Tom Carty's job has a lot to do with things that are coming out of the ground in Peachtree City.

As the city's building official, Carty has the responsibility of making sure that the man-made growth, not nature's bounty, complies with laws and carries the quality for which Peachtree City has become known.

A Bostonian and the son of Irish immigrants, Carty said he found the "perfect job" for his skills after retiring from Delta Air Lines in 1994. A resident of Peachtree City for 25 years, he already had a working relationship with the city as an electrical contractor and wiring expert, skills he developed and honed with experience in college and in the U.S. Army.

Carty is at the center of a current discussion on adopting three codes new to Peachtree City, aimed at dealing with maintenance, repair and rehabilitation of older houses and buildings. He explained that while some corrective action is possible under the city's present housing code, which deals only with new construction, the Standard Housing Code, Existing Housing Code and Unsafe Buildings Abatement Code will give the city "the legal means to do what we need to do to keep our city they way we want it, now that we are approaching build-out."

Carty supervises a staff of three field inspectors, a development inspector, code enforcement officer, permits clerk and secretary. He says the inspectors will "be very busy" when the older-housing codes are adopted, but a check of the numbers seems to confirms the department already is busy.

Reports to the City Council show that 5,975 inspections have been done in 1998, down from 7,324 in 1997. Building permits were issued for 243 single-family homes; 26 multifamily residences; 480 "miscellaneous" items like pools, fences and additions, and 89 commercial or industrial structures. Carty says "additions are the thing right now" in Peachtree City homes, where homeowners may be finding it more practical and economical to expand or reconfigure their houses than to move to new ones.

Carty's reports also show that the code enforcement officer, Tami Babb, investigated 2,508 complaints, issued 3,363 warnings (up because of business license and smoking ordinance enforcement), issued 74 stop-work orders and 28 citations for code violations in 1998.

"Stop-work orders are not generally understood," Carty said. "First of all, safety is my first priority and I will issue a stop-work order anywhere I feel is unsafe. But the majority of stop-work orders are for erosion control violations."

Even with mud from a construction site washing into roads, Carty says, there may be extenuating circumstances. Rainfall measurements are charted on the wall at the building department.

"So we know that when a large amount of rain falls, we are going to have erosion," Carty said. "But we tell the developers to do whatever they can to stop it put a bulldozer in front of it if you have to. Our first concern is for our drinking water supply from Lake Peachtree and Lake Kedron."

Besides the "routine," Carty also speaks to civic groups, serves as an expert witness in court cases, helps Girl Scouts and somehow finds time to go deep-sea fishing occasionally and to read "southern authors like Stuart Woods." He has been married to his wife Trudy for 36 years, and two of their three daughters live in the area. They have four grandchildren.

The "brag wall" in Carty's office carries some plaques and certificates that carty says he is proud of, including serving as director of the Building Officials Association of Georgia and president of the West Georgia Inspectors Association. He was the city's 1995 Supervisor of the Year, and two of his employees have been Peachtree City's Employee of the Year on Carty's recommendation.