Benicia’s Business Resource Incentive Program has received the Helen Putnam Award for excellence in city business relations, Mario Giuliani, economic development manager, said.
The award was announced during the League of California Cities Conference in Los Angeles.
It is the third time Benicia has received the award. Its community-oriented policing programs earned the honor in 1994, as did its Tourtelot Cleanup Program in 2002.
BRIP has received other honors, too, Giuliani said.
Benicia also received the 2012 International Economic Development Council’s Excellence in Economic Development Gold Award and the 2012 California Association for Local Economic Development’s Economic Development Award of Merit for the program, according to a city news release.
City Manager Brad Kilger said for BRIP to receive this latest honor is special.
“The Helen Putnam Award is to local government what an Oscar or Emmy is in the entertainment industry, and I am so very proud that our city is being honored for our Business Resource Incentive Program,” Kilger said.
Giuliani said BRIP “represents the successful marriage of Benicia’s two top priorities: economic development and sustainability.”
He said the the two values were combined to create a program designed to help companies in the Benicia Industrial Park increase their profitability through solutions to environmental issues.
Through BRIP, businesses have their resource uses examined, he said. The result of that assessment is used to identify ways the company can reduce business costs, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and waste production.
The program also helps companies underwrite the changes they can make to reduce their environmental impact and improve their fiscal bottom line, Giuliani said.
“In the first 18 months of the program, the city’s Economic Development staff has worked with some 23 businesses, funded or will fund some 19 energy-reduction projects, saved businesses approximately $170,000 per year and reduced GHG emissions in the Benicia Industrial Park by 188 metric tons a year,” he said.
The program is funded through a portion of the Valero-Good Neighbor Steering Committee settlement agreement over which the Benicia Community Sustainability Commission has oversight. The Economic Development Board also has oversight of the program, Giuliani said.
The annual Helen Putnam Awards of Excellence began in 1982 to recognize outstanding achievements and innovative solutions by city governments in California, according to the news release.
Giuliani said 12 Helen Putnam Awards are given in different categories, ranging from public safety, public works, housing, planning and environmental awareness to economic development through the arts and community services, health and wellness, promoting public trust, and engaging youth in city government.
The award, established about 30 years ago, is named for a former Sonoma County supervisor, former Petaluma mayor and school teacher who presided over the League of California Cities from 1976 to 1977.
“Our innovative program is a collaboration between our community sustainability and economic development goals,” Benicia Mayor Elizabeth Patterson said.
Patterson, president-elect of the League of California Cities Northern Division, added: “By partnering with the business community, we have created solutions to tough problems, and in so doing, we grow our reputation as a business-friendly and sustainable community.”