Drawing courtesy: City of Yelm

This evening, the Yelm City Council is expected to authorize Mayor Harding to sign the [WA.] Department of Commerce – Local Communities Project Grant Program 2016 for the Yelm Community Center in the amount of $485,000 net [$500,000 less a 3% administrative fees].
“An exemption from the LEEDS certification program has been granted.”

This agreement tonight raises several questions, two of which are:

1. Is the $1 million Community Center Bond now needed?
This $485,000 grant authorized tonight is in addition to $970,000 net [$1,000,000 less a 3% administrative fee of $30,000] the city previously received from the WA. Dept. of Commerce for the Yelm Community Center.

With the city now in receipt of Community Center grants totaling $1.5 million gross [$1,455,000 net after payment of administration fees] to offset the city’s 2014 budget earmarking $1,768,250 for Community Center Construction, what is the status of the $1,000,000 for the Yelm Community Center the City Council authorized to be tacked-on to the Library Bond, WITHOUT public input?
Click here to read more on this issue.

The City of Yelm 2014 Budget included funding for these:
– Community center Operations & Maintenance = $50,000
– Community Center Design = $150,000
– Community Center Construction Management = $150,000
The City should come clean on their intent in continuing to pay interest on a $1,000,000 Community Center Bond they added to the Yelm Library Bond.
Why is this million dollar bond now needed?

2. Why would the Dept. of Commerce grant an exemption from a publicly funded building being LEEDS certified?
LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) is a voluntary, consensus-based, market­-driven program that provides third-party verification of green buildings.

“The LEED green building rating system — developed and administered by the U.S. Green Building Council, a Washington D.C.-based, nonprofit coalition of building industry leaders — is designed to promote design and construction practices that increase profitability while reducing the negative environmental impacts of buildings and improving occupant health and well-being,” quoting the NRDC.

Many new public buildings nationwide are designed as LEEDS certified, the best way to demonstrate that a building project is truly “green.”
Why is Yelm not following LEEDS certification with this public building?
This exemption does not make sense, nor is it wise for the future in not reducing environmental impacts and operational expenses over the next decades.

Yelm Community Blogger Klein is a longtime member of NRDC’s Council of 1000.