By John Flowers
for the Addison Independent

[ Note: This article appeared in the March 27 issue of the Addison Independent. Subscribers can view the article on the Independent website. ]

MIDDLEBURY — Workers are putting the finishing touches on $3.25 million in renovations to Elderly Services Inc.’s (ESI) headquarters off Middlebury’s Exchange Street. The project is already paying big dividends for the nonprofit, which hosts one of the most successful and admired adult daycare programs in the Northeast.

Improvements to the 20-year-old building have included repairing and replacing roofing, siding and windows; installing 193 new solar panels; and introducing a geothermal heating and cooling system to wean the structure from fossil fuels.

“We wanted our building to reflect our values of energy-efficiency and environmental stewardship, while improving our internal environment for our elderly participants and reducing our operating expenses,” ESI Executive Director Kristin Bolton told the Independent.

The building renovations kicked off in February 2024, when the nonprofit was awarded a key $1,785,000 grant through the Vermont Agency of Human Services Home & Community Based Services program, according to ESI spokesman Ron Hallman.

Additional funding includes $400,000 through the federal Inflation Reduction Act and $76,000 in Green Mountain Power/Efficiency Vermont incentive funding.

Bolton is confident the federal assistance is solid and not at risk of being withdrawn by a Trump administration that’s been taking a cleaver to federal programs.

Also stable is a staggering $791,000 in capital gifts and pledges citizens and business have made to the project. Those donations ranged from $10 to more than $100,000, according to Bolton, who’s grateful for every single penny.

She’s also appreciative for all the pennies that aren’t metaphorically leaving the ESI building in the form of energy costs.

The insulation upgrades have resulted in an 80% (that’s not a typo) decrease the percentage of air leaking from the structure. More warmth will stay in during the winter, and less cool air will escape during the summer, saving money while guaranteeing maximum comfort for the elderly and sometimes frail folks who spend many hours of quality time each week at Project Independence. The adult day-care program, established in 1981, currently serves around 150 people each year with enriching programs, entertainment, companionship and good food.

“We have a pretty big electricity bill, as you can imagine, running elevators, a 15,000-square-foot building, having a commercial kitchen, a cooler and a freezer,” said Bolton, who noted the solar panel installations alone have reduced ESI’s monthly electricity bill by around $1,000.

Elderly Services Inc. recently finished installation of a geothermal heating and cooling system that will help wean the Middlebury nonprofit from fossil fuels and even out temperatures in the 15,000-square-foot building off Exchange Street. — Independent photo/Steve James

Workers finished installing the building’s new geothermal system on Feb. 28. It’s too early to gauge its impact on energy bills, but Bolton is expecting good news on that front, as well.

“We … anticipate being able to have the temperature in the building well-regulated and comfortable for older people,” she said, noting the building’s prior energy and insulation shortcomings had created some hot and cold zones.

“It was uncomfortable at times,” she said, adding the current system — segregated in a small utilities section — “does it all” for heating and cooling.

Bolton reiterated her appreciation for the outpouring of local support for the renovation project.

“People in the community start to get older themselves and realize, ‘This is the kind of help we all need,’” Bolton said. “We’ve got to keep this place available for all of our needs, and not just the adult day care.”

SLATE OF SERVICES

In addition to Project Independence, Elderly Services Inc. offers a suite of services that include eldercare counseling, geriatric needs evaluation, geriatric mental health counseling, long-distance caregiving, family caregiver support groups, aging education programs, volunteer opportunities, and ESI College — a lifelong learning program with educational courses for independent adults age 60 and over.

A dedicated staff of around 60 full- and part-time workers and a cadre of volunteers ensure ESI programs go smoothly. Among the helpers is Andrew Munkres, an experienced builder who’s representing ESI’s interests in the renovation project. Munkres, during a brief interview, detailed what’s been an eventful road to the many fixes that folks will feel, more than see.

In addition to making regular checks on construction progress, Munkres was present at all contractor meetings and was called for advice whenever workers encountered unexpected challenges inside the 20-year-old building.

In an ideal world, workers would’ve had free rein to overhaul a vacant ESI building, Munkres said. Instead, they had to chip away at construction while the structure was in use. If Project Independence were to shut down, ESI would lose roughly $10,000 a day in income, he said.

Every time a fan coil had to be replaced during construction, giant holes were chopped into the ceiling. The units — around 8 feet by 6 feet by 8 feet — were taken out and substituted for a new one.

“The original contractor who had built the building had lost the plans,” which made things difficult when an engineer was asked to certify the roof’s load-bearing capacity for the solar panels, Munkres explained.

Fortunately, officials found the engineer who had designed the ESI building and got a set of plans through him.

It was bumpy road, but ESI officials are thrilled with where it’s led.

“We had a great team,” Munkres said. “(The project) came out even better than we planned.”

OTHER FUNDING CONCERNS

Yes, funding appears secure for ESI’s building renovations, but officials are concerned about potential cuts to Medicaid — a federal healthcare subsidy that helps many Project Independence clients afford the service.

Trump administration officials have stated there’ll be no cuts to Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid benefits. At the same time, those officials have alleged rampant waste and fraud within federal entitlement programs — without citing evidence they put the waste and fraud at $521 billion per year.

“The press is lying again,” reads a press release on the White House website. “What kind of a person doesn’t support eliminating waste, fraud, and abuse in government spending that ultimately costs taxpayers more?”

At the same time, South African billionaire Elon Musk — who heads up Trump’s co-called Department of Government Efficiency — has called Social Security “the biggest Ponzi scheme of all time,” as reported by the Associated Press, a 179-year-old news organization the Trump administration recently banned from accessing presidential events. The ban came after AP ignored a Trump executive order declaring the Gulf of Mexico would henceforth be known as the “Gulf of America.”

The administration has since sought to expand access to media outlets sympathetic to Trump, while rotating out outlets that have been critical of him.

According to Bolton, roughly 65% of ESI’s fiscal year 2025 income will come from public funding.

“It is a patchwork of funds,” she stated, in an email exchange. “Forty percent of our income this year is Medicaid, 15% is Moderate Needs, 10% is Veterans Administration. Adult daycare is not (covered) by Medicare.”

ESI is able to source funding from such federal programs as Medicaid, Veterans Affairs, the USDA’s Child & Adult Care Food program, and the Federal Transit Administration.

Medicaid funding flows to ESI through both state and federal pipelines, according to Bolton.

“At one point, the feds provided 60% and states provided 40% of every Medicaid dollar,” she said.

It’s a system that begs the question of what happens to the states if the federal government were to withhold or reduce its Medicaid commitment. Bolton is also concerned about potentially losing ESI’s college student volunteers if federal work study funding is cut.

But Bolton stressed that she and other ESI officials would look at other potential revenue sources to continue Project Independence and other related services if the federal government cuts back at its end.

John Flowers is at johnf@addisonindependent.com.