EXCELSIOR SPRINGS – The City Council voted to approve additional building codes as 2021 ended.

The City Council approved an ordinance Dec. 20 at the Hall of Waters to use the 2017 National Electrical Code, and 2018 international codes for mechanical, plumbing and fuel gas. The latest approval came two weeks after approving three sets of 2018 codes published by the International Code Council.

The city had been regulating contractors under 2012 codes, Director of Economic Development Melinda Mehaffy stated in a memo to city leaders.

Contractors are prepared to comply with the codes, Mehaffy assured city leaders.

“We have spent the last year telling our contractors that we work with on a regular basis we’re headed this direction. And we are not the first. … There are many communities around us who have already moved to the 2018 code,” she said.

Kearney, Liberty, Kansas City and Gladstone are among the metro area communities that have updated their codes, Mehaffy said.