Don Keelan speaks frankly about doing business in Vermont

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Since moving permanently to Arlington, Vt. in 1988, Donald Keelan, a certified public accountant who owns The Keelan Company, a real estate business, has immersed himself in public life. He has served as a volunteer on several boards at Hildene House in Manchester, and as chairman of its Board of Trustees from 1994 to 1997. He also chaired building committees during the expansions of Arlington Memorial High School, Martha Canfield Library and the elementary school. Most recently, he has volunteered as host of Q & A Live, a talk show focusing on key Vermont issues produced by Northshire Access TV in Manchester. He has authored two books — a historical novel about Camp David and an account of the establishment of Hildene House as a museum — and owns The Keelan House Bed & Breakfast on Route 313 in Arlington, operated by his wife, Verrall. The couple has five grown children. Keelan said he had expected his life to become less busy after moving to Vermont. “I had retired as a partner and head of development and finance for a major real estate development company located out of Westchester,” he said. “I came up here for three purposes: one was to write; and my wife opened up the bed-and-breakfast; and the other was to work in the nonprofit area.” Keelan noted the proliferation of nonprofit organizations, a symptom of a much larger economic phenomenon happening here in Southwest Vermont. Keelan was asked about the business climate in Bennington County, from the perspective of a real estate developer and also from a more general perspective. While he said “when you’re in the development business you have to be optimistic,” he believes the region has many problems to overcome if it wants to create a healthy business climate. Many of these problems are not news, but finding solutions requires looking at them with a new perspective. In terms of the real estate market, “We have the same problem in this area that you have in Williamstown. [A young person starting out] can probably not afford to live in Williamstown, and raise a family there. ... You see the same thing here in Vermont: that is, an anomaly is taking place. A lot of money is coming in to build very expensive housing. And a lot of money is going into the proliferation of nonprofits.” He cited Manchester as a perfect example: a community of some 3,300 residents, it is raising some $20 to $30 million in a capital campaign. “The proliferation and the capital fund-raising of nonprofits, you hope, would be transferred over into industry,” he said, noting high-profile developments at the Equinox Inn and Orvis in Manchester, both of which are expanding. Keelan said Vermont’s reputation as a bureaucracy in environmental regulation is exaggerated. “Vermont doesn’t have any more regulations — as a matter of fact, in my opinion, there are less — than many of the [seven] states that I’ve developed in. I’ve gone through developments where you had to go between 20 and 25 agencies, for approval. I’ve been on projects where it’s taken four years. So Vermont — they make a big thing of it, but they don’t have a monopoly on regulation. Also, their Act 250 is very much like other states’ environmental laws. Act 250, in and of itself, is a good law. However, what’s happening recently, is ... it’s being used as a sword.” Keelan said Act 250’s original intention was to identify issues that affect the environment, and involve developers to mitigate environmental impact. In other words, if a large project is coming to a small town, the developer might make a deal to purchase and protect other lands, or provide specific services or improve roadways, facilities or schools. It wasn’t meant to block every large development that was proposed. A good place to do business? In talking about the local business climate for prospective business, Keelan said to imagine you ares an owner of a company with 100 employees, 10 of them managers. You’re looking at the possibility of locating in Southwest Vermont, and you send a team to investigate whether or not you want to be there. “What they would find out initially — and they would see right away — is the fact that it’s a beautiful area,” he said. “Secondly, they’d find out that the people are beautiful: lovely people, caring in general. And third, relatively speaking, that there’s very low crime.” “Having gotten through that and applying deeper research, they would find out that ... it’s one of the unhealthiest counties in the state [physical health], according to the hospital report that just came out. Secondly, on the mental health side, we’re also the most unhealthy. That’s not to say we don’t have time to do something about it, but that’s the fact right now. “Thirdly, you’ll find out that the area is running up against some very stiff opposition to development, by outsiders. In other words, by planning development, you have no assurance that you’re going to get it [approved]. And I specifically mention the hospital, with their Breckenridge Village, which they spent $1 million on [planning]; I mention the middle school in Bennington, which has been going on for 11 years; I mention Hand Motors [of Manchester] — a lot of money has been invested on that and now they’re being held up in Act 250, by one person.” “So that would bother me. ... There’s no certainty to getting your approval, even after you’ve invested a lot of money,” said Keelan. “Fourth on that list in your investigation is that there’s no affordable housing for your employees. And as far as the state goes, we are not a big supporter of the schools. ... The construction of a new school in the state of Massachusetts funds 64 to 65 percent. In New York, they give 85 to 90 percent. Vermont gives 30 percent when they do give, and we just came off a four-year moratorium on any building. So that’s another problem.” “The other thing your team will find out is that the tax structure in this state is very high. We run about fourth in the country — and that doesn’t include real estate taxes.” Education will be a critical issue for prospective a business leader. “You have a dropout rate that is very unfortunate, and a cause of despair, in my opinion. When you have a dropout rate of 20 percent, that scares people. That tells people coming in to the area ... that you have to probably send your kids to private school, or what we call ‘independent schools.’ I think there’s been six [independent schools] built here in the last five years — and ... the money is being raised privately, to support this. The Maple Street School will be looking for $5 to $7 million to make up their plan, which is in the works. Burr & Burton is looking for possibly $10 to $15 million, and Long Trail [School] has just completed a fund drive for $2 million, I believe.” This shift in educational funding creates a serious problem for students in public schools. “These are all independent schools — they’re not public schools. What does this tell you? What it tells you is that the public schools are losing population. We’ve gone, in Arlington ... from 601 to 430 kids [in the last four years]. We’re experiencing the same thing in Manchester, and when these towns depend on a new funding program, which is Act 60, which depends on the number of students, you can see that the schools are going to lose money, and where are they going to make it up? If they don’t cut, they’re going to make it up in taxes.” And under Act 60, when local taxes are raised to support school funding, receiving towns become sending towns. Other problems would become evident. “[Vermont’s] system of roads and the lack of attention to them, is very disturbing. Structurally, they were never there to begin with. This state has always been historically a poor road state, in the sense that it’s very difficult to go east and west in Vermont.” He noted that some communities have actively tried to block trucks from their roadways, which sends a message that business and industry is not wanted. “That’s a major issue. And then on top of that your investigation finds that you have a bypass in Bennington that’s been in the works since 1957, and the money just trickles in ... and so if you want to go to downtown, you’re going to have to fight the traffic. Conversely, in Manchester, you have this enormous problem with this intersection [‘Malfunction Junction’], even though Manchester is the fourth-largest generator of taxes in the state Vermont. “I don’t need to tell you that [Vermonters] are experiencing the second-highest rates for electricity in the country, behind Hawaii.” “So, it’s not very encouraging. And then on top of that, you go up to Montpelier, and find out that we just spent $100,000 on the O’Neil Group Report ... [in which] 65 percent of the companies in Vermont said this is not a good state to do business in.” The biggest problem Vermont will face in the coming years, Keelan said, will be how to find a balance in paying for health care and education. Currently, the latter is suffering at the expense of the former. Vermont insures a higher percentage of its residents than any other state — more than 25 percent, versus a national average of 14 percent. With 132,000 receiving state assistance, health care eats up an enormous part of the state’s budget, said Keelan. In the early 1990s, Gov. Dean “decided to put the emphasis on medicine and health care, and he made a big push to fund it. Where did the money come from? It came from education.” The money lost in the early ’90s from the state education budget crippled property-poor school districts that had relied on partial state subsidy in addition to local taxes, resulting in the passage of Act 60 in 1997. Keelan said Dean himself admits that health care financing “a real red herring” for the state, but how this can be fixed without harming residents’ health is anyone’s guess. He said it’s interesting the paradigm shift that is occurring in Vermont and elsewhere. A century ago, “the Brattleboros, the Benningtons, the Barres, thumbed their nose” at the small towns. But now, times have changed and “the money has been poured into the Strattons and the Stowes and the Okemos. ... The larger towns now are calling uncle.”
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Mass MoCA Commission Approves Mental Health Practices as Tenants

By Tammy DanielsiBerkshires Staff
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The Mass MoCA Commission on Thursday approved three new tenants for Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art. 
 
Kimma Stark, project manager at the museum, gave the commission the rundown on each of the new tenants. 
 
Eric Beeman is a licensed mental health counselor who uses art in his therapy. He holds a master's degree in expressive arts and arts therapy from Lesley University, where he's also taught graduate-level practices and principles of expressive art therapy.
 
He integrates creative arts based interventions into his clinical work including drawing painting, poetry, writing, brief drama and roleplay, movement and sound. Beeman works one-on-one and with small groups and said he mostly works with adults. 
 
He will be operating as Berkshires Expressive Arts Therapy on the third floor of Building 1. 
 
Beeman said Stark has been very helpful. "It's different than just renting a space and she's been very helpful and personable and accessible," he said. 
 
Mary Wilkes, a licensed clinical social worker and therapist, works with individuals with severe mental illness, with attachment and relationship issues and needing support navigating major life transitions. She works with teenagers, college and students and adults. 
 
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