THOMASVILLE — Thomas County Building Inspections Department recently hosted the agency’s 13th annual electrical contractors seminar.

Ron Purvis, a retired Georgia Power Co. engineer and former member of the Electric Code Making Panel, was speaker for the event.

Certificates of completion were awarded to the 71 attending.

The event began in 2003, when the late Johnny Reichert, former Thomas County director of building, planning and zoning, was encouraged to offer courses for electrical contractors and to provide an opportunity to attend a local seminar to obtain continuing educational requirements for renewal of state licensing certification.

The requirement for state-licensed electrical contractors is four hours per year of continuing education. For residential contractors, the requirement is three hours per year.

The seminar was approved recently by the Georgia State Licensing Board to allow residential basic contractors and residential light commercial contractors to count the hours of continuing education for license renewals.

Also attending the seminar was Donald Lawhorne, current International Association of Electrical Inspectors president and retired inspector with Thomas County building inspection department.

Lawhorne presented a 25-year participation certificate in honor of Reichert to his wife Nancy, and his daughter, Lisa Reichert Hughes.