Shumlin wants to return more than 1,000 workers to Waterbury

MONTPELIER – State workers displaced by Tropical Storm Irene got a look at their forwarding address Thursday from Gov. Peter Shumlin.

In his annual budget address, the governor told lawmakers that his administration proposes returning the massive Agency of Human Resources to the flooded Waterbury state office complex – if costs allow; moving the education department to a new building planned in downtown Barre; and moving the Agency of Natural Resources to the National Life building in Montpelier, where it would join the Agency of Transportation and the Agency of Commerce and Community Development.

Saying he wanted to turn Irene’s flooding into “opportunity” and build on the efficiencies that occurred when agencies worked together in Irene’s aftermath, Shumlin said these moves would consolidate state workers and create “a lean efficient workplace” for the future.

The big news is that Shumlin wants to return roughly 1,200 state workers who work for the six departments in Human Services to Waterbury and consolidate the state education department under one roof at a proposed building on Main Street in downtown Barre.

The buzz among lawmakers and administration officials in the wake of Irene is “co-location” and these moves could go a long way toward that goal. State workers are now scattered all over Chittenden and Washington Counties after Irene’s flooding forced them to leave offices in Waterbury, but many were scattered in separate buildings even before the Aug 28 storm.

Education employees, who were not affected by the flooding, are now split with 116 staffers working in Montpelier and 55 at the Harry’s Department Store in Berlin on the Barre-Montpelier Road. Shumlin proposed consolidating them at 219 North Main Street in Barre on the same side of the street as the state courthouse and Paramount Theater.

Shumlin said the move would help “revitalize Barre’s downtown and return it to a vibrant center for commerce and job education.”

The city-owned site is vacant after two old buildings were demolished to make way for redevelopment. Barre City Manager Steven Mackenzie said the city is working with Black River Design in Montpelier on conceptual plans for a four or five story mixed-use building called “City Place” with roughly 80-100,000 square feet.

The bottom two floors would be commercial and the remainder could house state workers, he said. A community hearing on the project is scheduled for Thursday Jan. 19, at the Barre Opera House at 7 p.m., according to Emily Kaminsky, City Place community liaison.

The move is good news for a city whose economic base in manufacturing and granite has eroded and whose mayor, Thomas Lauzon, has been vocal in complaining about the burden the city faces with a large number of people who are under state probation and parole custody.

“It’s great news for Barre, but the work doesn’t stop, we need to come up with a conceptual plan, and we still have to keep working it,” Lauzon said.

Lauzon said construction of the office space could take 18 months.

Waterbury Rep. Tom Stevens called the news about his town in the governor’s address a “positive statement” for the devastated community, which not only was hard hit by flooding, but also by the economic loss of some 1,200 state workers who reported to offices at the complex.

“This is really the first time they’ve said in such clear language that Waterbury is the first choice,” he said.

Shumlin said the sprawling Agency of Human Services needs to be under one roof. “My first choice is to unite them in Waterbury,” he said to applause. Under the plan, workers from the departments of Health (with the exception of Health Lab employees) and Vermont Health Access who now work in the Burlington area would be reassigned to one location in central Vermont along with the departments of Mental Health, Corrections and the Vermont Health Access, which had offices at the Waterbury complex before the flood.

The governor proposed redirecting $18 million in capital expenditures toward the state complex. A feasibility study of the facility now under way will be released on March 2. FEMA and insurance funds would not alone provide the money needed for any revitalization plan there.

The redirection of capital funds means several projects will be delayed, including a $5 million Vermont State Police Barracks in Rockingham and $7 million slated for the Health Lab in Burlington. In addition, the University of Vermont has put off $1.4 million in projects.

Shumlin hedged however, noting as he has consistently said, that cost and future flood concerns at the office complex will have an impact on his decision. The Legislature will also play a key role in financing redevelopment of the historic red-brick buildings there or a new office in Waterbury. Many lawmakers have indicated support for the idea of “making Waterbury whole.”

Stevens said with around 250 employees already back in Waterbury in Public Safety and the state’s lab complex, the consolidation of 1,000 employees in human services in Waterbury would return the status quo except for the Vermont State Hospital.

“On the face of it, it is the light at the end of the tunnel that our community has been asking for since the flood,” he said.

Rep. Rebecca Ellis, D-Waterbury, said she has heard a lot of support for Waterbury in the Legislature.

“I think people have heard Waterbury has been hit hard,” she said, noting 200 of 600 buildings in the community were damaged along with the economic hit from losing state workers. She said she remains worried that some businesses might not make it while they wait the couple of years before any workers are expected to come back.

Stevens added that the state has made a considerable investment in the buildings there over the years that need to be calculated in any consideration.

For the Agency of Natural Resources, the proposed move to National Life will bring together some 350 workers who were scattered widely in several locations in northern Vermont when Waterbury flooded. It was unclear Thursday whether the space at National Life is currently available or when that move would occur. FEMA will cover the cost of the fit ups for the new work environment, which would include co-location for key officials in the three agencies, according to the administration.

Shumlin said pulling together ANR with VTrans and Commerce was an effort to “integrate on a permanent basis” three agencies whose close work together after Irene was an example of the benefits of close cooperation.

While the governor’s proposals were warmly received, the Legislature ultimately will have the final say through its role of approving the proposed 2012-13 fiscal budget the governor presented Thursday.

Editor’s note: Anne Galloway contributed to this report.