The Vermont State Employees Association is looking to purchase the 133-acre Montpelier Elks Country Club.
The union is in negotiations with the Montpelier Lodge of Elks, chapter #924, to purchase the club’s property at 203 Country Club Drive, off U.S. 2 in Montpelier. The Elks potentially would lease back the nine-hole golf course, bar and restaurant it operates on the property, creating a new revenue source for VSEA.
The Elks are expected to vote next week on whether to accept the union’s bid for the land and about 15,000 square feet of building space.
VSEA spokesman Doug Gibson on Friday declined to comment on the price. Representatives of the Elks Lodge could not be reached for comment. VTDigger obtained draft minutes of the VSEA’s Feb. 14 board of trustees meeting, at which the potential land purchase was discussed.
The documents indicate the starting price from the Elks equaled the property’s assessed value — $800,000 for the building alone or $1.3 million for the entire parcel, which includes land enrolled in the state’s Current Use program.
Current Use is a tax structure that charges lower property tax rates for land actively used for agriculture or forestry.
Gibson said the union has been cramped for office space and parking at its current home at 155 State Street in Montpelier. He said one staff member is now working out of a converted closet, and quarterly council meetings draw upward of 100 attendees. The Elks Club building has a large banquet room.
At this stage of negotiations, Gibson said he was not at liberty to say if VSEA would retain ownership of 155 State Street should the Elks transaction go through.
The Elks Club has courted buyers for the property since at least 2008, when the Vermont League of Cities and Towns considered purchasing the property, according to local realtor Tim Heney. He was not a party to that discussion, and has no involvement in the possible sale of the property to VSEA.
In May 2013, the Legislature passed a bill that requires non-union members who are nonetheless covered by union contracts to pay an administrative fee to the unions for their bargaining services. Act 37 of 2013 (S.14)
A subsequent Supreme Court case related to state employees in Illinois called into question the constitutionality of such agency fees, or fair share fees as they’re known by some.
But in June 2014, the Supreme Court ruling in Harris v. Quinn only narrowly limited their scope to “full-fledged” state employees. Their constitutionality was not overturned and Vermont’s Act 37 was largely untouched.
Gibson confirmed that the fees VSEA could now collect would improve the organization’s financial position and afford it more leeway to contemplate a major purchase such as the Elks Club property. He declined to disclose any details of how the transaction would be financed.
He said office space would have to be created at the Elks property, which mainly consists of a meeting hall and a restaurant. The offices could be created within the existing footprint, Gibson indicated, but he stressed that any details of the deal are mere speculation until it is finalized.
In addition to income from renting back the golf course and restaurant to the Elks, the February board documents show VSEA leaders contemplating income from renting the meeting hall space to third parties. They would also use it themselves for union activities, such as council meetings.
The board documents indicate two lots on the property potentially could be developed as well.
He said union membership has been aware of the leadership’s discussions regarding the potential transaction, through minutes of several governing boards within VSEA. Although those documents are not public, they are made available to union members, he said.
Gibson said a membership vote was not required for the board to make the purchase offer.
