Work goes on at the Waterbury State Office Complex. VTD/Josh Larkin
MONTPELIER – Gov. Peter Shumlin said Friday that taxpayer wallets and the needs of state workers will be foremost when the state decides what to do with the shuttered Waterbury state office complex.
The state last week hired the Burlington architectural firm Freeman French Freeman to conduct a wide-ranging feasibility study of what to do with the historic 700,000 square foot office complex flooded by Tropical Storm Irene. The firm is expected to produce recommendations and cost estimates in the next eight weeks for the administration and Legislature to consider.
Shumlin said he understands the need to consider the grave economic impact that closing the complex and dispersing some 1,200 of its 1,500 workers has had on Waterbury, saying he will work “to ensure Waterbury’s downtown remains strong.”
But the governor said his ultimate responsibility is to “make the right decision for the future of state government.”
“This happens to be an area where facts matter,” Shumlin said, and he said the facts he is obligated to consider are the costs of any of the options and the need to create a green, 21st century workplace.
Shumlin said his goal is to “consolidate state employees working together as much as we possibly can – that’s our opportunity.”
The fact that Waterbury complex is in a floodplain will be determining factor in calculating the costs of adapting it for future use, he said.
“I really want to emphasize, the numbers are going to matter,” he said. “We’d all look pretty silly if we dumped $50-$60 million into that facility and it flooded next spring.”
Shumlin said he was aware that other prospective state office sites being considered in Barre and Montpelier are also in the floodplain.
“It doesn’t make sense to move any jobs from one floodplain to the next,” he saod.
Administration officials have said it may take up to two years before state employees are moved back from temporary offices spread around northern Vermont. The state has already spent more than $20 million to restore basic infrastructure at the Waterbury complex.
The feasibility study will look at three general options: Renovating and restoring the complex for state workers, creating a mixed use complex with private and state offices, and new state offices at other locations, or a hybrid of those ideas.
