by Taylor Dobbs vtdigger.org Less than 48 hours after the lawmakers ended the legislative session, Gov. Peter Shumlin brought a thick stack of their work ‘the Capital Bill ‘to Waterbury and signed it where he hopes it will make an impact: at the state office complex.
This yearâ s capital bill is an update to legislation from last year, which went into effect before the devastation of Tropical Storm Irene. The new bill re-allocates $12 million for renovation projects to the Waterbury complex, $5 million for a new state hospital facility and dedicates the first $15 million of any budget surplus in the fiscal year 2012 to rebuilding efforts.
The Waterbury campus, which housed 1,500 workers with the Agency of Human Services, the Agency Natural Resources, the Department of Public Safety and Vermont State Hospital, was hit hard by Irene.
The funds will bolster incoming money from the Federal Emergency Management Agency as well as insurance claims still due to the state.
â I said when Irene hit that it was our opportunity to rebuild Vermont better than the way Irene found us,’Shumlin said, â and there is no better example than what is going to happen right here in Waterbury, or for that matter, downtown Barre, as we bring our state workforce to green, clean, energy efficient workspace that will allow them to be efficient for Vermonters into the 21st century.â
Part of the problem now facing the state is funding. Despite promises of money both from insurance and FEMA, the administration still doesnâ t know how much they can count on for the project,which originally would have provided workspace for 1,024 workers at an estimated cost of $135 million.Shumlin called for the plans to be reconfigured to cut costs and to accommodate about 900 workers, but the project will likely be at least $100 million.
Jeb Spaulding, secretary of the Agency of Administration, said the state would probably have to invest at least $50 million in the project.
â Weâ re still looking at after insurance and after FEMA ‘itâ s still a ballpark figure ‘but it could be $50 to $80 million over multiple years,’Spaulding said.
The historic buildings at the front of the complex will be remodeled and some of the buildings closer to the river will be demolished. Shumlin said it would include at least one all-new building. The offices should be set to reopen within three years, the governor said.
â Weâ ll be tearing down a number of the buildings that, frankly, we wish we didnâ t have in the first place,’he said. â Weâ ll be rebuilding the historic infrastructure â ¦ so that weâ ll have energy efficient built-in space, and weâ ll be building a new state-of-the-art building right in back of these historic buildings that will provide quality workspace for the future.â
The office complex isnâ t the only thing in Waterbury left in rough shape by the storm. While some downtown businesses closed in the immediate aftermath of the flood, Shumlin said he is worried about the slow bleed of business losses accumulating while the state offices are closed.
â There are businesspeople here, and I donâ t want to single them out, who will tell you that their restaurants and other businesses are suffering because the state employees arenâ t here to buy the services that they always bought in Waterbury,’Shumlin said. â So the challenge is, now that weâ ve made the decision to come back: How do we move faster than the skeptics have said to ensure that we donâ t lose more business in Waterbury between now and when we bring the state employees back?â
Photo: Gov. Peter Shumlin and Michael Obuchowski, commissioner of the Department of Buildings and General Services, in Waterbury. Photo by Taylor Dobbs
May 7, 2012 vtdigger.org