Mountview School Building Committee
Meeting Minutes
February 11, 2014
7PM HMLD
Present:
Chairman Paul Challenger, David White, Gary Kaczmarek, Chris Lucchesi, Erik Githmark, Margaret Watson
Absent:
Jacquie Kelly
Others Present:
Bill Senecal, LPA
Mike Pagano, LPA
Peter Caruso, LPA
Darryll McCall, District Superintendent
Peter Lukes, Assistant Town Manager
Elizabeth Helder, Recording Secretary
No one from the public was in attendance.
Mike Pagano introduced Peter Caruso to the Committee. Peter will be the Project Manager representing LPA for the duration of the project.
Gary Kaczmarek reviewed the Project Schedule. He thanked Vice-Chairman Dave White with helping to review the final design specifications. The documents will be ready to go out to bid on February 26th and bids are due back on April 4th. GC bid documents will be due on April 24th.
The Committee reviewed the Budget and Cost Report dated February 2014. The final cost estimate came in at $41,594,460. This is approximately $1.5M under the projected budget. Mr. White said he felt that the bids would come in under budget as well.
The Committee reviewed the Utility Company Fees budget which will include installing natural gas lines up Shrewsbury Street and final paving costs.
The Pre-Qualification process has been completed and all GC’s and subcontractors have been notified.
The Committee discussed several add-alternates in the addendum. Add-alternates are included in the project after the CD’s are published. It allows the GC to bid on the add-alternate but does not mean that the bid must be accepted. It would allow the Committee to seek an additional bidder outside the scope of the GC.
Irrigation well data is being analyzed by Matt Mrva the Landscaping Consultant. Mr. Kaczmarek recommended that the irrigation system be included in the project as an add-alternate in the addendum.
Mr. Kaczmarek suggested the Committee consider placing sod on the entire property as an add-alternate. Currently only the front field is scheduled for sod in the CD’s. Sod recovers quicker than hydro-seeding and it will shorten the time that the fields are not able to be used by the school and recreation activities. Mr. White estimated that the cost to sod the entire property would be $200,000. Sod will be more durable; hydro-seeding will take two growing seasons to establish.
The Committee agreed to add these two items as add-alternates in the addendum.
Mr. Kaczmarek presented comments from the WRSD Facility Department regarding the CD’s. Mr. White discussed the comments. Mr. White defended the work that has been done for the buildings control systems and disregarded many of the District’s comments (many of which have already been included in the plans). Mr. White said he would defer to the highly skilled plans developed by LPA and the recommendations made by the mechanical engineering consultant regarding the building controls system.
Mr. McCall said he would start scheduling regular meetings with the Facilities Director and the Business Manager to keep them better informed of the progress of the building. Mr. McCall and Mr. White agreed that it would be effective to have Mr. White and Mr. Kaczmarek to meet with the Facilities Director.
Mr. Lucchesi commented that he felt that maybe communications between the District and the project have not been as constant as they could have been due to the change-over of 3 different School Superintendent’s over the past 18-months.
Mr. Kaczmarek discussed the need to add a Liquidated Damages (LD) clause to the contract as it will keep the GC in line to meet the schedule on time by April vacation 2016. It is important to keep the schedule in order to demolish the existing building prior to the start of the new school year in September 2016.
Mr. Pagano said he did not like LD. It does not guarantee that the school will be delivered on time. All it does it charge the GC money for every day the building is not delivered. He said that from the first day on the job, the GC feels under the gun to finish on time and they flood the project with change orders to create a paper trail in case they have to go before a judge, which is often where these situations end up. Additionally, the Town will still have the ability to go after the GC if the building is not delivered on time. Payments can be withheld as the end-date draws closer if the work is not being completed. Ultimately, a LD clause will not get the kids into the school any faster. However, Mr. Pagano did say it was good that the Committee was having
the conversation.
Mr. Kaczmarek said he wants some type of language in the contract to enforce the completion date.
Mr. White disagreed with Mr. Pagano’s assertion that the Town can withhold payments because the GC is behind. He said he would like to have the opinion of Town Counsel. It is incumbent of LPA to manage the change orders and construction administration.
Mr. Kaczmarek concurred with both Mr. White and Mr. Pagano and added that it also be up to him to keep the GC on track.
Mr. Lucchesi said that he would be more upset if the building was not finished before the start of the FY16-FY17 school year and that LD should be contingent upon that date.
Motion by Dave White, seconded by Chris Lucchesi it was UNANIMOUSLY VOTED TO SEEK THE OPINION OF TOWN COUNSEL AND HAVE THE TOWN MANAGER AND THE CHAIRMAN DIRECT LPA TO SEEK LD OR NOT.
A recommendation on LD needs to be provided to LPA by February 18th in order to comply with the printing schedule. 100% documents will be turned into the MSBA on February 26th.
The Fire Department has approved the 100% documents. Mr. Kaczmarek is still waiting for approval from the Light Department, Building Inspection, and Plumbing and Wiring departments.
Motion by Dave White, seconded by Chris Lucchesi, it was UNANIMOUSLY APPROVED TO DIRECT LPA TO COMPLETE AND SUBMIT THE 100% DOCUMENTS AS PRESENTED.
Mr. Challenger introduced Darryll McCall, the new District Superintendent. Mr. McCall has not been appointed to the Building Committee to date.
The Committee reviewed and approved the Committee’s submission to the Annual Report. Mr. Challenger thanked Mr. Lucchesi for drafting the submission.
The Committee signed invoices.
Mr. Senecal said an electronic service will monitor the bidding process and create a daily report. An update on the bidding process will be available in early March.
3. New Business
Mr. Challenger made an update on the progress of the project to the Board of Selectmen at their February 3, 2014 meeting.
4. Meeting Minutes
Motion by Dave White, seconded by Chris Lucchesi, it was VOTED 4-1 WITH 1 ABSTAINED TO APPROVE THE JANUARY 7, 2014 MEETING MINUTES AS PRESENTED. (ABSTAINED: WATSON.)
5. Next Meeting
The Committee agreed to schedule the next meetings for Tuesday, March 18, 2014 and Tuesday, April 8, 2014 at 7PM at the Light Department.
6. Adjournment
Motion by Chris Lucchesi, seconded by Dave White, it was UNANIMOUSLY VOTED TO ADJOURN THE FEBRUARY 11, 2014 MEETING AT 8:39PM.
APPROVED:
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