Council honors Development Services director Jose Roig as he departs for International Code Council

The Austin City Council honored Jose Roig for 18 years of service to the City of Austin and recognized his departure from the city to take a position with the International Code Council.

Council Member Chito Vela introduced remarks praising Roig’s career in the city and said the award recognized Roig’s leadership in building safety and development services. Vela noted Roig’s decades of public service and presented a distinguished service award signed by the mayor.

Roig recounted his career path with the city, which began in February 2007 as a building inspector and progressed to the role of director of the Development Services Department. He told the council he had served as the city’s first building official, led Austin Code and the Development Services Department, and had taught building and fire codes internationally in Colombia and Mexico.

Roig described the work as a calling and spoke about the motivation behind it: "I asked him, why we do this? He said, because we care," Roig said, repeating a lesson from a mentor and using it to explain his commitment to public service. He said he will remain in the Austin area and intends to continue public-service work helping communities in Latin America and the Caribbean by sharing practices developed in Austin.

The presentation also cited recognitions received under Roig’s leadership, including being named one of Texas 100 by the Business Journal in February 2024. The council’s remarks thanked Roig for his leadership and noted that his next role will be with the International Code Council.