Just a week after Richard Normoyle, East Hampton Town’s chief building inspector, told the town board that progress was being made on a large backlog of applications that has plagued the Building Department for over a year, rumors began spreading among building industry insiders that Mr. Normoyle is not New York State Code-certified to perform inspections.
Mr. Normoyle blamed the rumor on an administrative error at the at the New York State Department of State, which tracks certifications.
The New York State certification is necessary for any building inspector who performs building safety inspections.
The chatter was fueled by the absence of his name on a Department of State list, but that list includes a fairly big disclaimer: “Data are not audited for accuracy prior to publication. They do not represent definitive determinations as to whether a person has fulfilled training requirements pursuant to 19 NYCRR Part 1208.”
“At this time, we are communicating with N.Y.S. D.O.S. to determine why my N.Y.S. Code Enforcement training certification does not show on their website,” Mr. Normoyle wrote in an email on Tuesday that came through Patrick Derenze, the town’s public information officer.
“We are addressing an apparent discrepancy, as my current national certifications were submitted to their office in 2021 in lieu of in-service training, as allowable by their regulations,” he continued. “I have completed my annual 24-hour in-service training since this documentation was submitted in 2021. They are currently reviewing this documentation, and I hope to hear back from them shortly. I have no reason to believe my status with N.Y.S. as a C.E.O. [compliance enforcement officer] is invalid.”
Mr. Normoyle’s résumé, acquired through a Freedom of Information Act request, showcases a long list of certifications, but makes no mention of the New York State certification. He holds many certifications from the International Code Council.
His entire 30-year career has been in the building industry. Before joining East Hampton’s Building Department, he had served as a plans examiner for the Town of Babylon since 2021. Immediately before that, for 13 years, he worked in private industry, but even then, his job duties included review of plans to determine compliance with state codes. Prior to that, for nine years he was an engineering and ordinance inspector for the Town of Huntington, where again he conducted sitework inspections.
An extensive list of Mr. Normoyle’s certifications was provided by Mr. Derenze. In 1997, Mr. Normoyle was first certified in New York State Code, and he last updated his certification in 2007, shortly before he went into private industry.
By 2022, when he was back in government, he began retaking continuing education classes to freshen his certifications.
Yet as of Tuesday afternoon, Mr. Normoyle’s name was not found on the most recently updated list of active code official certifications, on the New York State Department of State website, dated July 6.
The New York State Department of State Division of Building Standards and Codes failed to respond to multiple requests over the last week to verify Mr. Normoyle’s status.
“He has 35 years of qualifications,” Councilwoman Cate Rogers, who is the town board liaison to the Building Department, wrote in a text. “He has all certifications.”
“This is not something that should be whitewashed,” said Councilman Tom Flight, when asked about the building inspector’s certification. “If we’re making the public adhere to certain standards, we should, as a town, adhere to them as well. It’s critical that the state gives us feedback on this.”
State law is explicit that certification is required. It is the first item listed under the “minimum training requirements for building safety inspectors” section of its legislation: Title 19 of the New York Codes, Rules and Regulations, which contains its Uniform Fire Prevention and Building Code.
Individuals with an inactive certification cannot perform inspections and if they do, may be penalized.
There are exceptions in the law. One allows that a person who is “progressing toward completion of the building safety inspector basic training program at a rate which, in the judgement of the local government will assure that such person will complete such program within such person’s basic training period.”
The basic training program is 60 hours long and includes over 30 topics, such as “existing means of egress” and “historic role of codes.”
“A person who is or becomes employed as a building safety inspector by a local government must complete that basic training program within six months from the date of appointment,” reads the law.
Mr. Normoyle has been working for the town since Sept. 29, 2025.
The rumor mill spilled into the public forum at Monday night’s Amagansett Citizen’s Advisory Committee meeting. There, Rona Klopman, its chairwoman, who recently lost an election to become an East Hampton Town Democratic Committee member, claimed that lacking a certification means Mr. Normoyle’s inspections since he was hired were “null and void.”
Without a proper response from New York State, her accusation was just that and could not be verified.
Dawn Green, the town’s senior building inspector, also did not appear on the list. Mr. Derenze said the state acknowledged the omission and she would be on the list Monday.
Meanwhile, other Building Department employees, the new hires Joseph Berti, Aaron Arkinson, and Jacob Sutherland, along with Allison MacDougall, have all been certified in the last 12 months and appear on the state list.
