Windsor
Instead of a commission with Windsor taking the lead in developing recommendations for repurposing the prison, the bill now hands that decision to the state Department of Buildings and General Services, which has authority over state-owned property.
The change was made in the House Committee on Corrections and Institutions. It was then passed by the full House and is now before the Senate Institutions Committee.
House Bill 806 was filed by state Reps. Paul Belaski, D-Windsor, and John Bartholomew, D-Hartland, at the request of the Windsor Selectboard, which was urged to recommend a study committee by several residents, including John MacGovern.
At the time it appeared, the Legislature was preparing to make a decision this session on what the do with the property, asking that anyone with an idea to present it in January and include proposed financing.
State officials have broached the idea of using the shuttered Southeast State Correctional Facility site as a re-entry facility, providing transitional housing for former inmates.
Under the initial bill, the study committee’s makeup was to include Town Manager Tom Marsh, two Windsor Selectboard members and two residents. The committee’s charge was to study potential uses of the prison, which closed last October, and submit a report in December with findings and recommendations.
In its report to the full House, the Corrections and Institutions Committee said it recommends striking the original language with new wording.
The bill now before the Senate Institutions Committee states that “on or before August 1, 2018, the Commissioner of Buildings and General Services shall issue a request for information for recommendations on the future use and development of the Southeast State Correctional Facility and the surrounding 118.57 acres of land owned by the Department of Buildings and General Services.”
The request for information would include recommendations for both public and private uses, including a state-owned facility, and would allow for consultation with the town of Windsor.
By mid-January, the BGS commissioner would submit a report to the House Committee on Corrections and Institutions and the Senate Committee on Institutions with the results of the request for information, the legislation states.
Why the change was made in the House committee is not clear, and messages left for Belaski were not returned.
MacGovern said he was told a suggestion was made to handle the property the same way as other properties have been in the past and have BGS put it out to bid.
“I oppose the bill as it is written,” said MacGovern, who lives on Marton Road , which is near the prison land. “It gives Windsor no actual power.”
Patrick O’Grady can be reached at pogclmt@gmail
