For SD1 Inspector Donna Biddle, It's the End 
of One Story and the Beginning of Another

After 30 years in the construction industry, SD1 Inspector Donna Biddle has stories. Some are happy, others are sad and some aren't suitable for publication - but she definitely has stories.

Whether its friendly contractors, angry homeowners or crazy projects, there's just about nothing Donna hasn't encountered. But when she gets to telling stories, there's one particular type of encounter that animates her - dog stories.

"I enjoy my job and I'm good at it," she says. "I get to meet a lot of different people and a lot of different situations. Every day was a challenge; I met good people and bad. It could be stressful, but most of the homeowners I could talk to and explain what we were doing.

"I was good with them. And...a lot of them had dogs," she adds. "I just loved everybody's dogs. And if you love their dog, they love you. I just really paid a lot of attention to their dogs."

Donna even carried dog treats in her truck. "I could be driving down the road in Fort Thomas," she says, "They've got a lot of pretty foo foo dogs. And if I see a dog, it's really cute and just walking along. I'll roll my window down in my SD1 truck and stop and say, 'Oh, look at your dog!'"

She recalls receiving a telephone call once from a customer who lived on Stratmore. "She had a dog and that dog just loved me," Donna says. "Anytime the dog saw my SD1 truck, he would run up because he knew I had treats. Well, the poor thing had fallen down the steps and the lady called me and said, 'Donna, something is wrong with my dog.'"

Donna drove straight to her house and found the woman in the basement, where her dog was clearly suffering. He had broken his back, and so Donna helped the woman make arrangements to have the dog put to sleep. 

Donna considers all of this a public relations facet of being an inspector, a job that also entails visiting construction sites and ensuring that SD1 specs and safety regulations are being followed.

"I think a lot of people love the fact that I was a woman inspector," Donna says. "THey loved it that I was overseeing all these men. They couldn't believe it. They said, 'You've got a great job.' And I said, 'It's a rough job, but yeah, I do.' But I think all the contractors respect me, and that's really all anyone could ask."

Donna says they call her "firm but fair."

"The job of an inspector, you have a lot on your shoulders to deal with," she says. "You've got specs, you've got safety, you've got homeowners to work with, you've got restoration. And you've just got to put yourself in their place - if this was my yard, what would I want to see done?

"And I'm kind of a gardener too," she continues, "so I like nice yards and I love flowers and things like that. So I know when we go in there and just rip stuff up, I know it hurts. But I always talk to them and say, look, it's going to look a hundred percent better than what this does now."

That's where being firm comes in.

"I make that promise and I hold [the contractor's] feet to the fire," she says. "So, yeah, you've got to be a little mean sometimes. I'm good at that. I can't help it."

But when a job is finished, she says, it's all worth it.

"That's maybe my favorite thing about the job," she says, "the finished product. A lot of times, if the guys do a really good job for me, I'll buy them a pizza for lunch.

"Yeah - the ending. That's my favorite part," she says. "I like the beginning, and I also like when things show up that weren't supposed to be there. I love that kind of stuff because it really makes you think. Like, wait a minute, where is this coming from? How are we going to do this?"

For instance, she says, maybe a gas main shows up that's not where it's supposed to be. "We're supposed to set a manhole there, but that ain't happening. We can't set it on a gas main, so we have to move that manhole. Well, if we move it up here, it's going to be where the catch basin is; and if we move it back, it'll be where the water line is. So we have to move it over. You've got to really think of all that stuff."

Donna says she loves that part of the job because it's like a puzzle.

"I loved working with the project managers," she says. "They were great. But, yeah, that's probably my favorite part of the job - seeing...at the end...just driving back to the job a couple weeks later and seeing people's grass grow and how nice the brand new sidewalk and curb looks. Because it looked like a bomb went off before."

Donna says when you spend so many years doing the same job, you've got to enjoy it. In fact, that's part of her advice for those just starting out in their careers.

"Come to work every day," she says. "Don't waste your sick time because if something really happens to you, it's nice to have that banked and it's nice that they give you that much sick time here. Go to the wellness doctor because she's wonderful and they take good care of you. You have to take care of yourself.

"I think that's really important," she continues. "But the other advice is - just kind of try to have some fun because when you go out there, it can become very monotonous. But you've got to have some fun and laugh and cut up with the contractor and just have a little bit of fun during your job. Don't be too serious."

Donna's is retiring from SD1 next Wednesday, January 31. 

She's not 100 percent sure what she'll do next. Her love of dogs led her to create Donna's Dog Care, a unique service that dog sits in your home while you're out of town. 

"Somebody has a dog, they're going on a trip, they don't want to put their dog in a shelter or kennel somewhere," she says. "I come to you, and the reason I do that is because I think an animal - a cat or dog - I think they are better in their own environment. They don't, stress out as bad. They've got their own bed and their own toys. They're used to being there and they don't miss their owner as bad."

She has 15 clients right now and has several reservations in February. It's a full-service operation. Donna brings in people's mail, waters their flowers and does whatever else needs done while her clients are away. She's also considering volunteering at the Kenton County Animal Shelter. 

After that, she plans to head south this spring, looking for a place to settle in Alabama, Orange Beach or the Gulf Shores area. "I want to see what it's like there and go to the grocery store and see what the cost of living is. Possibly just pick up and move."

Donna's last day at SD1 will be next Wednesday, January 31. She is one of six staff retiring at the end of the month. The others include Michael Vice, Sean Blake, Greg Braunwart, Tom Foster and Tim Friedhof.

"A quick story about Michael Vice," Donna says. "He and I worked for a few years together at Thelen, which is now Geotechnology. Anyway, my first day here at SD1, I'm sitting there at orientation and I look across the table and who is sitting there but Mike. I didn't even know Mike had gotten another job, and he didn't know I had. I said, 'What are you doing here?' And he says, 'And he says, 'I'm going to work here.' I said, 'You've got to be kidding me. I can't get away from you!

"So that's funny - we walked in together 21 years ago and now we're walking out the door together."

Be sure to congratulate Donna and Mike (as well as Sean, Greg, Tom and Tim) the next time you see them. And if you'd like to book Donna's Dog Care, you can do so by calling (859) 638-6618 or emailing Donnasdogcare@yahoo.com.