On Monday, Oct. 27, at 5:35 a.m., the historic Osborne House was moved from its home on 77 Main Street to the other side of the Cross Street Bridge at the corner of Cross and Water Streets. The move of this house, weighing a total of 120 tons, was not only an act of preserving one of Middlebury’s oldest houses but also a symbol of the first step in a series of cooperative projects between Middlebury College and the town of Middlebury. Carried by generator-powered dollies, this house will now live on the opposite side of Otter Creek, vacating a site for the new town offices.
The creation of the new town hall and new town recreation facility was a joint initiative with the town and College that was formally voted into action last spring. As evidence of cooperation between the town and the College, Middlebury College will contribute $5.5 million to the project’s total $7.5 million cost. This plan is the culmination of a decade-long conversation to replace these two aging facilities and to revitalize the community and economic perspective of downtown Middlebury. However, the original vote on this plan by residents of the town and the debates that followed showed that this plan had not always been met with complete optimism and support. Issues regarding parking, overcrowding and the College’s role in the process were among some of the concerns raised by residents. The final vote showed, however, that the majority was in favor of the move. Since then, as noted by Vice President for Communications and Marketing of the College Bill Burger, the stress that was felt in the spring, has largely been removed.
This most recent project stands as one example of the “payment in lieu of taxes” (PILOT) agreement, wherein the College makes an annual contribution to the town. In 2013, this sum, which is tied to the College’s endowment, totaled $251,617. This annual payment coupled with the College’s assistance on a number of town initiatives is a testament to the College’s willingness to help contribute to a vibrant downtown area. In 2007, for example, the College pledged $1 million to complete the renovation of the Town Hall Theater in the heart of Middlebury. In 2009, it pledged $9 million to the $16 million plan help fund the new bridge crossing Otter Creek.
The town and College have thus experienced a long history while coexisting together. “The nature of the relationship between the town and the College is very symbiotic,” noted Jamie Gaucher, Director of the newly created Middlebury Office of Business Development and Innovation Office. This relationship has been developed and fostered for generations, and it is now experiencing a new type of maturation at the official level.
The years of conversation between the town and the College regarding the College’s role of impacting the local economy culminated in the creation of the job that Gaucher now holds. The goal of this position is to bring new economic vitality and jobs to the town of Middlebury in light of recent economic events: “The community realized that it was in need of a new solution,” said Gaucher. “Middlebury had suffered some job losses, and there really was no prospect around what to do as a community to fix, or at least address, the local economy.” Gaucher explained his job as a three-part process: engage with an external audience, bring innovation-based and technology-based development to the area and leverage assets inherent to the college to make an economic impact for the town. This new job in itself, noted Burger, is an example of how the town and the College have come together: “This was a commitment based on the needs and allegiance between the College, town and local businesses,” he said. Agreed Gaucher: “The interdependence [between the town and College] was one of the themes that was woven into the cooperative spirit in the creation of my job.”
Clearly the days of the one-way flow of students moving between the College and the town have been expanded. Through this new position, the purchasing of goods and services from the local area, the College’s investment in local projects, and employment opportunities, the impact – especially the economic impact – of the College is immense. In response to commonly asked questions by local residents, town officials, state representatives and College employees alike about the College’s impact, the most recent Economic and Community Impact of Middlebury College fact sheet was published this past summer, with data collected since 2011.
As the largest employer in the town of Middlebury and in Addison County, the College has an enormous impact on the local economy. The College provides one out of every 10 jobs in Middlebury, making it one of Vermont’s top employers. By 2011, the estimated total number of jobs the College provided directly and indirectly to Vermont was 2,420, which had economic ripple effects on other jobs and wages in the state.
As consumers, the students of the College comprise a hugely significant factor. According to a study commissioned by the Better Middlebury Partnership (BMP) in 2014, one in every ten customers in town is a Middlebury College student. In 2011, according to the report, students spent more than $5.8 million at Vermont businesses, with about 80% of this spending occurring in the town of Middlebury. This total of $4.5 million spending in the town of Middlebury experienced the most patronage in the restaurant, food and beverages sectors, where students spent over $1 million in each.
However, the relationship is not one-sided. As evidenced by these numbers, college students rely on an accessible town, just as businesses rely on student patronage. “Both the town and the college realize that we have to work together for the greater good,” said Burger. “Gaucher’s position [as the head of economic development] is a realization that we really do succeed or fail together,” he continued. Thus the two-way partnership is of considerable importance. Gaucher noted that the distinction between the town the College can be hard to define, based on the flow of people, goods and services that occurs between the two: “I really do struggle to make it an ‘us’ or ‘them,’ or even to have a demarcation between ‘this group’ or ‘that group.’ I approach what I do from a community perspective,” said Gaucher.
