by Alicia Freese vtdigger.org By the end of April, 1,057 state employees will have settled into new cubicles at the National Life building ‘ the hulking office complex that sits atop a hill overlooking Montpelier.
The building was already home base for the Vermont Agency of Transportation and Agency of Commerce & Community Development staff. Joining the burgeoning state presence at the National Life are nearly 400 employees from the Agency of Natural Resources this month who were displaced from the Waterbury State Office Complex after Tropical Storm Irene in August 2011. http://vtdigger.org/2011/09/15/state-begins-post-irene-move-of-more-than...
The state spent more than $8.6 million to spiff up all 180,000 square feet of the space it leases from National Life. On rent alone, the state will spend about $37.5 million over the course of a decade-long lease.
The Department of Buildings and General Services poured $50,000 into paint ‘ the walls are a citrusy green, yellow or orange ‘ and spent $600,000 on carpets.
Most notable, however, is the roughly $4.3 million bill for new furniture. Last fall the Department of Buildings and Grounds gave away hundreds of old desks (most of the heavy metal variety, now considered to be vintage material), shelving, chairs, phones, filing cabinets, white boards, etc. to schools, towns and nonprofits.
The new furniture isn’ t particularly flashy, and largely consists of gray filing cabinets, standard cubicle walls and spartan swivel desk chairs. According to material on the Department of Building and General Services website, employees could pick a total of two ‘ large accessories’ and one small one to complement their cubicle. A $177 desk light is classified as a ‘ large accessory,’ while a $7 document gripper is a ‘ small accessory.’
The limited receipts VTDigger obtained from ANR did not indicate lavish spending. Expenses included nearly $900 for 185 wastebaskets, $5,690 for one copier, and $1,500 for a fridge.
The reaction from some state employees has been mixed.
‘ We’ ve had some early adapters,’ said Erik Filkorn, public outreach manager for AOT. Others, Filkorn said, aren’ t happy with the ‘ open office’ floor layout.
New Agency of Natural Resources offices at National Life in Montpelier. Photo by Alicia Freese/VTD
Justin Johnson, deputy secretary of ANR, said the open office design is meant to ‘ encourage collaboration.’ This means the height of cubicle walls has been cut down, which creates more natural light and ‘ more controversially ‘ less privacy.
The swankiest part of the renovation is a crescent-shaped anteroom on each floor, which features a wall of burnished locally sourced wood paneling. Beyond the anteroom and amid the cubicles, there are several glass-enclosed conference rooms that look like barren fish aquariums.
‘ We’ ve gone from the 18th century to the 21st century,’ Governor Peter Shumlin said in an interview after a tour of the complex on January 28.
The remaining $4.3 million was spent on floor-to-ceiling walls ($1.4 million), design costs ($207,000), general construction and mill work ($420,000), sprinkler systems ($420,000), power, phone, and data infrastructure ($296,000), temporary furniture ($100,000), and a manager who oversaw the transition ($100,000).
The state hired architecture firm Freeman French Freeman to head up the project.
February 3, 2013 vtdigger.org TOP PHOTO: Governor Peter Shumlin, right, speaks to an Agency of Natural Resources employee last week. Photo by Alicia Freese