Mariposa County will welcome a new building director on March 15, and he couldn’t be more excited about coming to town. “This fits us like a glove,” Building Director Mike Kinslow said last week. “We’re small town, rural people.”

Kinslow will take the reigns at the department following a controversial tenure by the former building director, who resigned in the wake of grumblings by the Mariposa County Contractors’ Association. Kinslow met with MCCA even before he interviewed with the County, in order to get a feel for what the climate for builders was in Mariposa County.

Now, as Kinslow prepares to begin his new job, he is describing himself at “user friendly” and hopes to restore confidence in the department. “People are afraid to come in and ask questions,” Kinslow said. He encourages the opposite. “Come in and talk to me,” he said.

Kinslow is a third-genera- tion builder who is a California native. He has worn two hats during his career: one as a building inspector and the other, which he is currently wearing, as a contractor. It is the two experiences he hopes will be symbiotically effective as building director.

“The whole process is a teamwork effort,” Kinslow said. He plans to use local builders as resources, and hopes they will do the same.

“The ultimate goal is code compliance,” Kinslow said. “But I can get a lot farther with a smile and a handshake than a red tag.”

He has quite a job ahead of him, as California will be adopting international building codes in the near future. He also wants to help builders get their jobs done. “The jurisdiction should reach out to them,” he said of constituents. “It’s the way I like to do business in a friendly, productive give and take relationship.”

Kinslow and his wife, Laurie, are in the process of relocating to Mariposa from Washington state. He is excited about the prospects that await him. “I’m the right guy in the right place at the right time,” Kinslow concluded.