Burlington Free Press reporter Terri Hallenbeck reported yesterday that Buildings Commissioner Michael Obuchowski sought to dissuade Gov. Peter Shumlin from denying that the cost of moving the Agency of Natural Resources (ANR) to the National Life building had originally been pegged at $2 million.
During a press conference last Wednesday, Shumlin chided Associated Press reporter Dave Gram for a story that quoted members of the House Institutions Committee who recalled having been given a price quote of $2 million for the project. Shumlin called Gram’s story “untrue” and said his administration has no record of ever having offered a $2 million estimate.
ANR employees, displaced from the Waterbury State Office Complex during Tropical Storm Irene, have been relocated to leased space in the National Life building in Montpelier. Total costs for the move and renovations currently stand at $8.65 million.
Hallenbeck discovered through a public records request that Obuchowski sent an email to the administration, which was opened too late to alert the governor, encouraging Shumlin to be equivocal when refuting the source of $2 million figure. Obuchowski noted that several committee members have mentioned that their notes from last spring show they were given a preliminary estimate of $2 million.
Hallenbeck concludes that Obuchowski’s email, “doesn’t exactly pin down the source of the $2 million estimate, but it does indicate it was real enough for Obuchowski to recommend it be removed from a memo outlining the issue for the governor.”
