On the other hand, the senators did agree to help fund the heating plant (the federal government and the city will also pitch in), and the House members went along with the Senate language about the meeting room. The senators, BTW, really did care about that room.
It’s called the Ethan Allen Room, and it’s tucked behind the counter line and cashier at the cafeteria.
“We wanted stronger language that the Ethan Allen Room will revert to common use,” said Sen. Robert Hartwell, a Manchester Center Democrat. The coveted space is currently the home of House Natural Resources and Energy Committee. It’s generally closed except for special meetings. The room would likely revert to some other use in the next biennium, according to House Speaker Shap Smith.
Actually, as Hartwell explained, there was no direct connection between the heating plant and the Ethan Allen room. The Senate’s problem with the heating plant appropriation, he said, was that “we didn’t think the city had a plan for it. A city-state agreement was missing.”
That’s why the Senate did not include the $7 million in its version of the Capital bill. The conference meeting was to reconcile differences between the House and Senate versions of the bill, H. 446.
The House passed its version on April 1, and since then city and state officials apparently did come to enough agreement for the senators to drop their opposition.
But not before leaving the meeting. About five minutes after it started, Senate conferees Hartwell, Dick Mazza, a Colchester Democrat, and Republican Joseph Benning of St. Johnsbury walked out to hold their own strategy session at an undisclosed location. Meanwhile, House members Linda K. Myers an Essex Junction Republican, and Democrats Mary Hooper of Montpelier and Alice Emmons of Springfield bided time and chatted among themselves.
About 35 minutes later the senators returned, ready to deal, though they still had some “misgivings about whether or not the state should be in the business of generating heat for sale,” Hartwell said.
Under the House version of the bill, the state would sell the heat — mostly generated by burning wood — to the city, which would then re-sell it to several customers — back to the state to heat the Capitol and other office buildings, perhaps those owned by the federal government, and possibly private buildings. The wood would be harvested in Vermont, and would be both cheaper and cleaner to burn than the oil now being used. The plant would still use some oil, said Michael Obuchowski, the commissioner of the Department of Buildings and General Service, but it would be a more efficient and less expensive grade of oil. The improved plant should save the state roughly $200,000 a year, Obuchowski said.
Whatever their misgivings, the senators were not likely to block the appropriation to modernize the heating plant, which has the strong support of Gov. Peter Shumlin.
After a break, the conference committee reconvened and agreed to cut some money planned for elevators, the Vermont State Hospital and miscellaneous maintenance programs from the $153.2 million (over two years) Capital construction bill to find money for the heating plant.
As a final gesture, the senators agreed to spend $100,000 to refurbish three House committee rooms in the Capitol.
