A little late night catch-up. You may recall that the Scott administration was having a little trouble finding a site for its fourth temporary shelter. They had been looking in Bennington but then, at the last minute, they switched their focus to Brattleboro.

Or, to be more precise, the greater Brattleboro area. Because the site they identified, late yesterday, according to the Brattleboro Reformer, is a building formerly used by Entergy Nuclear when it operated the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant.

Which closed, it says here, ten years ago.

Oh boy.

Just to be clear. They’re taking an office space that’s apparently been out of use for a decade, and they had one single day to set it up as a congregate shelter.

Tell me, is the Scott administration deliberately trying to make these shelters as dire as possible, or is it more of an Inspector Clouseau situation?

Windham County Sheiff Mark Anderson, whose staff were helping with the retrofit, told the Reformer that “we are moving heaven and earth to accommodate the state’s initiative.” I’ll bet. And for what? So the governor can flout the Legislature’s clear intent to keep all vulnerable Vermonters in the motel voucher program through at least the end of June? Is this all about a gubernatorial hissy fit?

It sure isn’t about sound policy. And we still haven’t heard a cost estimate for this insane scramble to set up shelters for one week or less, and I still believe that’s because it will cost more money than a week’s worth of vouchers.

Extra bonus: in the Reformer story we learn why the administration made its last-minute switcheroo from Bennington to Brattleboro. State Sen. Nader Hashim told the Reformer that the administration had planned to use the National Guard Armory in Bennington but “realized there was lead and PCBs present in the building.”

Strange thing: Hashim added that the lead and PCBs were discovered several years ago. So either the state was going to house people in a building they knew had serious contamination issues, or it was just rank stupidity on their part.

My money’s on the latter, actually, I’m guessing that these buildings had to go through some inspections in order to pass muster as shelters, and that the inspector/s found out about the lead and PCBs. That would explain the late abandonment of the idea.

My head hurts. My heart hurts. I keep thinking this can’t possibly get any worse, and over and over again the Scott administration replies “Hold my beer.”