South Windsor Public Building Commission
Minutes – Regular Meeting – April 3, 2014
Members Present: Howard (Hap) Fitts, James Neary, Kenneth Jeski, Carol Kelley, Charlie Lyons, Tim Wentzell, Edward O’Connell
Also Present: BOE Representatives, Dr. Kate Carter, David Joy, Chris Chemerka and Patrick Hankard
Chairman Fitts called the meeting to order at 6:30 PM.
Chairman Fitts advised the commission that he had been in discussions with the Town Manager, Matt Galligan, regarding funding available to the commission from prior projects. He reported that there is approximately $103,000 of funds which were not used in prior projects.
Chairman Fitts noted that the commission was provided with a binder from Superintendent, Dr. Carter outlining the elementary facilities project work to date. He discussed the next steps for the commission, noting that there is a June 30, 2014 deadline coming up for the project and that the commission will need to get timelines together. In response to a question raised by Mr. Wentzell regarding the June 30, 2014 deadline, Dr. Carter advised that the school district is required to submit an ED049 to the state of Connecticut for approval of the project. She stated that the district will be looking to contract with an owner’s rep for the limited scope of work, including the filing of the ED049.
Commission members discussed the merits of hiring an owner’s representative to assist in guiding the commission through the process and establishing timelines. Chairman Fitts noted that he attended a meeting with the superintendent and Strategic Building Solutions to learn about their services and that they would have attended tonight’s meeting to speak to the commission, however, he was not certain of the member’s thoughts. Commission members discussed the possibility of hiring this firm, or following past practice and interviewing several companies. The decision was made to bring in several companies to present their information on April 10, 2014 at 6:30 p.m. Mr. Hankard agreed to contact companies with which the school district is familiar to come to the next
meeting. Dr. Carter had offered that the district could assist in funding preliminary work on behalf of the commission; however, Chairman Fitts indicated that the funds to be released by the Town Manager would be used for this purpose.
Mr. Neary questioned when the project would break ground to which Dr. Carter and Mr. Hankard reviewed the approval process following the district’s submission of the ED049 indicating that they anticipate it would be approximately one year from June 30, 2014 until approval will be received from the State to move forward with the project. Mr. Hankard added that the commission would have one year to be ready to go to bid for the actual construction.
On another matter, Mr. Wentzell brought to the attention of the group that the materials presented with regard to the plan do not reflect tornado protection in schools or “safe zone areas”. He noted that when the commission reviews the project, he would like to see it addressed.
A motion was made by Mr. Jeski to start the Public Building Commission meetings at 4:30 PM. There was no second.
Approval of Minutes: A motion was made by Mr. Neary, seconded by Mr. Jeski to approve the minutes of the March 30, 2014 meeting. Motion approved unanimously.
There being no other business to come before the meeting, the meeting was adjourned at 7:25 PM.
Respectfully submitted,
Ann M. Walsh
Clerk
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