AVON FREE PUBLIC LIBRARY RENOVATIONS & ADDITION PROJECT
BUILDING COMMITTEE MINUTES
JANUARY 6, 2010
I. CALL TO ORDER
The meeting was called to order at 7:30 AM by Chairperson Diane Hornaday in the Avon Room Town Hall Building 1. Members present: Chairperson Diane Hornaday, Barbara Leonard, Diane Carney, Janet Stokesbury and J. Tad Kuziak. Members absent: Scott Boos and David Goldsholl. Also in attendance were Assistant Town Manager Blythe Robinson, Library Director Virginia Vocelli, Assistant Library Director Donna Miller, Architect Peter Wells, Avon Clean Energy Commission member Bernard Zahren and Consulting Engineering Services Senior Associate Loren Grabinsky.
II. MINUTES OF PRECEDING MEETING – DECEMBER 16, 2009
Mr. Kuziak motioned, Ms. Leonard seconded and all agreed to accept the December 16, 2009 minutes as written. Janet Stokesbury and Chairperson Diane Hornaday abstained as they were absent from the previous meeting.
Architect Peter Wells asked that Mr. Grabinsky be added to the distribution list of the minutes which Ms. Robinson will handle. Ms. Hornaday wished everyone a Happy New Year and welcomed members of the audience.
III. COMMUNICATION FROM AUDIENCE
Ms. Vocelli will be meeting with other librarians from Farmington and Simsbury to discuss their moves to temporary locations during their renovation process to get helpful information for the Avon move.
IV. COMMUNICATION FROM COMMITTEE MEMBERS
None.
V. REVIEW – SCHEMATIC DESIGN PROGRESS
Architect Peter Wells discussed some recent changes he and the Library staff had made to the second floor children's area. Location changes to the children's librarian and staff areas were shown. Ms. Carney expressed her concerns that Mr. Wells was working only with the library staff, sensing decisions were being made without the Committee's input. Mr. Wells assured her that these meetings produced designs for the building committee members to approve and discuss. Mr. Kuziak questioned whether the schematics could be reproduced in PDF form for distribution to the members. Mr. Wells said yes and Ms. Robinson will be the liaison to provide them to the members via e-mail. Mr. Wells also suggested inviting the members to attend the meetings with the staff. He explained the importance of having the meetings with the staff as
they would be the "users" with needs such as telephone placement or materials placement for custodial staff. Town staff has code conformities to consider which play into mechanicals or driveway placement that affect schematic design. Ms. Robinson added that it was the Town's job to provide the requirements to incorporate into the architect's design. Ms. Carney said that perhaps it'd be helpful to e-mail the meeting dates of the various library and Town staff to the committee members so as to include them. Mr. Kuziak said that it was better to spend the time now to get a well defined layout by having the discussion at this phase of the project as it would help in securing better bids, to which Ms. Robinson agreed, and save on change orders down the road. Ms. Stokesbury stressed the importance of attending these staff meetings, referring to her concerns over the location of the History Room for example. Ms. Vocelli suggested calling her office anytime for information. Ms.
Hornaday offered that going to these meetings would help give the committee members a sense of more involvement with the decision making and provide input as well.
Mr. Wells continued with the design of the first floor. He has been in contact with a company that provides RFID equipment so he'd be sure the design would include a readiness for installation of this technology sometime in the future. RFID is radio frequency identification which uses waves to scan (can provide for self-checkout) and to inventory books. Mr. Kuziak spoke of the run rate being lowered due to this technology which will decrease demand on the staff. Mr. Wells is planning a meeting with the vendor to demonstrate the equipment which he feels the committee members should attend. Mr. Kuziak suggested seeing the equipment operating at the Darien Library. Simsbury Library is currently having the system installed.
Mr. Wells also showed changes to the parking lot. The Town staff believed that placement of the island would lead to misuse by drivers and instead want it reconfigured to create more of a one way design which actually could lead to a gain in parking spaces. The side of the lot would move in slightly to accommodate the zoning requirement for a 35' setback from the property line which would result in the loss of a few spaces. The pitch of the roof would change to provide real runoff. Mr. Wells will discuss upgrades to the elevator at a later time.
Ms. Vocelli said the meeting to discuss the move to a temporary location will be next Thursday at 1:30PM and invited the members to attend. Mr. Kuziak suggested offering the move information to the public to tell of the temporary location and services that will still be available. Ms. Hornaday added that it's important to keep the public informed and it keeps the project out in front.
VI. LEEDS CERTIFICATION - REVIEW & DISCUSSION
Ms. Robinson provided a matrix showing the cost and requirements of the project meeting the LEEDS Silver standard (included in the basic contract) versus obtaining the LEEDS Silver Certification, State of CT High Performance Document or Green Globes (similar to the LEEDS). The estimated cost of acquiring the LEEDS Silver Certification is $150,200.00, the cost of the State's is $148,000.00 and the Green Globes is $95,200.00.
The matrix did not include the potential cost of the role the construction manager might play in acquiring the certifications. Mr. Wells explained that it is still uncertain who will provide the certification that LEEDS Silver standards have been met, either the State or the building inspector. The engineering consultant, Mr. Grabinsky, added that the State's document had taken out the easily obtained points and went after the more expensive ones to qualify. He recommended that no matter what the committee did that they get the building commissioned and also purchase certification that enhanced commissioning services would provide such as an agent returning a year later to ensure the systems were operating properly. Mr. Kuziak questioned the role of the building inspector. Mr. Grabinsky explained that their role was to
inspect installations for code compliance or better, that it did not necessitate testing for proper functioning. They will do functional testing for life safety items such as fire alarms or emergency lighting. The construction manager will oversee the sub contractors for compliance with the construction documents which doesn't necessarily include commissioning. Ms. Robinson added that the trend has been to seek these services as systems have become more and more complex and particularly where a renovation would be made to an existing building vs. new construction. Ms. Carney feared this only added more cost for checking and re-checking for work that should be done correctly already. Mr. Grabinsky offered that buildings that were commissioned had far fewer problems than ones that weren't and could provide references. Ms. Stokesbury liked the idea that an agent would come out a year later to check the proper operation of the systems and would be well worth the cost.
Ms. Robinson said the committee should decide soon whether to commission the project or not. Ms. Hornaday would like to include Mr. Boos in the discussion before a decision is made. She also reminded that both LEEDS certification and commissioning were not included in the original budget for the project but that the LEEDS standards would be met. Mr. Grabinsky said that commissioning does not check for those standards. Ms. Hornaday is reluctant to add any more cost to the residents that was not included originally and would like the members to think about it. Mr. Kuziak concurred that it would be a lot to go to the residents and ask for another $150,000.00 on top of the referendum and fundraising amounts. Mr. Zahren offered that there are ways to get the money. He referred to Mr. Wells comment that the State has still not
decided what the Town would need to do to get their grant money. He said he trusted LEEDS more than the State and that they could indeed incur the certification as a caveat to obtain the grant money. Mr. Wells added that through conversations with the State's rep Mary Louise Jensen that they didn't know yet the requirements for a project of this size. Ms. Carney felt that enough had been said and the committee would ponder the information presented. Ms. Hornaday added that the committee was at a bad place in trying to guess what the State would do. She wants to keep the residents in mind in the decision.
Ms. Robinson introduced Mr. Brandon Robertson, the new Town Manager, who briefly attended the meeting.
VII. PROPOSAL REVIEW - TEMPORARY LIBRARY
Ms. Robinson received one response to the RFP for the temporary location of the Library during construction. The location is 20 Security Drive in Avon. She is setting up a meeting with Town personnel to visit the site to determine its suitability before a decision is made. She will update the members at the next meeting. The price proposed has not been opened at this point.
Ms. Hornaday relayed information about a brief phone call she received from the owner of this property suggesting the suitability of the property for the Library and a possible purchase. Mr. Kuziak would like more information before he could answer the public's questions. Ms. Robinson reminded that the bond referendum question approved by the voters did not include land acquisition which means we could not pursue this offer without going back to referendum to revise the question.
VIII. APPROVAL OF INVOICES
Mr. Kuziak motioned, Ms. Carney seconded and all agreed to recommend payment of the Tuthill and Wells invoice in the amount of $17,158.00. None opposed.
Going forward, Ms. Robinson will provide a budget showing costs to date against the various components of the project.
IX. OTHER BUSINESS
Ms. Stokesbury reminded that the committee meets again before the State Bond Commission meets January 29, 2010. She commended the letter written to our State representatives on behalf of the project but fears we're not doing enough. Ms. Vocelli added that there were many letters written to the Governor (who sets the agenda) so they are well aware of our interest in being included on the agenda. Mr. Kuziak would have liked the letter to include other benefits the project would provide the local community such as jobs. Ms. Hornaday suggested the committee write a letter or e-mail with his ideas and will discuss this at the next meeting.
X. ADJOURNMENT
Ms. Stokesbury motioned, Ms. Leonard seconded and all agreed to adjourn the meeting at 9:05 AM. None opposed.
Recorded by: ____________________________________
Susan Gatcomb, Staff Person
____________________________________
David Goldsholl, Secretary
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