On Tuesday, Gov. Phil Scott (R-VT) held a press briefing.
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NewsTranscript
00:00I just want to thank the Pembroke Career Center for hosting us.
00:30I spent 35 years in the Construction Industry and I've seen for myself and the workers
01:00Last summer, a number of mobile home parks across Vermont were devastated by the floods,
01:14resulting in several mobile homes being condemned.
01:18We saw the need to help those families who not only lost everything, but weren't getting
01:23the maximum they could benefit, and we were responsible for getting their homes through
01:29the loss.
01:30So we brought together a team from a number of different agencies to make sure no one
01:35in these parks had to worry about, pay for, their homes to be removed or deconstructed,
01:42and we provided state money to get them up to their full FEMA account.
01:48In total, we distributed $670,000 for 31 mobile homes.
01:54We also found a few homes were salvageable and could be repaired and used again.
02:01So we reached out to CTE centers to see if they would be able to do any interest in renovating
02:08these units as part of their training.
02:11I saw this as a real opportunity for students to get creative with their design, get some
02:16hands-on experience to help them build the skills needed to work in the trades after
02:21high school.
02:23Things like restoring the interior and exterior, moving windows or doors around, weatherizing,
02:30replacing the wiring and plumbing to bring it up to code, which is skills many of you
02:35here today have been building on all year long and will use in your careers to come.
02:42Importantly, this work will add to the number of homes available for Vermonters helping
02:49with their housing shortage.
02:51Once these units are complete, they'll leave the CTE centers as a healthy home for someone
02:56to live in, in much better shape than when they arrive.
03:02While this is just one small piece of the bigger strategy my team is working on, it's
03:08important, because mobile homes are a way to quickly, more affordably, bring homes online
03:13faster.
03:14So to the CTE students here today, whether you're about to graduate or you'll be back
03:20next year, I hope you've learned a lot from this.
03:23More than just the day-to-day work on the home itself, but the feeling that comes along
03:29with seeing a project through from start to finish, or almost finish.
03:34And knowing the work you've done here will benefit your community.
03:39It doesn't have to stop here.
03:41Whether it's helping out an elderly neighbor, or sprucing up a park or playground, there
03:47are opportunities all around us to get involved, and leave our communities better than we found.
03:53With that, I'll turn it over to CBCC's Director, Jodi Emerson.
03:58Jodi.
03:59Good morning, and thank you, Governor Scott.
04:05We're certainly excited to learn about a potential opportunity for construction trades programs
04:15here to collaborate on a mobile home rehabilitation project in September.
04:18So at the time, we had lots of questions.
04:21We accepted the challenge and received a grant that was required to be spent almost immediately,
04:26mobile home site unseen, so that we could gather supplies and tools for the home.
04:31It was certainly difficult guessing, but our students and instructors jumped right in,
04:35pulled together a list, and placed their orders.
04:38The supplies arrived, and we waited.
04:42We visited a few in the fall, October and December, and then the mobile home you see
04:45here was delivered January 3rd.
04:47We applied for permits soon after.
04:49Students in our exploratory program completed the majority of the demolition starting in
04:54January and working through February.
04:56Governor Scott, you were here on January 29th and spoke with students about the project.
05:01Students and staff worked together to redesign the floor plan to ensure two bedrooms and
05:05two bathrooms in this mobile home.
05:08And once the permits arrived, the building trades, electrical, and plumbing students
05:11collaborated on the renovation.
05:13There were also several businesses who supported this work, especially BHB.
05:18While not yet completed, students were able to get to work in the mobile home in late
05:22March, April, and May, and have completed as much as they can this school year.
05:29It was great seeing the changes from across the parking lot throughout the spring and
05:32stopping by on occasion for a closer look.
05:35Our students are done here this week, and we'll be celebrating them tomorrow night,
05:39and we will be selling the mobile home as-is via auction, which will open today and close
05:43on July 15th at 2 p.m.
05:46We hope to recoup the care grant provided by the state and perhaps some of the additional
05:50costs of the project this year.
05:53The following students will now take a moment to share what they and their peers were able
05:56to do.
05:57We'll hear from Ronan Kelly from Building Trades, Owen Chaney and Kyle Florey from Plumbing
06:03and Heating, and Ethan Garrison from Electrical Technology.
06:14Hi, I'm Ronan Kelly from Building Trades.
06:18A couple of things that it kind of took for this project to work was we learned a lot
06:24more with this project than if we just did our in-shop building.
06:30Mobile homes often require various construction and renovation tasks, including we had to
06:37repair a lot of rotten floor joists and framework on the trailer.
06:42We replaced the subfloor completely, and we redid the roofing on it.
06:49We also painted the lighting that's on it, so it gave us a diverse range of tasks we
06:58had to complete to get this done.
07:05Unlike shops-related tasks of us building a gazette, we build it throughout the year
07:11and then we take it down at the end.
07:13This is something that we work on, and then we have a mostly completed project that we
07:19know is going to last a lot longer than this one.
07:22This project is a bit more cost-effective than us building a complete structure outright
07:29and then selling it, because we already have a lot of the work already done.