Few in Montpelier need reminders of the damage the downtown complex of state offices suffered in summer 2023’s devastating flooding. In all, 22 state buildings took a hit — with at least one inundated with some 7 feet of water spilling out of the nearby Winooski River.
As of Friday, all but five buildings in the complex were back in use, according to the Department of Buildings and General Services. But across the entire complex, the state has only completed short-term fixes to make many of the buildings safe — doing work such as mold remediation — so far, Doug Farnham, Vermont’s chief recovery officer, told the House Corrections and Institutions Committee Friday.
Farnham said the bulk of the repair work, including measures to make the buildings more resilient to future flooding, hasn’t happened because the state hasn’t reached an agreement with the Federal Emergency Management Agency over what, exactly, the feds will pay for.
If the state moves ahead with major repairs on its own, it risks losing eligibility to recover much of the costs of that work from the federal government, he said. It’s a challenge that municipal leaders in some flood-damaged communities in the state have faced recently, too.
Negotiations blew past a mid-January deadline, Farnham said, and it could now be July before the state and the feds ink an agreement. The potential timeline drew long faces from some committee members, a sentiment that Farnham said he shared.
“It is frustrating to be in this place after a year and a half,” he said Friday morning, noting the state and the feds have “some fundamental disagreements” on how to proceed with certain repair work.
Farnham said some of the most expensive work will include moving building mechanical systems, such as air handlers, higher off the ground. A number of the buildings need special care because of their historic nature, which adds to the already challenging work, he noted.
Among the biggest impediments, though, from the state’s perspective, has been frequent turnover in FEMA’s ranks, Farnham explained. “We keep restarting,” he said. “You ask us for a document, we send it to you, and then you send back a bunch of different questions.”
Some of that turnover is attributable to a FEMA rule that limits how long its staff can stay in one location, Farnham said, pointing also to the strain of more frequent and severe disasters across the country on the agency’s staffing levels.
Overall, the state estimates the total cost of long-term repairs would be some $200 million, with a $20 million share coming from the state, Farnham said. He noted those numbers could change, though, as negotiations continue.
— Shaun Robinson
In the know
How long before more details arrive on Gov. Phil Scott’s overhaul of the state’s education system?
Zoie Saunders, Vermont’s secretary of education, offered an update Friday.
Next week, officials will share the base amount and student weights of the prospective foundation formula — the key elements to Scott’s education funding changes. Saunders and company will also roll out maps of the five proposed school districts, overlaid on top of Vermont’s existing schools and supervisory unions.
The following week, Saunders said Scott’s administration will have legislative language for the proposal.
The timeline arrived in a joint meeting between the House Ways and Means and House Education committees.
Despite the additional information, there was a hunger for more specifics, including from Rep. Carolyn Branagan, R-Georgia, who suggested she didn’t have enough specific numbers from the state with which to work.
“I appreciate you coming in here today,” she told Saunders and Jill Briggs Campbell, interim deputy secretary. “I think it must have taken courage.”
— Ethan Weinstein
Vermont has poured $603 million, from state and federal sources, into improving water quality in the state, according to a report released by the Agency of Natural Resources last week. However, the agency is only a fraction of the way toward achieving its pollution reduction goals.
In fiscal year 2016, as part of Vermont’s Clean Water Act, the state agency outlined a plan to reduce pollution in lakes, rivers and streams. Every year, it publishes a performance report to account for steps taken by the costly initiative.
In fiscal year 2024, Vermont secured $186.6 million in funding for water projects, nearly double the $93.6 million allocated in 2023, due to a temporary surge in federal support from the American Rescue Plan Act. The majority of the funds have been directed toward wastewater and stormwater projects, Claire Madden, the initiative’s tracking and accounting supervisor, told the House Environment Committee earlier this week.
Read more of the story here.
— Klara Bauters
Whodunnit?
Help us crack a mystery: who put a small, golden plaque, bearing the name of Rep. Conor Casey, D-Montpelier, on a vent in the House Corrections and Institutions Committee room?
The plaque reads: “Representative Conor Casey Memorial Vent,” followed by a phrase in Latin: “Silentium loquitur.” The latter translates to something along the lines of, “silence speaks.”
Friday morning was the first time anyone in House Corrections had seemingly noticed it — unless, of course, one of them wasn’t coming clean. The so-called “memorial” air dispenser is, perhaps predictably, just behind where Casey sits.
Names of possible suspects were flying before the committee started its morning hearing. Casey — who has a history of pranks in the Statehouse himself — remarked that the plaque, with its insinuation that he’s departed for a better place, is “kind of ominous.”
Any leads — or admissions of guilt — can be directed to Final Reading’s inbox.
— Shaun Robinson
Corrections section
Due to an editing error, yesterday’s newsletter misattributed information about Medicaid funding in next year’s budget proposal. The information came from the state Medicaid director.
Read the story on VTDigger here: Final Reading: Many repairs to flood-damaged state office buildings are still on hold.