Mathews County’s new building official, Kevin Zoll, stepped into the job last Monday and has already begun meeting local contractors and community members. He said in the first four days he had met “a dozen really nice people.”

With 18 years of experience as a building inspector and official under his belt, Zoll said his job will be to promulgate the Uniform Statewide Building Code to make the built environment safe.

“Anything you build in this county, we want it to be safe,” he said.

Zoll will also be handling floodplain management, a task that is fairly new for him, since during his previous jobs in Powhatan and Fluvanna counties he only encountered two people who wanted to build in flood plains.

Education is important to Zoll. He said he sees himself as a resource for people, and he wants residents to feel comfortable dropping by and asking about the projects they’re hoping to undertake. He said he likes to help people build their project from the beginning, becoming pa...