Long wait for state employees to return to Waterbury office complex

Work goes on at the Waterbury State Office Complex. VTD/Josh Larkin

The state employees who worked in the “nerve center” of state government — the Waterbury State Office Complex — won’t be going back to work at the old facility anytime soon.

It will likely be six months to a year, or longer, before the 1,500 workers, who were displaced on Aug. 29 when floodwaters swamped the Waterbury facility, are placed in a new centralized facility.

The location? TBD — to be determined. The Shumlin administration says it will consider three scenarios: Waterbury as a possible site with modifications for future flooding; sites in central Vermont (both Montpelier and Barre were mentioned in a Thursday presser); and a possible “blended” option, in which some workers would be returned to Waterbury and others would be either located in a large, new office complex or dispersed in existing state office space in the central Vermont area.

One thing is for sure, though: Shumlin says there must be one centralized location for as few as 800 and as many as 1,500 workers.

The administration is taking immediate steps to move forward with plans for a new “nerve center” for state government: Officials are forming an advisory committee that will begin meeting next week, and a request for information from architects and engineers went out on Friday. The RFI asks respondents to propose mixed use design ideas for Waterbury, i.e. a combination of office space, housing and retail businesses.

Though the town of Waterbury, which has grown up around the state complex, is anxious for the state to restore the facility, Shumlin administration officials cautioned that there won’t be a decision about where the new state offices will be located anytime soon.

Jeb Spaulding, secretary of the Agency of Administration, said the decision, which will impact state government for decades to come, needs to be made in a deliberative fashion in conjunction with the Legislature, and he anticipates that it would be late January at the earliest before lawmakers resolve the issue.

“The decision about what to do with the Waterbury complex in terms of rehabilitation or replacement is one that needs to be looked at as a 30- to 50-year decision, and all Vermonters, all taxpayers, have a stake in that,” Spaulding said. “We are certainly cognizant of the needs of Waterbury … it’s a high likelihood that the state will maintain some level of presence in Waterbury, but we can’t tell you at this stage how significant.”

“Once we make a decision on what to do on the rehab replacement, it’s going to be a considerable amount of time before we can relocate these employees from their long-term temporary locations,” Spaulding said.

The location may be up in the air for the time being, but Shumlin has clear ideas about what the advisory committee should consider as it moves forward with decisions about the new facility. He told reporters that he wants to know: What it would cost; what the future office space would look like; and how the state can avoid future flooding problems if the complex is relocated in Waterbury.

Spaulding said the administration wants to develop a state-of-the-art facility that maximizes co-location of departments in the Agency of Human Resources and Agency of Natural Resources; lowers energy, maintenance and carrying costs; incorporates renewable energy technology; creates a productive work environment and creates a positive community impact.

The funding

Ironically, if there is a bright spot on the post-Irene financial horizon, it’s the insurance payout for the Waterbury State Office Complex.

The state’s $300 million liability policy will cover most of the stabilization and reconstruction costs for the 700,000-square-foot cluster of historic brick buildings. In addition, the Federal Emergency Management Agency will make flood mitigation funding available to the state.

The preliminary estimate for stabilizing the structures — that is removing hazardous material, damaged sheetrock, restoring the electrical and heating systems — is $20 million. Restoring the facility to its pre-Irene condition would cost $30 million.

Anything else — making the 19th century buildings energy efficient, improving the work environment for the 1,500 state employees who work there and waterproofing the buildings — would not be included in the reconstruction price tag. That work, Shumlin administration officials say, could cost $50 million.

The $20 million stabilization pricetag and the $30 million restoration cost would be covered by insurance money, but the $50 million estimate for improvements would largely come out of the state capital construction budget. Both the $30 M and the $50M could be used for new construction or Waterbury reconstruction.

Relocation options

In the meantime, the workers who have been displaced will continue to work out of temporary locations in Chittenden County and central Vermont.

“Once we make a decision on what to do on the rehab replacement, it’s going to be a considerable amount of time before we can relocate these employees from their long-term temporary locations,” Spaulding said.

Of the 1,496 employees who worked in Waterbury, all but 30 have been moved to new work locations, according to Spaulding. Most of the workers have been disbursed to 41 different offices in northern Vermont. The largest groups of employees will be placed in offices at Northern Power Systems in Waitsfield, Rock of Ages in Graniteville, 133 State St. in Montpelier, IBM in Essex and state office space in Williston. About 100 employees of the Department of Public Safety were moved back to the newly renovated facility (the office opened two days before Irene hit) on the Waterbury campus a month ago.

To ease the transportation difficulties for employees, the state has arranged for buses to take employees to and from the new work locations, Spaulding said. The pick-up and drop-off point is Waterbury.

The committee

The Advisory Committee on the Rehabilitation or Replacement of the Waterbury State Office Complex will include two lawmakers (the chairs of the House and Senate Institutions Committees have been invited to serve), the secretary of the Agency of Human Services, the secretary of the Agency of Natural Resources, the commissioner of the Department of Housing and Community Affairs, director of the Division of Historic Preservation, and a select board member from the Town of Waterbury.

The committee meets for the first time on Oct. 24, following the joint House and Senate Institutions Committees meeting, which begins at 10 a.m.