An interview conducted by Gary Walker follows this post. –Jay
When Steve Hewitt took the job as city administrator for Greensburg, Kansas, in 2006, there was nothing extraordinary about this town of 1,400 people. In fact it was typical of a lot of small Midwestern towns; a declining population, struggling with new economic development, and their leading export was “youth.”
Less than a year later, however, everything that was Greensburg was gone and all that was left was an opportunity. And, a question, “What if we built the town back as a ‘green community?’” The answer was a resounding “Yes.” They began to look at ways to rebuild and create a prosperous future through a new design. Today, there is hope for Greensburg, my other home town.
Before you start concerning yourself with the rebuilding plan, you have to recover from the disaster. It’s not like there’s a “playbook” for a disaster of this proportion.
“You have a manual that says, ‘OK, your emergency management people will do this and your staff will do this to help.’ But, when everybody’s homes are gone, every business is gone, every building and structure are wiped out, you are absolutely at the mercy of outside services helping you to figure out what happened in your community. What is left? What is salvageable? Where do we go from here?” Hewitt said.
The effort to dig out from this tragedy, took on massive, almost comical proportions. If there were a line item on a disaster project dealing with portable toilets, you would find yourself budgeting in excess of $500,000 for that luxury.
Early in the rebuild planning, Hewitt and other city leaders decided to resurrect Greensburg as a model green community. In December 2007, the city council passed a resolution requiring all municipally owned buildings larger than 4,000 square feet to be certified LEED Platinum, which would ultimately reduce future energy consumption. Greensburg is the first city to pass such a resolution. LEED Platinum is the highest rating a building can achieve from the U.S. Green Building Council.
“Yes, the up front costs are higher. However, Greensburg isn’t building a community for the next 20-30 years. Greensburg is making 100 year decisions and ‘Fiscal Responsibility’ must be considered for future generations,” Hewitt said in testimony before the select committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming for the House of Representatives in 2008. He added, “The pay-off saves tax dollars. Every decision, every building, every issue must fall back to our goals and principals. You build a town thinking of future generations.”
Secretary of Health and Human Services and former Governor Kathleen Sebelius spoke of the importance of Greensburg’s decision by saying, “More than just recover, the Kansans who live in Greensburg are building green, rebuilding a better community for their children and grandchildren, making shared sacrifices and investments for the next generation.”
Greensburg’s new policy garnered the support of local, state and national organizations and agencies that promote green building. That included the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Do questions still occur? You bet they do.
“You still have that emotional aspect of the community that says, ‘Did we do the right thing? Are we still OK? Why aren’t more businesses back? How do we do this? Is the school going to be OK?’” Hewitt churned out these questions rapid fire, leading me to believe that he had heard them, once or twice before.
My guess he has spent a sleepless night or two asking himself the same questions.
City of Greensburg Web site
Official government site with information about city services, post-tornado recovery plans and rebuilding
Steve Hewitt, City Administrator of Greensburg, Kansas [35:42m]: 
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