Commission hears implementation details: Earth Advantage contract, assessor scope and penalties explained
Summary
Staff said Earth Advantage was selected in Thurston County’s solicitation to support assessor training and quality control (pending county board confirmation); staff described which dwelling types can be scored now, training/mentoring requirements and the civil-fine structure for noncompliance.
Commission staff said the Thurston Climate Mitigation Collaborative and Thurston County led a solicitation for a contractor to provide quality assurance, training and reporting for Home Energy Score assessors. Staff named Earth Advantage as the selected organization and said the contract was pending consideration by the Thurston County Board of County Commissioners (scheduled for consideration on the 18th of the month).
Staff explained assessor qualifications and limits of the DOE tool: the scoring tool currently applies to single-family homes up to quadplexes and ADUs; DOE is working on adding manufactured homes and stacked multifamily above four units. Staff said trained assessors must keep scoring homes periodically (staff cited a six-month cadence for maintaining credentials) and that the collaborative plans to subsidize mentor/mentoring and training for roughly 10–15 assessors in the region.
On enforcement, staff described the ordinance’s reference to civil-code penalties for noncompliance and said fines would follow the city’s civil infraction structure—staff cited roughly a $50 first-day fine with escalating daily penalties thereafter—and emphasized that the implementation approach prefers education and waivers over immediate heavy enforcement.
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