(Host) After flooding from Tropical Storm Irene closed most of the State Office Complex in Waterbury, 1,500 state workers were temporarily relocated elsewhere.
Now, the future of those workers is developing into a controversial issue at the Statehouse.
Governor Peter Shumlin is set to unveil a plan to place several hundred of the state workers in Barre and that plan has Waterbury officials upset.
VPR’s Bob Kinzel reports:
(Kinzel) Shumlin’s decision to ask lawmakers to relocate several hundred state employees to a new office building in Barre was warmly received by the city’s mayor, Tom Lauzon.
(Lauzon) "For the merchants and people here in Barre it’s great news and I think it’s great news for the state of Vermont that we have a governor and an administration that recognizes that we need to support Vermont‘s downtowns."
And Lauzon says a new energy efficient office building will provide downtown Barre with several different uses.
(Lauzon) "It’s an L.E.E.D. certified building. It will be a multi use building. We certainly have a need here in Barre for a grocery store so the building that we’re going to present will be a multi use building that will have two floors of mixed use space and then two floors of office space."
(Kinzel) The question at the Statehouse is whether Barre’s gain is going to be Waterbury’s loss. Rebecca Ellis is the chair of the Waterbury select board and is also a state representative.
(Ellis) "In Waterbury we certainly hope that the Administration will make us whole and will bring us back to where we were before the flood…if putting employees into Barre comes at the expense of putting employees into Waterbury I think there will be a great amount of disappointment."
(Kinzel) And Ellis says the past few months have been very hard for many downtown businesses.
(Ellis) "Especially for businesses that were maybe operating close to the margin before Irene now we’re beginning to hear more of them say they don’t think they can make it if they have to wait two years they’re probably going to have to close."
(Kinzel) Shumlin is expected to announce his plan in his Budget Address on Thursday afternoon. There’s speculation at the Statehouse that his proposal will include a commitment to bring a majority of the employees back to Waterbury and that the project could also include affordable housing units and business space.
House Speaker Shap Smith thinks the state has a responsibility to help Waterbury.
(Smith) "I want to support it. I think there are legitimate concerns about the risks with regard to flooding. I think we have to be mindful of the cost, but all things being equal I’d like to see a substantial number of employees return to Waterbury – that doesn’t mean that we won’t locate some employees other places."
(Kinzel) Displaced employees may have to stay in their temporary offices for some time because it’s estimated that it will take at least 2 years before any of these new buildings will be ready.
For VPR News, I’m Bob Kinzel in Montpelier.