Host: City of Bothell
Region: Washington
Openings: 1
Project Focus: Energy Efficiency, Renewable Energy
Skills Needed: Project Management, Research, Data Analysis, Data Collection,

Remote or On-Site Placement

Hybrid – Generally, staff is expected to be on-site twice a week and work from home three days a week.

Service Needs & Plans

The goal of this project is to ensure compliance with HB 1257, known as the Clean Buildings Act. The objective of this act is to lower costs and pollution from fossil fuel consumption in the state’s existing covered buildings, multifamily buildings, and campus district energy systems. The City of Bothell needs extra capacity and support to complete this project, particularly given the fairly specific and technical nature of the work that will be done. This project is also time sensitive given the deadline to start program for HB 1257 compliance is by July 2026 under state law.

Project Description

Washington State recently passed HB 1257, referred to as the Clean Buildings for Washington law. Compliance with state law will be applicable to ‘Tier 1’ commercial buildings larger than 50,000 SF, and ‘Tier 2’ commercial buildings larger than 20,000 SF. Bothell will be initiating a project in order to ensure all city buildings fitting within this category meet compliance. Elements of the project are anticipated to include a building energy study of a number of city-owned buildings and developing strategies to identify energy efficiency upgrades. We anticipate buildings needed to be included in this project to be City Hall, the Police Public Safety buildings, Fire Station 42, the Bothell Operations Center Administrative Building and Shop Buildings. The Fellow would also assist in developing a program for annual reporting requirements for the state that are also required under HB 1257.

Desired Skills

The Fellow will need to be able to coordinate between a number of stakeholders, which will likely include consultants, other departmental staff, as well as working with the community and our City Council and Planning Commission. Any work that will need to be reviewed by Planning Commission or City Council will also potentially require work on developing materials for meetings and potentially contributing to presentations and discussions with those bodies.

Organization & Workplace Highlights

The City of Bothell is a city located in the Puget Sound Region of Washington State, straddling the King County and Snohomish County border on the north end of Lake Washington in the Greater Seattle Metro Area. We have roughly 400 members of city staff located between the City Hall building in Downtown Bothell, as well as the Bothell Operations Center located in Canyon Park. The Planning Division of the Community Development Department, located at City Hall, is the lead group working on the Climate Action Plan. The second project will be led by the Fleet and Facilities Division within the Public Works Department, working in concert with other applicable divisions and departments, such as Planning and Building in Community Development. We have a hybrid work environment with flexible schedule options.

Community Highlights

We serve a community of just under 50,000 residents within the city. The demographics of the community roughly match those of the surrounding greater Seattle area. The Bothell community is very environmentally minded, with a strong passion for the natural areas of the city, including our local fish-bearing waterways, and urban forests. As Bothell has grown, it has managed to maintain many elements of a small town feel, including many community events in the downtown area in the summertime, including various festivals and parades that close downtown city streets for celebrations.