Town of North Stonington
SCHOOL MODERNIZATION BUILDING COMMITTEE (SMBC)
North Stonington New Town Hall
Monday, March 20, 2017
Attendance: Pam Potemri, Jay Peterson, Mike Urgo, Dan Spring, Alice Zeeman, Mike Anderson, Bob Carlson, Dave Sellins and Sam Cherenzia. Walt Mathwich and Mark Perkins came after the call to order.
Construction Manager (Downes) was represented by Paul Wojtowicz.
Architect (Quisenberry) was represented by Rusty Malik.
Current stage of the project: Design development.
1. Call To Order: 7:08 pm.
2. Public Comment: Joe Potemri. Shawn Murphy was present immediately thereafter.
3. Correspondence.
a. 2/28 Mike Urgo received preliminary results from Ashis of pilot testing for the Elementary school resulting to less than one ppm PCB to be cleaned off surfaces of cement block walls. EPA may require additional testing, but looks good for cleaning rather than encapsulating.
b. 3/1 Mike Urgo received from Shawn Murphy notice $1500.00 check ready from CLA to be submitted to DEEP.
c. 3/2 Mike Urgo attended P&Z meeting which they are requesting a review of the drainage (not uncommon). Action will be taken at their meeting in April – Very important to proceed that they do.
d. 3/6 Peter said it is possible to move the PTO sign across the street once the renovations are underway/complete, but there is flexibility to leave it where it is based on what is the best option.
e. 3/7 Mike Urgo spoke with Dave Brandini at HS and students are willing to help with any SMBC video for public viewing info.
f. 3/8 Mike Urgo attended BOE meeting and reviewed Solar options with them. Rusty will keep perusing this.
g. 3/8 Mike Urgo received letter from State indicating approval of the roof project.
h. 3/8 Mike Urgo received letter from Peter Nero referencing projects exceed State standards for space which allow us to begin the space standard waiver request.
i. 3/10 Mike Urgo received and email from Ben Healy at the Greenbank indicating Rusty should reach out to Earthlightech to help us begin the solar process. Confirmed they would be a good partner.
j. Mike Urgo received two letters from Quisenberry (Architect) asking for signature on the design development report needed for state submittal. Report references our adherence to high performance, building standards, code compliance, acoustic standards, etc.
k. 3/13 Norma (town Clerk) indicated cancellation of last meeting on 3/13 due to agenda not being posted on Friday with the town hall being closed due to inclement weather.
l. 3/15 Contract was received signed by Shawn for the traffic study, this can now be paid. Invoice referenced below.
m. 3/17 Eagle has sent invoices and they have been notified they cannot be paid until contract is signed. Paul has all invoices due so he can track them and we can get them from him.
n. 3/19 Mike Urgo received an email from Shawn regarding budgeting for a third-party review. We are currently having our own building official do the third-party review with Rusty’s team help. We should budget money aside in case he needs assistance. This has not been responded to yet with Shawn.
o. 3/20 Received an email from Rusty regarding bonding and finance costs associated with other schools – Wethersfield HS… on 84-million-dollar project that had 500K put aside for financing. Our project is 38.5 and we had set aside around 1.3 million. A separate email that day reference R14 schools with $63 million bonding and financing cost at $220K. Clinton Schools - $93 Million bonding and financing cost at $500k.
p. 3/20 Received signed contract page revised from Downes via email from Shawn to be included in USDA packet. This was also needed by the town attorney Eric Callihan to draft his letter of opinion for the USDA packet, which was also received today from Attorney Callihan.
q. 3/20 Received scope letter from Rusty for USDA approving Downes as CM.
4. Invoice approvals. Pam distributed to the members of the SMBC via E-mail/hard copy at meeting for inspection.
a. The following two invoices were approved together. Motion to approve was made by Sam Cherenzia and seconded by Walt Mathwich. Motion passed 11-0-0.
Invoice no. 9673 …..Quisenberry Arcari Architects…… $51,577.50
Invoice no. 9671……Quisenberry Arcari Architects…… $321.00
b. The following two invoices were approved together. Motion to approve was made by Dan Spring and seconded by Walt Mathwich. Motion passed 11-0-0.
Invoice no. 9672 …..Quisenberry Arcari Architects…… $30,500.30
Invoice no. 9671……Quisenberry Arcari Architects…… $727.54
c. The following invoice for Suisman Shapiro was approved. Motion to approve was made by Sam Cherenzia and seconded by Walt Mathwich. Motion passed 11-0-0.
Invoice no. 185777……$1100
d. The following invoice for Bennesch & Co was approved. Motion to approve was made by Dan Spring and seconded by Walt Mathwich. Motion passed 11-0-0.
Invoice no. P1707071……$7600
5. Approval of Meeting minutes.
a. Sam Cherenzia moved we approve the February 27, 2017 meeting minutes as amended. Mike Anderson seconded the motion. Motion passed 11-0-0.
5. Treasury Team Report. Pam updated the team with the cashflow spreadsheet. Will continue to work with Paul for updated information. Continued plan is to be able to present a snapshot to SMBC weekly and provide Shawn with information for Finance board to keep in touch on project status. W-9 still needed and Paul (Downes) will follow up. Five invoices pending approval for next week’s meeting. Shawn suggested adding a notes column to the spreadsheet with the possibility of the USDA needing a reporting of finances. Mike Urgo will email finance boards to stay in touch. Board of finance liaison has been asked to attend SMBC meetings by Shawn Murphy, yet no one has attended. This was re-questioned by Walt Mathwich.
6. Update from design development meeting at state.
a. 3/8 Mike Urgo attended the State DD review meeting. Rusty Malik (Quisenberry) confirmed, though it is not finalized we will exceed the CT High Performance Building Standards, making sure code is met. 3rd visit to the state for plan completion review in May.
b. Bleachers are not ADA compliant, must be constructed. MHS under budget, Elementary, over budget. Paul expects No budget changes.
7. Update from meeting with NSES Teachers. 3/1 Mike Urgo met with teachers to review new plan and phasing. Teachers were thankful for hard work of committee and expressing concern for students and teacher’s safety. Teachers are still asking for sinks in all rooms (Rusty/Architect) was made aware. Sinks will only be in grades 1st and lower per teacher request. Email discussion with Paul (CM) and Rusty (Architect) regarding dust in teacher’s classroom after long weekend test procedure. Eagle reached out to the teacher to reassure no harm and it would not happen again.
8. Update from meeting with PTO. 3/8 Mike Urgo presented SMBC updates to PTO. Marc Tardiff recorded this presentation and it will be on the town website for viewing. Touched upon welcome involvement since we are not touching outside spaces – playground, greenhouse.
9. Input discussion from Architect/CM.
a. Paul Wojtowicz (Downes) presented updated cash flow document for the three projects soft costs and construction. Paul will further break costs down and scan spreadsheet to Pam for entry for treasury team report for next week.
b. Rusty working with Greenbank for design draft docs to ensure roof is capable of additional load regarding snow drifts, junction boxes. Do not want to penetrate roof where it is not needed ensuring no leaks.
c. Bidding process will consist of having all 3 projects (BOE, Elementary and MHS) bid on as one. This can result in a cost savings that can be adjusted.
d. Mike Urgo questioning the BOE roof project completion early. Paul states bidders are hard to get in summer and four to six weeks will not be enough time to ensure project is done.
e. Paul and Rusty need to have a final discussion and confirmation with Mike Urgo layout and phasing for Pre-K to 6. Administration needs to be informed regarding one year transition for construction code and safety of students/teachers.
f. Jay Peterson questioned the landscaping and if we could save on cost by volunteering this part of the project. Rusty Confirmed that P&Z states what you must have for plants, shrubs.
10. Communications. YouTube video will be available on town website, town news and town forum. SMBC has and will continued to be in the NS annual report and article in the Quarterly. Jim from the town hall also posted a few pics of committee and state meeting on site.
11. Contracts. Eagle contract is completed. Karen Joyal (secretary) is reviewing before Shawn officially signs off.
12. Future Strategies. Mike briefly spoke about upcoming in person meeting with USDA. Paul will go since he has done this before.
13. Public Comment.
a. Shawn gave a brief update on the proposed governors CT budget reduction.
b. Shawn gave towns opinion on earlier internal discussion debating finance costs town holding in reserve as well as the bands we will issue to finance the property. Need a Conservative rate of reimbursement flow so we don’t need to stop work on project. Should we talk to another community? Higher interest rates were initially figured at initial. Reference 3/20 email from Rusty in correspondence regarding boding and finance costs for other school projects (3.o)
12. Dan Spring moved to adjourn, Walt Mathwich seconded. Meeting adjourned at 8:40pm.
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