Third Option Emerges
For Town Offices
By M. D. Drysdale

Selectmen Jim Hutchinson, Joe Voci, and Stephen Webster at Tuesday night's meeting. (Herald / Tim Calabro)

First there was one, then there were two—and now there are three proposals for Randolph’s overcrowded municipal offices.

Selectboard Chair Stephen Webster told a crowded meeting Tuesday night that the latest proposal has come from DuBois & King, Inc. (D&K), which has discovered that its new headquarters at 28 Main Street are too commodious.

D&K’s Bill Baumann has asked the town to consider buying the Main Street property and using half of it for town offices while leasing the other half to D&K. Webster disclosed that the controversial executive session last Monday was called to discuss that proposal.

The two-story D&K headquarters building was built as the centerpiece of a complicated community development project that also included the sale of the former D&K two-building campus on Route 66. Those buildings were purchased by Vermont Technical College for use as an "incubator" site for small businesses.

The entire project, including construction of the new building at the site of the former elementary school and the renovation of the old D&K buildings, involved financing of about $6 million. More than $1 million came from D&K, but the project was also heavily supported by state and federal agencies, and by the Randolph revolving loan fund.

The project was attractive to funders because of its job-creation potential and the redevelopment of the important site, which would bring workers into the downtown every day.

It was initiated because at the time D&K contemplated the need to expand significantly. Ironically, Baumann told the meeting Tuesday that he has had difficulty attracting enough engineers to the Randolph facility. Young engineers prefer a more urban environment, he said, noting he had switched at least six from Randolph to D&K’s Williston office in order to keep them with the firm.

For at least the next 10 years, he said, D&K will not need half of its Main Street building.

New Complication

The crowd of about 45 people, who were packed into the meeting room Tuesday evening, seemed taken aback by the new proposal.

In a Town Meeting Day vote, a closely-divided citizenry voted to authorize the selectboard to use bonded money to move the town offices to the former co-op, instead of enlarging the current building. The new selectboard majority, however, preferred to keep the offices where they are.

Since that time, there has been a spirited dispute over the merits of the two locations, and over the meaning of the vote. Now a third element has been added.

The selectboard proposed no immediate action at Tuesday’s meeting, realizing that the new proposal would take substantial study, and could be structured in various ways.

At the suggestion of audience member Sonny Holt, they did agree to ask Jesse "Sam" Sammis, owner of the co-op space, if he would extend his offer for another 120 days.

Sammis’ offer was to sell the building to the town for the same $300,000 he spent for it and to outfit it for the town offices for an additional $650,000. The Building Committee had estimated that this proposal would save up to $500,000 compared to the most recent plans for renovating the existing building.

‘Open to Anything’

Speaking at Tuesday’s meeting, Baumann said that he was open to the town buying the building or to the town entering a long-term lease to rent half of it.

"I’m open to anything," he said.

An important complication is that the building is not owned by D&K but by the Randolph Community Development Corp., which brokered the entire deal. (D&K has a long-term lease purchase agreement.)

And RACDC President Marty Strange and Executive Director Julie Iffland both said they have a lot of questions of their own. Strange seemed irked that he had not been invited to the meeting last Monday, and he questioned Webster’s saying that RACDC is the "nominal owner."

"We’re the custodians of the public interest in that building," Strange said, referring to the multiple public grants, whose purposes, he believes, must be carried out

"If the town is unified behind this proposal, we will work hard to make it work," he said. "But we’re not going to be rushed into it."

Not everyone at the meeting was "unified" on the proposal, however. Former Selectman Damon Lease, who was defeated by Webster for reëlection, said it "looks like a delaying tactic to avoid going with what the voters want."

And Budget Committee Chair Carol Flint, who was also defeated in a race for selectboard, stressed that economic development "was supposed to be part of the deal" when public money was granted for the new D&K building.

"It’s not good for our downtown to move in this direction," she said.

But Nan Jeffery said she liked having "a new option, that possibly will be more affordable."

It was noted that if the town bought the building it would take at least half of it off the tax rolls. D&K currently pays $13,400 in town and police taxes ($31,000 including school taxes) and is benefiting from a 50% tax stabilization agreement, according to Strange.

Next Steps

Webster declared that the selectboard, though interested in Baumann’s proposal, "wants to explore and do all due diligence."

He said that the Municipal Building Committee, which he chairs, will do a walk-through of the building and will have its own discussion.

He seemed to find the proposal attractive, noting it is a brand new building, in a central site near other town buildings, and is perhaps the "greenest" building in town.

In answer to a question, he said that if the town were to take up the D&K option, it would require another vote of the town.

RACDC’s role was stressed by Iffland.

"We want to make sure that all the provisions in the contract (with D&K) that are intended to protect the public are honored," she told the selectboard.