Current News

Vermont’s congressional delegation ‘ Senator Patrick Leahy, Senator Bernie Sanders and Representative Peter Welch ‘ announced on Wednesday a $930,000 federal loan guarantee to Jasper Hill Farms in Greensboro. The funds will support 20 existing jobs and create 14 new ones.
Approved by US Department of Agriculture Rural Development (USDA RD), the loan guarantee will be used to finalize construction of two unfinished cheese cave vaults, which are carefully controlled environments where cheeses are aged. Additionally, the funds will help with the completion of office and lab space.

by Colin Ellis, Vermont Business MagazineA dairy farm in the town of Franklin will soon be turning their animal waste into electricity for local buyers.
Riverview Farm has signed a contract with Bio-Methatech to build a biogas system on the farm in the spring of 2012. Using a process known as biomethanisation, the farm will be able to turn various forms of animal, farm and organic wastes into electricity, heat and animal bedding all while using a source of renewable energy. The electricity created will be sold to a public electricity network.
David Dunn, manager of renewables at Central Vermont Public Service Corporation, said that this is the first Vermont project for Bio-Methatech.
‘This is the first Bio-Methatech digester project in Vermont,’ Dunn said. ‘The system is fully designed, the contract is signed, all the financing is sorted out and construction will begin in the spring.’

Senator Bill Doyle today announced the questions that would appear on his annual Town Meetingsurvey.This is his 42nd year of conducting the survey. The results should be available about twoweeks after Town Meeting Day.Some of this year's questions include Vermont's efforts to closeVermont Yankee, should drivers be prohibited from using cell phones, and should Vermont have a four-year term for Governor.

The survey also asks if Governor Shumlin is doing a good job, and whether the Vermont Legislature isdoing a good job.Other questions ask whether Vermonters are optimistic about their future andwhether Vermonters are optimistic about the future of our nation.

Senior vice president and chief financial officer of Central Vermont Public Service Pamela Keefe has been appointed CFO of the Electric Power Research Institute effective April 1. Keefe will remain at CVPS until March 30 to ensure a smooth transition. Keefe played a critical role in the company’s financial recovery and return to investment grade.

‘Pam has done a fantastic job for CVPS, our shareholders and our customers,’ President and CEO Larry Reilly said. ‘Following her arrival in 2006, when CVPS’s debt was below investment grade, Pam significantly improved our financial reporting, helping make it clearer and more informative, and played a critical role in improving CVPS’s access to capital through both debt and equity markets, to the benefit of shareholders and customers alike.

The University of Vermont Board of Trustees announced this morning that E Thomas Sullivan, JD, has been selected as the next president of UVM.When he takes office on July 15, Sullivan -- who until last month served as senior vice president and provost at the University of Minnesota -- will become UVM’s 26thpresident in the 221 years since the university was founded.

Governor Shumlin gives Tom Sullivan a Vermont atlas to help him find his way around the state.

IBM in Vermont has received the "Best Overall Energy Project in New England Award" from the New England Chapter of the Association of Energy Engineers. IBM was recognized for its ‘Free Cooling Project,’ which makes use of outside winter air to produce air conditioning for its semiconductor manufacturing and related operations that require cooling year-round. The process reduces IBM’s use of both electricity and water, and saves the company up to $700,000 annually.
The IBM Vermont semiconductor manufacturing and development site covers 3.5 million square feet and uses more than 400,000,000 kilowatts of electricity each year. A significant portion of that energy is required to cool the temperature of its manufacturing facility. The Free Cooling process eliminates the need to operate for up to three, 2000-ton chillers by using the cold Vermont winter air to create the chilled water for the IBM’s air conditioning system.

by Ed Barna Vermont Business MagazineIn 1975, Casella Waste Systems, Inc began in Rutland with one trash collecting truck. In the last quarter of 2011, the company was still headquartered in Rutland and was still operating under the same name, but it was listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange as CWST and reporting 5.7 percent revenue growth over the previous year.
It ranks 6th on the Vermont 100+ released in January with $466.1 million in revenues. SEESTORY AND COMPLETE LIST HERE.
Casella’s story combines growth through providing more and better services for customers, and growth from a strategic acquisition. But at the same time, there is a continuing theme of environmental responsibility, which in the past few years has led to promising new developments. As a company statement put it, ‘We have grown over the past 30 years by anticipating and meeting changing cultural and public policy expectations about how our environment and natural resources are managed.’

VermontGovernor Peter Shumlin announced today that Vermont will receive a $2.4 million grant from FEMA for recovery services for survivors of Tropical Storm Irene. The funds will assist with unmet needs, including housing, social services and more.
The grant will be managed by the Vermont Agency of Human Services, which will contract with three Community Action agencies to hire 11 case managers through August of 2013. Those case managers will work with the same clients from start to finish, identifying the assistance already received, prioritize what disaster related needs remain, and locating the resources available. Case managers will follow up with individuals to ensure all needs are met.
The case managers will be working in partnership with 11 Long Term Recovery Committees around Vermont. Those who are still in need of case management services should call 2-1-1 to be referred to the appropriate Long Term Recovery Committee.

Today, the Vermont Section of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) released the first report of its kind in Vermont, the Report Card for Vermont’s Infrastructure. The Report Card provides an evaluation and letter grade for Vermont’s roads, bridges, dams, municipal drinking water and municipal wastewater systems. Of the five areas of infrastructure, grades ranged from a ‘C’ to a ‘D-’, with roads and municipal wastewater scoring the lowest.

Secretary of State Jim Condos reminds Vermonters that in the General Election of 2010, Vermont voters overwhelmingly approved a Constitutional Amendment to allow seventeen year olds who will turn eighteen on or before the day of the November General Election to participate in the Presidential Primary and the August Primary for the year that the voter will be eighteen by the General Election.
Three young women, Ellie Beckett, Courtney Mattison and Katie Levasseur, proposed the change. They worked hard to encourage the legislature to pass the amendment that eventually was approved by 80 percent of the voters.
‘Any person who turns 18 on or before November 6, 2012 can register to vote, cast a Presidential Primary ballot on March 6, 2012 (but not a town meeting ballot), and cast a ballot at the August 2012 Primary,’ stated Secretary Condos.

State Auditor Thomas M Salmon, CPA, CFE, released today a situation report indicating that since 2000 approximately $415,000 has been reported missing from 16 supervisory unions or school districts. The report is the result of an investigation triggered by an incident of wire transfer fraud at the Washington South Supervisory Union last fall.
The event prompted the auditor to question the fraud reporting requirements and the financial controls in the state’s education system. In December, Salmon sent each superintendent and business manager a letter requesting information on any and all thefts, embezzlements and/or fraud that had taken place in the past 11 years.
The results were as follows:
â ¢ 16 entities had experienced an incident of theft, embezzlement, or wire fraud.
â ¢ 25 total incidents were reported.
â ¢ 4 entities had more than one such incident.
â ¢ 8 entities had incidents involving more than $10,000, of these:

SymQuest Group, the region’s leading provider of network and document technology solutions and services, has announced that MSPmentor has ranked SymQuest 19th in this year’s Top 100 Report, a global ranking of the world’s top Managed Service Providers (MSPs). MSPmentor is the ultimate guide to the world’s best managed services providers.
From the MSPmentor online: ‘19. SymQuest Group Inc., South Burlington, Vermont, United States: One of the few MSPs on our list to focus intensely on document management and MPS (managed print services). Those have been healthy focus areas for SymQuest, which lifted its recurring revenues 21 percent in 2011.’
MSPmentor ranked companies on a variety of metrics including annual recurring revenue, total number of devices managed, revenue generated per employee, percentage of growth rate and dollar growth rate, as well as other factors.