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GMUHS Bid For Armory Rejected by Town
By Leo Graham
CHESTER – At its Oct. 23 meeting, Green Mountain Union High School Board Chair Bill Bourque announced that the
Chester Redevelopment Authority had rejected the school’s bid to take over the Army Reserve Center when it is
abandoned by the United States Army in perhaps 10 years time.
At that same meeting, GMUHS Vice-Chair Alison Deslauriers said she had been unaware the Redevelopment
Authority was going to vote on the issue at their last meeting.
Bourque went on to say that no reasons for the rejection were given in the letter and the numbers of Authority
members who voted for or against the issue was not part of the document either.
Some history: The Department of the Army plans to consolidate Army Reserve centers nationwide.. Current plans
have the Army building one center, probably in or near White River Junction, sometime in the future. The ballpark date
for “sometime in the future” is a decade from now. When Congress approved the Army’s plan they stipulated that the
centers to be abandoned be offered to local educational entities at no cost. The previous Windsor-Southwest
Supervisory Union head Ed Brown exhibited little interest in the building. The current Superintendent, Joan Paustian –
taking the lead from Deslauriers and Bourque – has expressed interest.. Deslauriers has put together tables that show
the district saving tens of thousands of dollars in fairly little time even with repairs and renovations to the building
estimated to cost between $500,000 and $750,000. She contends that from the first, the cost savings will exceed any
bond payments generating positive cash flow.
In Vermont Supervisory Unions cannot own property but schools can. The plan was to have GMUHS receive the
building from the Army – at no cost, renovate it and use the space to house the Supervisory Union Offices, the
Opportunities program currently renting space from the Fletcher Farm Foundation in Proctorsville, and an expanded
preschool program.
Both the Department of the Army and the U.S. Department of Education building had previously signed off on the
proposed transfer of property to GMUHS.
The Chester Redevelopment Authority was formed – as part of the federal mandate – to identify the best use of
the property and to protect the Town’s interests.. No transfer can take place without the Authority’s approval. Last
week the Authority withheld that approval and unless they change their minds, the project is dead.
Chester Redevelopment Authority member Judith Asch-Goodkin said that they had “gotten to know” the
representatives from the Department of the Army during this process and that she and other board members believed
that those representatives were “not being honest and forthcoming about the condition of the building.” Asch-Goodkin
specifically mentioned the condition of the septic system. She said the Authority had asked time and time again for the
details of the septic system, they were promised they would get them but it “never happened.”
Further, the Authority was dubious of the cost estimates GMUHS put forward for renovations, especially
renovations that wouldn’t happen for about 10 years.
According to Asch-Goodkin the final straw for the Authority was what she termed the “collapsing economy.” It
seemed a hard time to ask for another bond issue when the Authority was “not at all persuaded” about the ultimate
merits of the project. She did say, however, that had the representatives of the Army been forthcoming with plans for
the septic system; some members of the Authority’s Board could have seen things differently, assuming those plans
showed a robust system.
One thing Asch-Goodkin said neither she nor any other members of the Authority take seriously is some plan to
put the building up for sale to a private entity and return it to the tax rolls.
By Leo Graham
CHESTER – At its Oct. 23 meeting, Green Mountain Union High School Board Chair Bill Bourque announced that the
Chester Redevelopment Authority had rejected the school’s bid to take over the Army Reserve Center when it is
abandoned by the United States Army in perhaps 10 years time.
At that same meeting, GMUHS Vice-Chair Alison Deslauriers said she had been unaware the Redevelopment
Authority was going to vote on the issue at their last meeting.
Bourque went on to say that no reasons for the rejection were given in the letter and the numbers of Authority
members who voted for or against the issue was not part of the document either.
Some history: The Department of the Army plans to consolidate Army Reserve centers nationwide.. Current plans
have the Army building one center, probably in or near White River Junction, sometime in the future. The ballpark date
for “sometime in the future” is a decade from now. When Congress approved the Army’s plan they stipulated that the
centers to be abandoned be offered to local educational entities at no cost. The previous Windsor-Southwest
Supervisory Union head Ed Brown exhibited little interest in the building. The current Superintendent, Joan Paustian –
taking the lead from Deslauriers and Bourque – has expressed interest.. Deslauriers has put together tables that show
the district saving tens of thousands of dollars in fairly little time even with repairs and renovations to the building
estimated to cost between $500,000 and $750,000. She contends that from the first, the cost savings will exceed any
bond payments generating positive cash flow.
In Vermont Supervisory Unions cannot own property but schools can. The plan was to have GMUHS receive the
building from the Army – at no cost, renovate it and use the space to house the Supervisory Union Offices, the
Opportunities program currently renting space from the Fletcher Farm Foundation in Proctorsville, and an expanded
preschool program.
Both the Department of the Army and the U.S. Department of Education building had previously signed off on the
proposed transfer of property to GMUHS.
The Chester Redevelopment Authority was formed – as part of the federal mandate – to identify the best use of
the property and to protect the Town’s interests.. No transfer can take place without the Authority’s approval. Last
week the Authority withheld that approval and unless they change their minds, the project is dead.
Chester Redevelopment Authority member Judith Asch-Goodkin said that they had “gotten to know” the
representatives from the Department of the Army during this process and that she and other board members believed
that those representatives were “not being honest and forthcoming about the condition of the building.” Asch-Goodkin
specifically mentioned the condition of the septic system. She said the Authority had asked time and time again for the
details of the septic system, they were promised they would get them but it “never happened.”
Further, the Authority was dubious of the cost estimates GMUHS put forward for renovations, especially
renovations that wouldn’t happen for about 10 years.
According to Asch-Goodkin the final straw for the Authority was what she termed the “collapsing economy.” It
seemed a hard time to ask for another bond issue when the Authority was “not at all persuaded” about the ultimate
merits of the project. She did say, however, that had the representatives of the Army been forthcoming with plans for
the septic system; some members of the Authority’s Board could have seen things differently, assuming those plans
showed a robust system.
One thing Asch-Goodkin said neither she nor any other members of the Authority take seriously is some plan to
put the building up for sale to a private entity and return it to the tax rolls.
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