by David Ball
Staff Writer
An ordinance introduced at last night’s City Council meeting could, if approved, add a new green-collar worker to the City’s current blue-collar and white-collar staff.
Ordinance 2008-211 creates the new position of “green initiatives coordinator” within the Environmental and Compliance Department. The position’s responsibilities include to “promote the City’s green building initiative, coordinate projects, provide public information and education and act as a media liaison.”
The position is to be funded at $275,000 for three years out of the City’s Environmental Protection Board trust fund, which is collected from civil penalties for environmental violations and not from tax dollars. Vince Seibold, chief of the Environmental Quality Division, said that fund balance is currently nearly $1 million.
That puts total compensation at more than $91,000 a year. However, Seibold said that includes benefits and the salary will most likely be in the $50,000 range. He said after the first three years, when the position becomes funded through the general fund, the position should be self-sustaining based on the costs savings the green initiatives coordinator can realize for the City.
“This is an example of leading by example,” he said. “I think the City needs to be out in the forefront of environmental responsibility, especially in the tight budgetary times when we need to look for every opportunity for cost savings.”
The position is one of three green initiatives planned by the mayor’s office and members of the Environmental Protection Board. The first initiative — funding to train City employees on environmental stewardship — was approved by City Council last year. The third element is a green building ordinance (now called sustainable building) that is currently getting final tweaks from the Office of General Counsel before it goes before the City Council.
The ordinance requires all new civic or office construction projects owned by the City and its independent agencies and authorities to meet the U.S. Green Buildings Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) criteria. LEED promotes conservation of resources like water and electricity through design and choice of electrical and plumbing fixtures, recycling as much as possible from demolition and construction materials and using cleaning and maintenance supplies that don’t harm the environment.
The ordinance also promotes the private sector to go green by providing incentives, such as priority permitting for projects meeting LEED or other green criteria.
“We’ve been working on this for well over a year,” said Environmental Protection Board member Robert Schuster. “That’s why we want to have this green champion (new position) on as soon as possible, so not only are they managing and shepherding sustainable projects through the City, but they are also reporting back to the Environmental Protection Board and mayor’s office what other projects exist.”
The green coordinator could get a project right off the bat. Included in the ordinance creating and funding the position is an appropriation of $36,000 for an audit, survey and facility assessment of the Main Library to determine how to make the building LEED certified.
“To me, it’s critical to have this green initiatives coordinator on board to learn from this exercise,” said Seibold. “They would have to be LEED certified and be responsible for performing these surveys in the future, so this would be a good place to start.”
The ordinance will move through the Council’s Finance, Transportation, Energy and Utilities and Recreation and Community Development committees before returning for a final vote. Seibold and Schuster expect the green building ordinance to be introduced to Council in April.
What you need for LEED
The following project criteria are necessary to obtain points towards the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification. A LEED inspector determines how many points are earned, and the total determines the level of certification obtained.
Levels: Certified, 26–32; Silver, 33–38; Gold, 39–51; Platinum, 52–69.