 Thank you very much for coming. I have two thoughts, first of all. What an awesome day and welcome to the future home of LED Dynamics. My name is Bob Haines and I'm the Executive Director of Green Mountain Economic Development Corporation. Our acronym is GMEDC. We will be LED's landlord in a beautiful new facility that we will construct right here that was designed with them and for them. We are honored to have the Governor here today following our tour of LED's facility. I'm honored to have Senator Leahy here as well. Their strong positions on behalf of manufacturing and technical training are well known and this celebration symbolizes a significant step for a homegrown company of dedicated and creative engineers and technicians. LED competes in a rapidly changing world of high technology and is committed to doing things the right way. By educating the next cohort of young Vermonters as a company grows its employment base from a current 63 to an expected 100 or more, its product lines will expand, the local tax base will grow and LED will continue to add to its well-deserved reputation for having great jobs for innovation and prominence in its field, all in a very public way. As Executive Director of GMEDC, I am pleased and very proud that my Board of Directors has made a strong commitment to this project. It has used up a ton of our bandwidth for the past two years, but we know we have now less than 10 months to go and time flies when you're having fun like this. So welcome aboard. I would like to first bring up Trini Brassard, who is the Chair of the Randolph Select Board. Good afternoon and welcome to Randolph. For what we're hoping is the first of many of these type of celebrations as we move our town forward. Randolph's seen new energy focus on redefining our town and bringing economic vitality to our landscape. As we started down the path of exploring how to keep our existing businesses here that wanted to grow like LED and welcome new businesses that we want to start up or want to expand in Randolph, we met with Governor Scott, Secretary Shirling and their staff to make sure we had full support behind us to make changes that were needed as well as bring funding into our community to make these projects viable. We've enjoyed their support and look forward to continuing the teamwork to make more changes that will help us achieve our goals. I'd also like to recognize Senator Leahy, who has continued to support economic development funding at the federal level that's helped make this all a reality. In many cases, it's this funding that makes it possible for communities to afford changes and improvements they need and for businesses to be able to put together a funding profile to make this project work. We have more plans that we will need more support to make them happen as we face challenges with our infrastructure to make the town a business-friendly environment as well as improve the quality of life for both residents and visitors. Today we're here to help a local business LED Dynamics take the next step to building a new facility they can grow in and continue to employ our local neighbors in good-paying jobs. This is a goal all of us have and today we're grateful for the opportunity to help make that a reality. We're excited that they chose to work with Green Mountain Economic Development, the town of Randolph and the state agencies to remain in Randolph. Thank you everybody for your efforts for this project. Thank you Trini. Our district includes 30 towns and I have to tell you we spend a ton of time in Randolph because they're highly motivated to making things happen here and we're pleased. And speaking of making things happen, the town manager in the back corner who is very shy and doesn't come up here, Adolfo Bailon has been here for 10 months and he has really picked up the process that Mel Adams started and he is very, very positive, very proactive and his staff I think enjoys having him as their team leader and we are thrilled to have him as part of the hours. I would like to quickly thank a number of people here. Perry Armstrong is in the second of the back row is a newly elected select board member, the owner of Rainershine tent company and this tent. And I didn't have to ask him. I had to get out of his way because he was coming with a tent. The commissioner of economic development, Joan Goldstein is here with Brett Long who introduced me to Bill McGrath sitting next to her two years ago. It was clear that LED wanted some help and was all ears in terms of accepting our lead. The housing group, housing and community development group led by Josh Hanford who is right in front of me so I can't see him and his group of Josh, of Nate Cleveland, Quinn Mann and other folks in his office have done a terrific job guiding us throughout the process. I believe Rita Cito is here from two rivers out of Quiche but I haven't seen her yet. And Bill McGrath is the president of LED who seated here. Spencer Newman, the CEO is here with us. And Jim Larson who is the director of accounting and manages their money very carefully is also here. So these are people we have spent a ton of time with over the past two years. For the GMEDC team I'm looking for my board chair, Sperry Wilson who is in the back waving to me. Thank you Sperry. And Lisa Henderson from VMAC who has been working to counsel LED for a number of years and it's her introduction initially that prompted us coming into this process. So she's been part of our team throughout. Tom Apple is our project manager in the front row who helped us get through the various grant programs and the permitting process. We got an Act 250 permit in 37 days from application. So I think it's a reflection of the work Tom put into it and the response we got from the various Vermont agencies. Our attorney Nate Stearns is here who's been doing marvelous work for us. He's with the Hershenson Carter Scott McGee office in Hartford. Brian Lane Karnas our engineer is also a magician. I don't see him yet but he's done wonderful work for us. And from DEW we have Mike Smith and Matt Wheaton who is a business development person we started with two years ago. And my executive assistant Mark Condon is he's Jiminy Cricket for me. He keeps me on the straight and narrow and we wouldn't be here without him. So very, very happy from Vita whom we got a large mortgage approval from. Tom Porter is here and Sandy Croft is our loan officer and Sandy's waiting to me in the back. I think that's oh Steve Roy from Weave and Lampfare our architect is also here and we have some plans that are set up. So having run through that as quickly as I can I would like to now introduce our esteemed governor Phil Scott. Stacey says. Without help. Sure give it a try. Thank you very much. Working now. There he goes. Thank you very much for coming out today. Beautiful day to be outside and I see some heavy equipment over there. So by five, six o'clock we should be pouring concrete with all the help we have here. We have all the engineers, all the builders as well. So we should be able to get this done. So as governor one of my top priorities has been to grow Vermont's economy and strengthen and expand our workforce. So having the opportunity to be here today to see the growth and success of a Vermont business including creation of jobs is very rewarding. A strong economy and thriving workforce are critical to the success of our communities here in Vermont. And I'm pleased to be with you today celebrating this expansion and soon to be home new home of LED Dynamics a thriving local business with roots right here in Randolph. So I want to thank Bill, Bob and many others for ensuring that LED will begin its next exciting chapter right here in Vermont where it belongs. So we thank you for making that decision. LED Dynamics is a great fit for Vermont with its commitment to quality, service, technology and education in the field of LEDs, light emitting diodes. When Bill McGrath first founded this company in 2000 a new millennium had begun. A new age where technology and knowledge would be the keys to bright futures in manufacturing. Bill, his partners and employees harness their passion and talent to bring LED lighting from a dream to a personal promise and then a reality for customers around the world. Vermont entrepreneurs are known for our innovation and that has led to the company's custom solutions and new products. If I could just tell one quick story though. I was here a couple months ago and they showed me this new product. It was a flashlight and it would emit light just by the right in your hand without a real battery, right? Or without anything to charge. And I thought that is probably the coolest flashlight I've ever seen. And I said, where do you buy these? And they said, well, I don't know. We don't really produce them. We did it for fun. I don't think anybody could afford these. Four or $500 a piece. But maybe in the future. So these are the types of things they're doing and they have all these neat products. And I remember the lantern. The lantern that sits on the stove and recharges by just the heat of the stove. So these are the types of products you all build and create. And I think it's going to be something interesting in the future of where you go. So with this rapid growth, LED has got grown. It's location on Hull Street, which is good news, bad news, where it moved in 2004. But with this groundbreaking, the Green Mound Economic Development Corp will help LED take its next step towards its evolution. This new 27,600-square-foot facility will allow the company to hire 43 new employees, bringing its workforce to over 100, which is significant here in this area in the rural Vermont. I'm happy to support this project by endorsing the approval of a $1 million Vermont Community Development Grant for the town of Randolph. This grant will underwrite the $5 million project. The Federal Community Development Block Grant Program has been really important for Vermont and we've used it extensively. It helps communities statewide address their individual needs, which vary widely. And I really want to thank Senator Leahy and the entire Congressional delegation who fight hard for us every day in Washington in support of this program and many others. So thank you very much, Senator Leahy, for that. I also want to acknowledge the work of my administration and my pillar, the Vermont Economic Progress Council and the Department of Economic Development team. This project was further supported through the Veggie Program with $460,000 because it creates more than $1.2 million in projected new payroll and has capital investments of $4.8 million as well. Additionally, we approved a Vermont Training Program grant to provide technical training for the new employees and I'd also like to take a moment to thank a number of other partner organizations which are providing the necessary funding to make all this work. The Vermont Economic Development Authority has committed nearly $3.8 million in financing on an innovative program that allows tenants, in this case, LED, to purchase the building during the term of its lease. Next, Randolph Area Community Development RAC DC provided $40,000 in additional financing and Efficiency Vermont stepped up and provided 18,000 incentives to help defray the additional costs of upgrading to energy efficient alternatives which I'm sure is as we all recognize is most appropriate for this project and I want to thank the town of Randolph and all the local and regional organizations do the hard work and make projects like this happen in throughout Vermont. As well, the staff and leadership of the Agency of Natural Resources helped ensure that all state permits were processed and responded to in a very timely fashion. As a result this construction will proceed on schedule. I also want to thank my Agency of Commerce Community Development many of whom are here today to help celebrate and I know they helped make this a successful outcome as well. It takes everyone pulling in the same direction in order to arrive at success and I believe that we had a great team of all of you pulling in the same direction. So last and most importantly I want to thank Bill McGrath and his team at LED Dynamics for being a bright economic light in our state. Your strong dedication and hard work has a positive impact on many people in Vermont and in this town. So I thank you for your efforts I look forward to coming here again when we cut the ribbon on the new building and you move in. So again, thank you very much for having me. Now it's time for Senator Leahy to speak to us. Can I come in on the right and the Governor comes in? It doesn't matter it's the other way around. It's the other way around. But you know one of the nice things we've wanted is a chance to be here together. It's a team effort we talked about economic development. All of us the Governor myself, the other members of the delegation all those from the local government others we don't go by parties we go by being Vermonters and what's going to make it work best we represent Vermont but we want our communities to be vibrant places to live and work and play so we work together we work across party lines we set aside party lines but I couldn't feel like I could not avoid the joke about it because you see depending on which way you look at it it makes no difference. We wanted LED and the neighbors the ARA were critical to the same wasn't to succeed because the way it succeeds is if we work together and this is an example of doing it Vermont's future okay that's my only pun I'm going to use here Vermont's future will be brighter because of companies like LED we choose to expand here rather than move out of state myself just joined us here we're native Vermonters we want to see people stay in our state so let me be among the many who thank Bill and the entire team at LED for choosing Vermont and you couldn't choose a better location than Randall we do agree on that wouldn't you and the most critical part of any business though not just the location you have to have a great product and a good vision you have those then you have at the federal level we can bring funding like the CDBG program to the table but also how so you have a governor who wants to put state money into something like this our state uses CDBG funds work with partners like Bob Haynes and the town leadership to ensure that it works now other states let me just in fact we ought to bring out other states may use the same approach but I think the difference is in our state it's the scale and access to government officials the fact that you can talk to your legislators some of whom are here you can talk to your governor you can talk to the members of the congressional delegation they are available to you that makes a difference I what was it 34 days, 36 days 37 days getting the approval try doing that in other states it wouldn't work we have leaders like Josh who work hard to make this project possible even if he didn't live in Randall it's sort of like when an appropriations bill goes to the U.S. Senate they say what a coincidence there's this item in here for Vermont but Josh and his team make sure that our federal dollars are well spent and these dollars are one of the bright spots in a Washington that can sometimes be dysfunctional one thing that brings Republicans and Democrats together certainly in our appropriations committee is that we can find agreement in programs like CDBG are critical to economic development in all states you can't just talk about one crazy job you're going to have the tools to do it this year not only the three members of our delegation but Republicans and Democratic leadership we came together they've been a proposal from the administration not yours governor the yellow one down Pennsylvania Avenue they wanted to eliminate the CDBG program we said no we rejected that because we've seen it work in so many states around the country so we're going to watch LED we're going to make sure it works but isn't it nice that it's in Vermont I mean I love that thank you very very much we are very fortunate today I think Tom Porter is here from Vita and if you'd like to share a few thoughts happy to give him a chance thank you very much be very brief here to get on so we can get the the backhoe there going we only have a couple hours right I want to thank Bill McGrath Spencer Bob Haynes and especially Sandy Croft who hasn't been mentioned as much she's Vita's loan officer and Yeoman's job on this project from beginning to end Vita is pleased and proud to have played a significant role supporting LED's expansion this is a great example of a growing innovative tech economy in the United States your success here is part of a positive cycle that encourages and attracts other innovative companies to grow and expand here in Vermont Vita is also pleased to highlight our long productive partnership with GMEDC through several executive directors John including Bob we've been able to help support great companies that create good paying jobs selling high value products around the country in the world and helping import capital that sustains and enhances Vermont's quality of life we celebrate this great example of an effective public-private partnership and all your efforts to create the new facility and can't wait to see it up and working very good starting today congratulations again now it's time for Mr. McGrath himself sure Bob thank you good afternoon I'll keep it within a time limit our company LED Dynamics came together in the year 2000 and soon we were working out of a small room in Rochester Vermont farmhouse on this new lighting technology that many folks had trouble spelling L-E-D we were very early on this emerging lighting market and even though we had humble beginnings we soon had a worldwide reach early on we recognized this could lead to a growing industry by offering never before imagined energy savings long-rated lifetimes and that solid state lighting could render many existing forms of lighting including the ubiquitous and the cadets and light bulb obsolete we identified recurring challenges to using this new technology and created solutions that kept others from having to overcome them to enjoy the benefits of LED lighting we kept renting more and more of the farmhouse until it was finally time to find a new home we found some space in 2004 and moved to Randolph this offered us a location closer to Vermont Technical College which was and still is providing a steady supply of the smartest people to figure out this complicated technology the place is in pretty rough shape and we lacked the financing to furnish and outfit it properly but as all the money was being used to fuel our growth so on a shoestring budget with employees and friends volunteering their time we made it work and built a factory our company introduced the world's first flashlight bulb replacement in 2003 and the first all LED ballast compatible fluorescent tube replacement in 2007 millions of this type of tube replacement are now in use all over the world today little by little our LED dynamics company grew until in 2015 we had used all the available space in our facility we contacted Vmec the Vermont manufacturing extension center to help us after studying our situation they identified some places we could improve our spatialization but to sustain our growth and our growth trajectory and to solve the problem of the chronic sawdust contamination because don't forget it was a furniture factory they determined we would need more space and preferably at a different facility we contacted gmedc and began a search for suitable space within a 10 mile radius after finding no acceptable existing buildings we began a land search which ultimately resulted in us settling on this fine location while we received attractive incentivized relocation offers from neighboring states we wanted to keep the jobs in Vermont in this region and preferably in this town in order to make that work we would really need some help from the state of Vermont and we got it with their assistance and getting financing the grants the employment growth incentive we were able to make the case that staying in Vermont is the best decision for our business and our community we were able to design a facility that is energy efficient solar powered and yet affordable to build the building will serve our needs well being designed to be compliant with the ladies building codes even incorporating electric vehicle charging spaces that take advantage of its over 100% solar production goal and full solar roof the methods and materials of destruction have been chosen to allow the building like the lights and components we construct to last a very long time the notion that manufacturing jobs in Vermont are on the way out or don't offer livable wages and benefits is simply not true LED Dynamics does business in a highly competitive LED lighting marketplace where the clear majority of products are now manufactured offshore what we have demonstrated is the ability to offer American made quality craftsmanship and at a price point that allows our customers to source domestically and compete globally this translates to further success for the company the addition of jobs for the local community and revenue into our state I believe we'd all agree that's positive for the town of Randolph the local region and the state of Vermont so it's our pleasure to be in this community and be a shining example of a business friendly Vermont I just have some thank yous and I promise to keep them short and to speak through them in rehearsal I was able to do it in less than 60 seconds but there's a lot of people because as I started to write this list down just grew and grew and grew so I'm going to see if I can do it and sped up time like the credits at the end of the movie Lisa Henderson, Bob Zier and the folks at VMAG Bob Haynes, Mark Cahn and Tom Apple and the folks at Green Mountain Economic Development Julie Iflin and the RACDC the White River Valley Chamber of Commerce Vermont Technical College and Randolph Technical Career Center Dave Estes and People United Bank Joe Boyd and the Bar Harbor Bank and Trust Joan Goldstein, Brett Long Mike Shirling at the agency of Commerce and Community Development specifically Vermont Department of Economic Development Sandy Croft, Tom Porter and the Vermont Economic Development Authority Vermont Employment Growth Incentive Nate Cleveland and the Vermont Community Development Program Dolfo Belong the Select Board and the town of Randolph Lucky Demick and the crew from RSL our future neighbors Applied Research, Freedom Foods Precision, we have some really great neighbors Brian Lane-Karnes at DeWolf the team at DW Construction Steve Roy who is right now keeping our plans from falling down and everyone at VMAG in the lamp here Norwich Solar and I'd like to take a moment to really thank the elegies dynamics management team the employees and especially Spencer Newman of Green Mountain Incite and without them we wouldn't be here for sure Governor Scott and Senator Lee as well as Senator Sanders and Representative Welch all of whom have had a positive effect on our business at various stages and with you being here today now all of you have been at our business so to anybody else I forgot to mention and most importantly thank all of you for coming today this is a new beginning and we're retaining and creating jobs in Vermont we will continue to have a place in Vermont to provide good jobs and a place to build innovative lighting technology solutions now looks like I'm holding up construction of the building and that's the last thing I want to do so let's date he's a lot of fun to be with trust me in my haste I passed over Catherine Becker von Haste from Senator Sanders office and George Twig who I would like to invite up to give a few remarks on their behalf please and pardon me for skipping over you thank you I'll be super fast on behalf of Senator Sanders thank you and congratulations I think following that list of thank yous you kind of can't beat it I think it's such a great example of how what success looks like when Vermont local state and the federal government come together to make projects like this happen you mentioned some other great partners in your remarks like Vermont Tech our tech centers we think this is a great opportunity not just for Vermont company but for young Vermonters who want to work in Vermont stay in Vermont come back to Vermont to raise a family so we wish you on behalf of Senator Sanders much success and congratulations thank you thank y'all I'm George Twig with Congressman Welch's office I'll just say briefly the CDBG program as evidenced by this project is one of the very best things that the federal government does it is a real partnership with the state with great agencies that you know Joan Josh others work with to create jobs and to help alleviate poverty it really hits a lot of marks and I'm pleased to report on the House side just in recent days on a bipartisan basis the House Appropriations Committee has decided to set I think we would call a floor for CDBG that will be level funded to next to last year's funding level $3.3 billion nationally so we're going to tee that up send it over to Senator Leahy, Senator Sanders so hopefully raise the tide even more I want to say for this project in particular Congressman Welch has always been a big fan of LED dynamics energy efficiency has been one of the signature issues he's worked on he really appreciates the triple bottom line of benefits that it brings an incredibly high quality product for your customers the energy savings which helps save them money that can be invested in jobs and growing their own businesses and also just the climate benefits of being able to reduce our overall energy usage and reduce the contributions so it's a great important work to LED dynamics doing it Congressman Welch is proud to support this program that's supporting you and your growth and congratulations, thank you alright now we're on to the main event we advertise this as a groundbreaking and we brought one of the best known and most skilled operators in the state of Vermont who also works in the governor's office to come and dig some holes for so I think the pressure is on the governor but I have full faith and confidence that you're able to figure it out so thank you all