DANBURY -- Praxair and FuelCell Energy can move forward with plans to expand their presence in the region with forgivable loans approved by the state Bond Commission.
The commission on Tuesday approved a $10 million loan for Praxair, which plans to use the money to build a $65 million world headquarters in Danbury. The company announced the plans and the state aid in October.
As part of the deal, Praxair, the city's only Fortune 250 company, will receive the loan with a 2 percent interest rate that will be deferred for seven years. If the company retains 250 employees in the state within five years, $2.5 million of the loan could be forgiven. If the company retains all 535 workers employed in the state and hires an additional 120 workers, the entire loan would be forgiven.
While officials have said Praxair is in negotiations to locate its headquarters in the Berkshire Corporate Park, the company has yet to confirm the new location or give a time frame for the construction project. Praxair leases out about space for its headquarters at the Matrix Corporate Center.
The Bond Commission also recently approved a $10 million partially forgivable loan for FuelCell Energy, which plans on using the money to expand its operations both in Danbury and at its manufacturing plant in Torrington.
Chip Bottone, the company's chief executive officer, said during an earnings call last week that the company hopes to break ground on the project later this year.
"The company's manufacturing expansion is moving forward and projects that are in our pipeline illustrate why we are expanding at this time," Bottone said during a call to highlight FuelCell's first-quarter earnings. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
State awards $11.8M for new fire training school in Fairfield
HARTFORD -- Just weeks after it was targeted for almost $70,000 in state budget cuts, the Regional Fire School in Fairfield was awarded an $11.8 million state grant to construct a new facility.
The State Bond Commission on Tuesday approved the award with little discussion. The new school will replace the post-World-War-II-era facility at 205 One Rod Highway that was formerly a Nike missile site purchased from the U.S. Defense Department.
Assistant Fire Chief Christopher Tracy said that the new buildings, including a 9,424-square-foot classroom building, a 5,600-square-foot support facility and a three-story, 3,200-square-foot "burn" building, will allow the region's fire trainees to learn in a state-of-the-art facility.
"Basically, we have a 20-year-lifespan building that's been there for 65 years," Tracy said in an interview.
"It's an extraordinary opportunity for firefighters within the region and also law enforcement, public works and other agencies to come down and train."
Municipalities from as far away as Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Jersey and New York state utilize the Fairfield training site, as do Connecticut communities from Greenwich to West Haven and as far north as Ridgefield.
Tracy said that the award was the culmination of a 15-year effort. He added that he still hopes the General Assembly will consider restoring some of the $66,000 cut in training funds that Gov. Dannel P. Malloy's proposed budget suggested. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
12-foot fall at Platt School results in fines for contractor
MERIDEN — The construction company in charge of work at Platt High School has until the end of this month to respond to the nearly $12,000 in federal citations it faces after a worker fell 12 feet and suffered “serious injuries” in November.
According to a citation report by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration on Nov. 26 an “employee leaned against a two-piece wood frame that was being used as a guard rail when the guard rail collapsed, causing both guard rail and employee to fall 12 feet to the ground below. The employee sustained serious injuries as a result of the fall.” Torrington-based O&G Industries Inc., is doing work on the $111.8 million reconstruction and renovation project at the school, which began in October 2013, and is expected to continue until late 2017.
The Waltham, Mass.-based demolition company NASDI LLC was hired as a subcontractor for O&G at the time of the incident and was issued the citations on Feb. 19. The penalties handed down from OSHA total $11,880. All five violations are described as “serious.”
They’re listed as a failure to ensure that the two-piece wood frame used as a guardrail could withstand a force of at least 200 pounds applied within 2 inches of the top edge; failure to ensure that the height of the guardrail was at least 42 inches (plus or minus 3 inches) above the walking/working surface exposing employees to a 12-foot fall hazard; failure to ensure that a mid-rail or equivalent protection was installed between the top rail and floor; not installing a toe-board on the guardrail where employees were potentially exposed to overhead falling objects; and failure to adequately train employees who were using, maintaining, and inspecting the two-piece wood frame to recognize the hazards in doing so.
Robert W. Kowalski, area director of the Bridgeport Area Office of OSHA, said that an “informal conference” between company officials and his office was held Tuesday morning and the company was informed of the citations and the next steps.
The company has until March 31 to either sign an Informal Settlement Agreement or file a letter of contest, Kowalski said. Contesting the citations would send the case to the Office of the Solicitor-U.S. Department of Labor in Boston.
Glen Lamontagne, a consultant for the School Building Committee, said Tuesday, “most times a company would dispute” the citations, and that it’s not uncommon for these types of things to go to litigation.
Either way, it’s unlikely any costs would be paid out of the city’s project budget.
“It’s my understanding that this was a demolition person working for someone else who was working for O&G who is working for the city, so we’re a couple levels removed from it,” Lamontagne said. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Calling for immediate action to preserve jobs at the tribes' destination resorts - Foxwoods Resort Casino and Mohegan Sun - the mayors of Norwich and Montville and the chief executives of Mystic Aquarium, Mystic Seaport and the Chamber of Commerce of Eastern Connecticut joined the Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan tribal chairmen in testifying before the General Assembly's Public Safety and Security Committee. Their common nemeses: the resort casinos - as many as four of them - expected to open as early as 2017 in Massachusetts and New York. The first, MGM Resorts International's $800 million complex, looms just miles from Connecticut's northern border.
"We would urge the passage of this legislation," Rodney Butler, the Mashantucket chairman, said. "If it is enacted, the two tribes can pool their experience and resources to construct one or more gaming facility locations that will best encourage Connecticut gamers … to spend their money here in Connecticut rather than in competing jurisdictions. If it encourages some Massachusetts residents to visit here, all the better."Kevin Brown, the Mohegan chairman, sat shoulder-to-shoulder with Butler, rivals united by circumstances." Our tribes have a history of being fiercely competitive," Brown said.
The Mohegan chairman said the two casinos have lost some 8,000 workers over the past decade, as competition has intensified in the Northeast. Each of the casinos now employs about 7,000 people and stands to lose nearly half of them if the state and the tribes stand still, he said.
Hours later, Clyde Barrow, a gaming expert retained by the tribes, further documented the Connecticut casinos' decline, offering a glimpse at findings he is expected to deliver in a report next week. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
2 of 3 rejected Norwich police station plans wouldn't guarantee city ownership
NORWICH - The city's search for a new police station site will begin anew, after Norwich aldermen on Monday rejected three proposals built around lease plans.Two of them – a bid by RFP, Inc. to construct a facility at the former YMCA property on Main Street and one by NorthStar Ally to renovate the current New London County Mutual Insurance building on High Street – were dismissed because they did not assure city ownership at the end of multi-decade rental agreements.A third plan by Downes Construction that called for a public safety complex to be installed at the former Buckingham School was tossed from consideration because of its location in a residential neighborhood and slim chance of spin-off economic development“Operationally, all three of the plans would work,” said city purchasing agent Bill Hathaway, a member of the RFP review committee. The hang up, officials said, is in the numbers. RFP, Inc. pitched a 25-year lease with three 10-year renewal options to build a facility at the old YMCA, at an annual lease of $2.4 million.“ This proposal does not apply any of the lease payment proceeds toward the principal purchase price of the building,” the committee wrote. But with its location near Burnham Square, it does hold the most promise for downtown economic development, the committee said. A second long-term lease proposal would charge the city $2.7 million annually for 40 years for the right to use a renovated New London County Mutual building as home for its police department. But “without negotiating a final buyout price, it (the city) would not own at the end of the 40-year term,” the committee wrote .Meanwhile, the Buckingham site, identified last year by a search committee as its preferred location, was thought to have too many adverse effects on residents in the neighborhood to be worthy. But it was the only one of the bids that would have turned over control of the building to the city after a 30-year lease of $2.1 million annually. The committee said to guarantee the best outcome, the City Council should identify a site itself, and then look for ways to finance construction. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Lawmakers consider changes to CT's prevailing wage laws
The tug-of-war between labor and business over Connecticut's prevailing wage is heating up once again at the State Capitol.
A litany of bills aimed at reducing, or outright eliminating, the state's prevailing wage are being debated in the Labor and Public Employees Committee, drawing support from businesses and some municipalities and opposition from unions.
State Sen. Toni Boucher (R-Wilton) is behind many of the measures, including Senate Bills 180, 181, and 182. One bill aims to eliminate Connecticut's prevailing wage, while the other two propose to increase the wage threshold.
Prevailing wage laws require workers on public works construction projects to receive the same wage that is customarily paid for the same work in the project's town. For example, if a bricklayer on a private-sector job in Farmington customarily receives $59.96 an hour in wages and benefits, a bricklayer on a public works construction project in town is required to be paid the same rate.
The law aims to keep government's use of low-bid contracting from significantly reducing the market price of labor.
Currently, 32 states and the federal government have prevailing wage laws. In most states, prevailing wage only kicks in when a public works project's contract value meets or exceeds a pre-determined threshold amount. Since 1991, Connecticut's threshold has been $400,000 for new construction and $100,000 for remodeling.
In one of her bills, Boucher, who argues the prevailing wage serves as an unfunded mandate on cash-strapped municipalities by driving up capital project costs, proposes to increase the threshold to $5 million for new construction and $2 million for remodeling.
Several small towns, including Coventry, Bolton, Harwinton, and Lyme, submitted testimony supporting the proposals.
The National Federal of Independent Business also voiced support for changes, specifically asking the state to adopt a $1 million threshold for all projects, arguing that current prevailing wage laws make it harder for small construction firms to win project bids. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE