Five City employees recently passed the licensing exam to become LEED Accredited Professionals.  LEED, which stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, is a rating system created by the US Green Building Council as a way to measure the performance of green buildings.  By becoming LEED Accredited Professionals (LEED APs) these individuals have demonstrated a thorough understanding of green building practices and principles, and the LEED Rating System.  The new LEED APs include:

• Tim Heron & Debbie Cleek – with BDS
• Dawn Uchiyama & Jocelyn Tunnard – with BES
• Valerie Garrett – with OSD

City staff is not typically involved with designing green buildings, but have an important role in assisting builders and developers who are building green.  The LEED Accrediation allows staff to better understand the opportunities and challenges around green building to assist customers with the development review process.

To prepare for the licensing exam the group partnered with David Posada with GBD Architects, who led study sessions.  David helps architects within his firm become LEED APs, and offered helpful examples of the LEED process applied to real projects.