By Sarah Olsen, VTDigger.org
Gov. Peter Shumlin visited the campus of Vermont Technical College on Monday to highlight two state spending projects.
One project makes Vermont Technical College the site of the new Vermont Agriculture and Environmental Lab; the other will appropriate $1 million in state money to upgrade the current Vermont Tech engineering and technology lab in Morrill Hall.
Dan Smith, Vermont Tech president, has been “like a dog with a bone” in getting this opportunity for the college, Shumlin said.
Since Tropical Storm Irene wiped out the previous labs which was located in the Waterbury Office Complex, the lab of the agencies of Agriculture and Natural Resources have been co-located in the Hills building at UVM, Shumlin said. The new lab will cost $25 million and will bring 30 full-time and 15 part-time jobs to the region, a news release said. It is slated for completion by June 2018, Shumlin said.
The second project that will upgrade the current facilities of VTC in two different phases. The first phase is an appropriation of $1 million in state funding toward upgrading the lab, which should be completed by fall of 2015, Smith said. The second phase involves an additional $500,000 being given to the engineering and technology labs as part of a challenge grant if Vermont Technical College can raise the funds to match it by fiscal year 2017, he said.
