Barrett Pedersen, mayor of Franklin Park, Ill.

Feeling he could make an environmental impact by becoming active in politics, Barrett Pedersen (left, with Police Chief Michael Witz) moved back to his hometown after graduating college. He first served as a precinct captain and later as the village prosecutor before running for mayor, an office he?s held for five years.
Pedersen?s main efforts have been to make Franklin Park more sustainable. One example is the new police station, which was recently honored with a LEED Gold certification.
The village?s previous facility, built in the 1940s, was falling into disrepair. The solution was to build new, says Pedersen, but the facility needed to be an environmentally friendly structure. Pedersen spearheaded the effort to ensure the station?s construction included sustainable materials and practices.
?We ended up with a 96 percent energy-efficient building,? Pedersen says. ?The estimated cost of the project was $10 million, but we came in at $9.1 million.?
Pedersen says sustainability directly translates to dollars and cents. Climate change costs municipalities, and sustainable building practices will cut those costs in the long term. ?When I talk about sustainability, I?m almost always talking about economic issues,? Pedersen says. For these and other efforts, Pedersen was honored by the West Central Municipal Conference with the Green Intelligence Award.