in 2007 after nearly 26 years with the city.

At the time the job came available, White worked as a plan reviewer and inspector with the Highlands County Building Department.

White, now 63, has traveled a long way since leaving the U.S. Army in 1967 after two years, where he served in Germany as an artillery fire direction section chief.

"I actually got out of the military on my birthday," he remembered.

He was about to sign his re-enlistment papers but changed his mind. He couldn't get a written guarantee from his re-enlistment officer on where he would be posted.

"Hindsight being 20-20, I would have stayed," he said. "I enjoyed it and I learned a lot while I was in there."

Jack Of All Trades

He remembers growing up on a family farm in Pennsylvania. While his friends were inside watching television, he and his father, Charles O., were outside in the cornfield shucking corn until 10 p.m., "in the snow even," so his dad could get it to the feed market before the raccoons ate it.

He credited his father for pushing him hard as a kid. It's because of him, White said, that he learned how to do a variety of things.

"At the time I resented it, but later on I thanked my dad for giving me that work ethic and the knowledge of all the things he could do and things that I can do now," he said.

Among his other jobs, he worked for three years with the U.S. Postal Service in Pennsylvania.

Not including his military time, before 1972, White had his own building and remodeling business, and from 1971 to 1975, he worked as a supervisor for a construction company.

Sebring Bound

In 1975 White brought his first wife, Cherlyn, and their three children to Sebring, from Pennsylvania.

"It was to get out of the cold weather," he said. "The first place we lived was in the city of Sebring. My grandfather was down here at the time. Plus, my father-in-law was retired from the Air Force living in Titusville.

"I liked it there, but when I came to Sebring I said, 'This is it.' It was a small town and I really liked it over here."

When he told his parents they were moving, they actually beat him to it, arriving in Sebring ahead of them. His mom, Iona, and sister Elaine still live in Sebring. His dad passed away five years ago.

Best Laid Plans

White said he thought he had a job waiting in Sebring with the post office, but things don't always go as planned.

"I was supposed to transfer here, but my paperwork never showed up," he said.

Instead, they lost it for three years when a postmaster sent it to St. Louis, Miss.

"They wouldn't complete my transfer until they found my file," he said.

He took a job at Scotty's for about six months.

"It was right there where ACE Hardware is now, by the Burger King," he said.

He worked there until he found the next best thing.

Finally, his paperwork turned up, and from 1978 to 1994 he worked once again for the U.S. Postal Service, as a sub-rural carrier, a postal clerk, and eventually moving into management as a customer service supervisor.

"I tell people it was one of the best and one of the worst jobs I ever had," he said.

From 1994 to 1996, White was self-employed as an owner-operator of an office warehouse complex.

During that period he volunteered his time and services to the Lake Josephine Water System and the Peace River Water System, installing water hook-ups, replacing defective meters and repairing water leaks.

He also helped with the expansion of a wastewater treatment plant.

He took a position in 1996 with Okeechobee Health Care (a nursing home) as a director of plant operations, maintaining equipment there and keeping up with the paperwork.

Then he moved to Highlands Regional Medical Center, working first as an engineering technician and then in the information technology department until going to work for the county in 2005.

Working For The City

As the Sebring building official, White does all kinds of inspections: roof, truss strapping, electrical, plumbing, mechanical or air conditioning. He also checks out swimming pools, fences and sheds.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development is responsible for mold inspections, but he gets calls about mold occasionally. He recalled going to inspect a mold complaint in a home so badly infiltrated with mold that he could only stay inside for a little while.

The homeowner had air conditioning work done without a permit and therefore without an inspection. The condensation from the air-conditioner was not piped outside of the house and the house got mold.

"The homeowner should make sure they have permits," he said. "It appears many air-conditioners get installed without permits, let alone an inspection."

One of the most dangerous situations he recalled was a home where the son of a homeowner pulled his own permit and decided to do the electrical work himself on a screened porch they closed in.

He used wiring boxes that were too small and everything was touching the metal. That's a bad thing, he said.

"Had they flipped the breakers, it would have shorted out everything," he said. "Most likely, once they pulled that breaker it would have popped right off, but it could have caused a fire."

Family And Fun

His first wife, Cherlyn, died from cancer in 1984. In 1990 he married his current wife, Patsy Jo, who has lived in Sebring all her life.

She works at Highlands Regional Medical Center, in admitting. That's why you might see them together enjoying lunch in the cafeteria on any given day.

White's very proud of his three children. His oldest son Charles is a computer engineer with the Department of the Army. His youngest son James is a career man in the U.S. Air Force. His daughter Nicole works at Highlands Regional Medical Center in patient care.

When it comes to work he knows that lives depend on him doing his job right, but if you want to get him excited, ask him about his faith. Or better yet, ask him about his dog named Noodles (it used to be Bambi) that he adopted from Canine Castaways, in Arcadia.

For fun, White said he likes doing things on the computer; that, and working on old cars.

"I had a 1977 Mini," he said pointing to a model of what looked like a Mini Cooper, made by BMW. "I just sold it six weeks ago. I enjoyed it. (Old cars) break your knuckles, but they don't talk back to me."

His "Mini" was made by Leyland. The new ones are made by BMW, he said. He's looking at buying a couple more old vehicles.

"I also like working with wood," he said.

Joe Seelig can be reached at (863) 386-5834 or jseelig@highlandstoday.com .

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