Minutes of the regular meeting of the Public Building and Site Commission held on Tuesday, September 23, 2008 in the Library of the Reed Intermediate School, 3 Trades Lane, Newtown. CT. Vice-Chairman James Juliano called the meeting to order at 6:35 p.m.
Present: James Juliano, Thomas Catalina, Anthony D’Angelo, Robert Mulholland, Robert Mitchell, Peter Samoskevich. ABSENT: Craig Ansman, John Cunningham.
Also Present: Board of Education Director of Business Ron Bienkowski and member Kathy Fetchick, O&G representative Brian Holmes, Fletcher-Thompson representative Joe Costa, Morganti representative Arthur Lindley, one member of public, Clerk of the Works candidate William Knight.
VOTER PARTICIPATION. None noted.
HIGH SCHOOL EXPANSION PROJECT. Mr. Lindley noted that most of the paperwork for the project has been completed pending the results of the referendum. He said that there is a meeting on Thursday with the abatement contractor and the Town. The Town will be preparing the contract. He said that Morganti is looking at value management with the goal of turning back money into contingency after going to contract. Mr. Mitchell noted that he made a presentation at the Legislative Council meeting on September 17 during which he noted that PBSC reviewed value engineering for the project for the eighteen months prior to bidding. He has contacted several trades and building associations; also, his company’s cost estimator said that the bids were typical of what is going on out there and that there probably won’t be
any significant change in the next 3-6 months and probably not for a year. Mr. Mitchell said also that bidders cannot get increased bond capacity on short term bridge loans so that they have to cut back on what they can do; they are also lowering their general conditions. Mr. Lindley said that the financial issue may have an impact on the schedule. Mr. Mitchell said that no one he talked to recommended rebidding the project. Mr. Mulholland would like to know the cost of the three options. Mr. Lindley said that a straight rebid would use the same documents and a redesign would involve additional costs. Ms. Fetchick said that the grant has a two year lifetime. Mr. Borst asked the State for a waiver from the LEED requirement today. Mr. Bienkowski asked what is the goal of rebidding? He said that we do not know what level of commitment we will get from the Town and he does not feel that the bids will come in under $38 million. He said that we could be in the same situation as we are in
now. Mr. Mitchell said that it is typical that the bidders will not rebid the project unless there is a significant change. He also said that the fact that the numbers are now out there creates an awkward situation. Mr. Mitchell said that the LEED law is not grandfathered and that we need to get a building permit. He said that the LEED certification process will take an additional two to three months.
TOWN HALL PROJECT AT FAIRFIELD HILLS. Mr. Holmes distributed and discussed “Newtown Town Hall Bid & Contract Award Summary Bid August 29, 2008 Updated September 15, 2008 Prepared by O&G Industries” (Attachment A to original minutes). He noted that the bids were favorable and that the Board of Selectmen approved moving forward with the project with the basic bid with no alternates. Mr. Mulholland inquired why O&G presented this information to the Board of Selectmen before the Public Building and Site Commission. Mr. Holmes further noted that the Board of Selectmen did not approve funding for the roof alternate at this time but that repair to and cleaning of the roof are included in the bid. Mr. Holmes said that power needs to be installed from the poles and that the fiberoptics need to be
installed; this is being coordinated with the Department of Public Works. He said that tunnels under the street will be removed and that others have been demolished. Scope reviews have been completed. Letters of intent were issued to the contractors. The project manager will be Joe Vetro and the superintendent will be Ken Boutin. The Public Building and Site Commission regrets that Dave Cravanzola was reassigned from this project to an out of state project by O&G. Mr. Mitchell would like to see the construction schedule including the critical path schedule.
RECREATION CENTER/SENIOR ~CENTER. Mr. Juliano reported that Ames & Whitaker have been chosen as the architect for the project. Mr. Mitchell said that the next step should be for Ames & Whitaker to develop a schematic design, define the scope and develop a cost estimate. He said that they should come up with a feasibility study after review with Parks and Recreation and the Commission on Aging and present the study to the Public Building and Site Commission. He noted that Public Building will manage the architect and the contractor. He feels that O&G should be the acting Construction Manager for now and then Construction Manager at Risk. Mr. Mitchell will contact Ames & Whitaker to begin the process of developing the contract in conjunction with Public Building and O&G. O&G, Ames &
Whitaker, Senior Center Director Marilyn Place and Parks and Recreation Commission Chairman Ed Marks will be invited to the October 28 Public Building and Site Commission meeting.
UNFINISHED BUSINESS.
CLERK OF THE WORKS Mr. Mitchell suggested that today be the cutoff date to accept applications for Clerk of the Works. He also noted that the more appropriate title is Project Representative. Mr. Mulholland would like a consistent project set of documents for each project. Clerk of the Works will be further discussed in executive session.
CHANGE ORDER PROCESS. Mr. Mitchell distributed a draft which is based on a Construction Manager rather than Design Build. He noted that it must be determined who will sign the change orders and to whom the contractor should go to initiate a change order. Mr. Mitchell moved to call a special meeting in the next two weeks to discuss the drafts of the Change Order Process dated July 7, 2008 and August 5, 2008 and to develop a final format for the October 28 meeting and to invite O&G and Morganti to attend the special meeting. Second by Mr. Samoskevich and unanimously carried.
Bills for Payment.
High School.
Mr. Mulholland moved to recommend that the Purchasing Authority pay Morganti Invoice #10 in the amount of $15,500.00 when funds are available. Second by Mr. D’Angelo and unanimously carried.
Mr. D’Angelo moved to recommend that the Purchasing Authority pay Recon Engineering Invoice #3 in the amount of $250.00 when funds are available. Second by Mr. Samoskevich and unanimously carried.
NEW BUSINESS.
Request by the Board of Education to accept the Reed Intermediate School Building Project as complete. Mr. D’Angelo moved to accept the Reed Intermediate School Building Project #097-104N as complete. Second by Mr. Samoskevich. Mr. Mulholland asked where was the approximately $400,000 that was remaining in the project to pay for unfinished items. Mr. Bienkowski stated that there is no money remaining and in fact a special appropriation had to be approved for the funds that were needed for the settlement of the claim against the Town. He said that the funds that had been remaining in the project were used for attorney’s fees. Mr. Mulholland said that the Public Building and Site Commission was never told that this money would be used for attorney’s fees. Motion passed by roll call vote YES 5 (Catalina, D’Angelo, Samoskevich, Mitchell, Juliano). NO 1 (Mulholland).
MINUTES. Upon motion of Mr. D’Angelo, the minutes of the regular meetings of July 22 and August 19, 2008 were unanimously accepted as presented.
EXECUTIVE SESSION. Upon motion of Mr. D’Angelo, executive session was entered at 8:05 p.m. to review applications for the Clerk of the Works position and to interview a candidate for the Clerk of the Works position. At this time the clerk left the meeting.
Ann M. Mazur, Clerk
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