Recognizing Leadership
Currently, 19* cities and counties are Beacon
Award program participants, working toward achieving one of three
award levels. ILG invites all cities and counties to participate
as a way to highlight their local leadership and accomplishments
with their residents and share best practices with other
communities. There is no deadline or fee to participate in the
Beacon Award program; the program is ongoing.
Ventura Mayor Carl
Morehouse says, “The Beacon Award program is a great initiative,
and we encourage other cities throughout the state to get
involved.”
Noting her city’s 15-year history of reducing greenhouse gas
emissions while supporting local green economic development,
Chula Vista Mayor
Cheryl Cox says, “The Beacon Award will provide an opportunity
for Chula Vista to exchange ideas and lessons learned with other
local governments, community partners and energy utilities.”
Citrus Heights Mayor
Jeannie Bruins sums up her city’s participation: “The city
decided to participate in the Beacon Award program because we
realize what an important issue sustainability is. And as we take
a leadership role, we are setting an example for our community as
well as for other communities.”
Participating cities and counties can highlight their agencies’
accomplishments on their own individual participant pages on the
ILG website and showcase key projects through the ILG resource
pages for best practices in climate action and
sustainability.
Besides striving for the silver, gold and platinum Beacon Award
levels, participating cities and counties are eligible to receive
statewide recognition for interim accomplishments. For example,
reducing energy use by 5, 10 or 20 percent in agency facilities
through energy efficiency retrofit projects makes a city or
county eligible to receive interim recognition. Highlighting
interim accomplishments helps participating cities and counties
demonstrate their leadership locally and statewide while working
on reaching the silver, gold or platinum award levels.
Beacon Award participants agree that sharing information with
colleagues and local residents is an important element of the
program. “It’s not just about getting the award as much as it is
giving cities an opportunity to learn from each other about the
types of things they are doing that protect the environment and
help out the local economy,” says Ken Pulskamp, city manager of
Santa Clarita, a Beacon
Award program participant.
Yolo County Supervisor
Matt Rexroad concurs. “When we started looking at this through
our General Plan process, we discovered tremendous things that
our staff were doing on their own,” he says. “It was good
financially, it was good for the environment, and it was just the
right thing to do.”
* For an updated list of participants, go to www.ca-ilg.org/BeaconAward/Participants.
The Beacon Award program is funded by California utility ratepayers and administered by Southern California Gas Company, San Diego Gas and Electric Company, Pacific Gas and Electric Company and Southern California Edison, under the auspices of the California Public Utilities Commission.
This whitepaper was adapted from an article in the July 2011 issue of Western City magazine.