Current News

Vermont Business Magazine The eleventh annual Vermont’s Greenest Building Awards, hosted by the Vermont Green Building Network (VGBN), recognized eleven projects and design/build teams. The projects received awards for achieving the highest standard of demonstrated building energy performance for commercial and residential buildings and documentation of green building strategies including health, transportation, water and affordability. Award winning projects must demonstrate an energy use intensity of at least 50% below the regional average energy use for buildings of the same end use to qualify for a Vermont Green Building Award and demonstrate an energy use intensity or at least 75% below the regional average to qualify for the Vermont’s Greenest Building Award.

Vermont Business Magazine Governor Phil Scott announced action on the following bills, passed by the General Assembly. This includes a charter of the Village of Alburgh, already approved by voters, to make the town clerk and treasurer appointed positions; allowing DOC personnel to be notaries public; and updating the liability for those selling alcoholic beverages.

by Ciara McEneany, Community News Service Vermont lawmakers are seeking to give workers increased protections when it comes to collective bargaining and union organizing through a bill that has passed in the Senate with a number of changes since it was introduced. The bill, S.102, would make it illegal under state law for employers to discipline or fire employees who decline to attend employer-hosted meetings that are primarily about the employers’ political or religious opinions — including unionization. The same would apply to requiring employees to look at or participate in communications about their boss’ political or religious opinions. That would, to some degree, make Vermont the fourth state to pass legislation to bar what are called captive-audience meetings. Wisconsin and Oregon passed such laws more than a decade ago; Wisconsin repealed its law after being sued, and Oregon’s withstood a court challenge. Connecticut lawmakers last year passed their own bill that has also been challenged in court. The language in the Vermont law closely mirrors that of Connecticut’s.

Vermont Business Magazine The Department of Buildings and General Services is auctioning a large assortment of state vehicles and equipment to the public beginning at 10:00 AM on Saturday, May 13, 2023, in Berlin, VT. This annual in-person physical auction is expected to be very well attended. A major collection of state vehicles and equipment will be auctioned off to the highest bidder including dump trucks, plow trucks, pick-up trucks, fleet passenger vehicles, boats, four wheelers, snow mobiles, paddle boats, riding mowers, tools, tires, miscellaneous parts, and more. In addition to the auction, a sales booth will be set up from 8:00 to 10:00 AM for the surplus “airport sharps.” The “airport sharps” include a selection of hand tools, hunting knives, pocketknives, pocket tools, and cork screws. There will also be more than a dozen sets of tires for sale that are new and/or barely used.

Vermont Business Magazine National managed cybersecurity leader NuHarbor Security didn’t compromise on culture while growing over 90% last year. The company announced that it has been named to Inc. magazine’s annual Best Workplaces list. The company was selected from thousands of companies across the United States and was chosen for demonstrating management effectiveness, fostering employee growth, and an exceptional culture. NuHarbor was also featured on the Editor’s List and four other categories and will be featured in Inc.’s May/June issue and prominently on its website.

After 45 years of practice, optometrist Dr David Garbutt is retiring and transferring his practice to Dr. Francis (Frank) Pinard of Newport Optical. Dr Pinard will begin seeing patients at 530 Washington Highway in Morrisville in early May. The Morrisville office will be a full-time second location for Dr Pinard and his associates. Ophthalmologist Dr. Mark Iverson, who shared office space with Dr Garbutt, will continue to see patients in the Morrisville office.

“We are pleased to welcome Dr. Pinard to our medical community; he brings more than 25 years of experience and, as a native Vermonter, a tremendous sense of community,” said Mel Patashnick, President of Copley Hospital. “We thank Dr. Garbutt for his many years of care and service to our community. We wish him and his wife Gail great joy pursuing their plans of gardening, traveling, and generally enjoying retired life.”

The 2014 Vermont Legislature adjourned last Saturday after putting the finishing touches on a bill that will result in this year’s state education property taxes going up another $49.5 million. This latest multi-million increase will begin showing up in property tax bills local officials must distribute starting next month. The state education portion of those bills will total $1.0169 billion, up 59 percent since the $640.1 million required just ten years ago. Those figures are net of the homestead property tax adjustment provided to the majority of homeowners.

The state’s education taxing and spending plan:

by Ayla Yersel and Timothy McQuiston, Vermont Business Magazine About a third of Vermont small businesses have dropped their health insurance since the inception of Vermont Health Connect, according to a new survey, while very few companies have signed on. But it is very likely that nearly all those individuals employed in small businesses in Vermont have migrated to the state health insurance Exchange.

Vermont Business Magazine and the Ethan Allen Institute conducted a statewide survey over the last several months asking whether small businesses offering health insurance to their employees in 2013 continued to do so in 2014. These businesses reported 50 or fewer employees and therefore were required to offer health insurance under Vermont Health Connect.

Vermont Business Magazine Driven by an increase in the number of employed and a drop in the number of unemployed, the Vermont Department of Labor announced today that the seasonally-adjusted statewide unemployment rate for April 2014 was 3.3 percent. This represents a decrease of one-tenth of a percent from the March rate of 3.4 percent. The comparative national average was 6.3 percent, which was down four-tenths of a percent from March. April 2014 data represents the seventh consecutive reported monthly decrease to the statewide unemployment rate in Vermont. Vermont’s unemployment rate remains the second lowest in the country (North Dakota 2.6 percent).

by John Herrick vtdigger.org The Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant’s operator said Thursday it will apply for state approval to build a second concrete pad to store spent nuclear fuel on site in dry casks. The company will ask state regulators June 30 for permission to build a security-protected pad adjacent to an existing one currently holding 13 dry casks, Entergy officials said. Each cask holds about 68 spent fuel assemblies

Entergy, a Louisiana-based company that operates the plant in Vernon, announced last year it will close the plant by the end of the year. The proposed project would allow the company to transfer spent nuclear fuel from a storage pool into steel- and concrete-reinforced dry casks. The radioactive material would remain in the casks indefinitely.

Dry cask storage units at Vermont Yankee.

by Timothy McQuiston Vermont Business Magazine Using a US Senate hearing on nuclear plant decommissioning, Chris Recchia, Commissioner of the Vermont Public Service Department, left no doubt that he felt the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is failing in its oversight of nuclear waste storage and the need for continued emergency planning after a plant is decommissioned. He said the NRC is leaving the states without recourse in the decommissioning process, even though the spent nuclear waste will remain onsite for the foreseeable future because there is no place to send it. He also doubted the wisdom that under an NRC proposal, spent fuel would be allowed to sit in a spent fuel pool instead of being transferred to dry cask storage.

A funding mechanism that allows customers get solar electricity without the usual up-front costs has gone online in Rutland. Built by NRG Residential Solar Solutions, a wholly owned subsidiary of NRG Energy, Inc (NYSE:NRG), the solar farm is now delivering power to area residents. The 150 kilowatt photovoltaic solar array provides power to 50 Green Mountain Power customers who signed-up for the project.

“With the partnership of Green Mountain Power and the strong support of the leadership and residents of Rutland, NRG has been able to build a truly revolutionary solar program to help meet the electrical needs of the city,” said Denise Wilson, Executive Vice President, New Businesses. “This community solar project makes solar a possibility for all Rutland customers.”

The array was built on Hillside Avenue, just off Woodstock Avenue.