THESE MINUTES ARE SUBJECT TO APPROVAL BY THE PUBLIC BUILDING AND SITE COMMISSION.
Minutes of the regular meeting of the Public Building and Site Commission held on Tuesday, February 26, 2013. Chairman Robert Mitchell called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m.
Present: Robert Mitchell, Joseph Borst, Thomas Catalina, Anthony D’Angelo, Robert Edwards, Roger Letso (7:45). Absent. Rick Matschke, Peter Samoskevich. Also Present: Clerk of the Works William Knight, Morganti representative Mark Schweitzer, Gino Faiella, Board of Ed Director of Grounds and Maintenance, two members of the press from News 8 (7:45).
Public Participation. None noted.
Minutes. Upon motion of Mr. Borst, the minutes of the regular meeting of January 22, 2013 were unanimously accepted as presented.
High School Expansion Project. Mr. Schweitzer noted that there are no open change orders or any open items on the base contract. The mixing valves were received and turned over to Mr. Faiella and will be installed by the school.
Mr. Knight had no additional items that need to be addressed.
Review of Applications for Payment – High School Expansion Project.
The application for payment approved last month pending approval by the Finance Director was presented tonight. Mr. Borst moved to approve $331,765.74. Second by Mr. Edwards and unanimously carried. This is the final Application for Payment. Further discussions with the Town will determine the status of any outstanding allowances and unassigned monies.
~Hawley School HVAC Project. Mr. Mitchell noted that the bids came in under budget. The bid will be awarded to Gennarini as the low bidder at $1,155,000.00 The total budget will be $1,550,000.00 with the contingency and other associated costs. The Board of Finance approved the project, the Board of Selectmen and Legislative Council must approve the project then it will go to a Town Meeting. Probably the soonest date that the project can be fully authorized would be between March 14 and April 1. Mr. Mitchell asked if CES can review and value engineer the project as soon as possible to accelerate construction. Mr. Mitchell will see if the Board of Selectmen will schedule a special meeting on March 7 for this one item. April 1 would be the earliest date that a contract could be signed if the standard
series of reviews and their associated time lines are followed.
Mr. Faiella asked if there is consideration to doing the work on the outside of the building. Mr. Mitchell feels that we can move funds from Phase II to Phase I for this work because there is money available, due to the low bid that was received, as long as the Board of Finance and the Legislative Council approve this. The time frame for doing the investigative work and construction documentation may not fall within the current construction time frame.
Review of Applications for Payment.
Mr. D’Angelo moved to recommend approval of Kaestle Boos Invoices #4 in the amount of $5,812.10, #4 in the amount of $7,200.00 and #5 in the amount of $1,022.93. Second by Mr. Borst and unanimously carried.
Town of Newtown Projects. Mr. Mitchell noted that the ESCO project is separate from the solar panel project. There are fees and expenses in the ESCO documents that must be more transparent. He noted that we need to take a much harder look at their figures. He said that the documents represent only the cost of the audit, not the cost of the project. Mr. Edwards moved that the Commission have a working session just to address this matter with more copies of the documents available.
At this time Mr. Letso and reporters from News 8 joined the meeting (7:45 p.m.). Mr. Letso distributed information from Ameresco detailing what they propose to do including calculating the cost of energy savings to the town and how they would implement the project. He said that the project would be paid for in a lease arrangement. Funds for the initial independent audit would be requested by the Sustainable Energy Commission working with other Town officials. Mr. Letso will arrange potential workshop dates with the interested parties so that the PB&S Commission can get a fuller understanding of the project, potential costs and our role.
Review of Sandy Hook Advisory Commission meeting of 2/15/2013. Mr. Mitchell attended the Sandy Hook Advisory Commission meeting on February 15, 2013 and he distributed and discussed his summary of the meeting. He included The Bee’s summary of the meeting as well as his notes. Representatives of the American Institute of Architects, FEMA and school security groups attended. He discussed FEMA’s recommendations about school and disaster security measures. He noted that security upgrades are not currently a reimbursable expense in Connecticut schools.
Mr. Mitchell noted that we should look at time frames. He feels that the decision making process should continue. He noted that George Benson, Director of Planning and Land Use is on the committee looking at numerous sites in Sandy Hook and Newtown to see and rate potential sites for an elementary school. The process was reviewed with Mr. Mitchell.
He noted that if the Public Building and Site Commission is involved early and if our protocols are used, we can make this process go quickly. We need to be an integral part of this. He wants to be sure that the First Selectman will include at least one member of the Commission in this process. We should look at the existing Sandy Hook School site to see what can be done at that location. This is a 12 acre site. Other sites being examined range from 5 to approximately 100 acres.
Mr. Borst noted that the Board of Education must be involved. Mr. Mitchell will talk with First Selectman Llodra about the fact that she said that only elected officials will be involved in this process and Public Building and Site Commission members are appointed but should still be an integral part of this process.
Executive Session. Upon motion of Mr. Borst, executive session was entered at 8:35 p.m. to discuss a legal matter. At this time the clerk left the meeting. The Executive Session was adjourned at 8:45 p.m. No actions or motions were made.
Adjournment. The meeting adjourned at 8:45 p.m.
Note: Following the meeting, Channel 8 requested that Mr. Mitchell repeat some of the items covered during the meeting for the camera since the sound quality during the meeting was very poor. This was done with other commission members present. No new information was provided.~~
Ann M. Mazur, Clerk
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