CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM COMMITTEE
TOWN OF WILLINGTON
TOWN OFFICE BUILDING
January 12, 2017
Members present: Chairman Kelly Trueb, First Selectman Christina Mailhos (left at 7:13 p.m.), Stuart Cobb, Donna Latincsics, Peter Tanaka, Randy Belair, Jim Bulick, Barry Wallett and John Patton. Members absent: None
Others Present: Joe Piatek, Ed D’Agata (Senior Center), Dr. Jacqueline Jacoby, Interim Superintendent and Phil Stevens, Principal of Center School (BOE)
The meeting of the Capital Improvement Program Committee was called to order at 6:32 p.m. by Chairman Kelly Trueb.
The minutes of the January 5, 2017 meeting were discussed.
John Patton moved to accept the minutes as printed, seconded by Stuart Cobb.
Vote: 8 yes (Mailhos, Cobb, Latincsics, Tanaka, Bulick, Belair, Wallett and Patton), 1 abstention (Trueb).
2. Present to Speak.
There was no one present to speak.
Chairman Kelly Trueb stated that because the Senior Center had less project requests than the Board of Education (BOE), they would switch the agenda around and have the Senior Center go first.
3. Senior Center.
Joe Piatek and Ed D’Agata were present to speak for the Senior Center
The first submission is “Video Security System” for $15,000 in fiscal year 2017-2018. Joe Piatek stated that this video security system was not only for the Senior Center, but for the whole Willington Woods complex. He said that they have had a couple of instances where they have had some vandalism (they dealt with that person through the State Police and they haven’t had any trouble since); however, with the age of the population at the complex and 24 to 48 new residents going in there within the year, the cameras would be helpful to protect the seniors living there. Ed D’Agata stated that he had checked into having cameras with their insurance company and the insurance company felt that this would be beneficial for them and with any incidents that might happen there that they need to investigate. Chairman
Kelly Trueb asked how many cameras would be included in that price and Joe Piatek stated that there would be 5 to 6 with storage capability. First Selectman Mailhos asked where the security system would be located and who would monitor it. Joe stated that it would have to be monitored by people at the Senior Center and the discs would be stored for as long as needed at the Senior Center. Ed D’Agata stated that the cameras would probably be situated on the original Willington Woods building, the new complex, covering the front and back of the Senior Center and the parking lots. First Selectman Mailhos requested that they put one on the pump house also. Ed D’Agata stated that he has been looking into a grant regarding the protection of seniors/senior abuse that might help out with the cost of the security system, and he has discussed this with Donna Latincsics. Peter Tanaka asked where they came up with the $15,000 figure and they stated that
they had looked into getting cameras a few years ago and it was based on that. Peter stated that the technology of cameras has come a long way since then and the cameras may actually be cheaper now.
The second submission is “Standby Generator” for $12,000 in fiscal year 2017-2018. Joe Piatek stated right now in a power outage, the only have power they have is at Willington Woods and it is only in the Community Room, the hallways and the heating system, there is no power in the elevators or the residents rooms. There is water there as the pump house has its own generator. Joe stated that there are two severely handicapped people on the third floor of the building that they would never be able to get out in an emergency if the elevators weren’t working. It was pointed out that this generator would be for the Senior Center and not Willington Woods. A discussion was had on where the residents of the senior complexes would go for an extended power outage as the Town has an emergency shelter at Hall School and
that is where residents of the town would go if they needed to. A concern was brought up if a senior at the complex was handicapped and unable to get themselves to Hall School, what would happen then. Chairman Kelly Trueb stated that all residents of Willington and their disabilities are taken into consideration when an emergency happens and the emergency responders take care to make sure that anyone needing transportation to the emergency shelter gets it. A discussion was had on the price of the generator in their submission and what size of a generator they would be looking at. It was also mentioned that Willington Woods is operated by Access and they have no control over that. The new complex (Button Hill) and the Senior Center are owned by the Town. Ed D’Agata stated that they are just trying to respond to the concerns of the residents that will be residing at Button Hill. Randy Belair asked if they could come back with a more solid
number and size of generator they would need. They stated that they would. Discussion continued with First Selectman Mailhos and Stuart Cobb explaining how the Emergency Operations Center works and how they work with Mansfield and Ashford during emergencies. Joe and Ed will take all this information under consideration when looking further into what size generator might fit their needs.
The third submission is “Senior Center Administrator” for $50,000 each year in fiscal years 2018 through 2022. This would be for a full time administrator to maintain daily operation of the Senior Center from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday. John Patton stated that this submission would be up to the Board of Finance and not the CIP Committee. Ed D’Agata stated that he has sent communications to Jennie Arpin, the Town Human Service Director to discuss how they can possibly merge the seniors into that Town Department. The problem that the seniors are facing with this is that the person doing the job of Administrator now is 94 years old and is a volunteer, and getting people to volunteer to do jobs like this doesn’t happen anymore. Chairman Kelly Trueb agreed with John and reiterated that
this is not a CIP issue and they will move to the next project.
The fourth submission is “Building Expansion Study” for $7,500 in fiscal year 2019-2020. Joe Piatek stated that the Great Room in the Senior Center has a 75 person seating capacity, and with the expansion of Button Hill and the potential of 24-48 more people, any function they will have will exceed that capacity. They have been exceeding the capacity 3 times a year for the past 2 to 3 years with the 3 major functions they have there. Stuart Cobb asked if they were aware of the study that has been done recently regarding the Senior Center. According to the study, it would cost $25,000 for what they want to do. Stuart suggested that they get a copy of the study and read through it.
The fifth submission is “Window Treatments” for $10,000 in fiscal year 2018-2019. Ed D’Agata explained that this would help in the heating and cooling of the building as the back windows heat up the room in the summer and in the winter the wind blows against it and the cold comes in; which in both cases causes them to use more electricity. If they could put the window treatments on, they would gain savings in both summer and winter. Ed feels the windows would pay for themselves in the money they would save in both heating and cooling. Stuart Cobb asked if that building was included in the town’s energy plan. First Selectman Mailhos stated it was, but only for lighting and thermostats, etc. not window treatments.
The sixth submission is “Handicap Bus” for $70,000 in fiscal year 2021-2022. Joe Piatek explained that at the moment they have a handicap bus and a 15 passenger van and both vehicles are extremely old. Ed D’Agata stated that they are looking into a grant where the federal government will cover up to 80% of the total cost. The van is a 2007 and the bus is a 2008. They both are 15 passenger vehicles with a driver. They would be looking for just one vehicle which would seat 22 passengers and go to a diesel instead of gas. Ed and Joe explained the uses of the bus. Jim Bulick asked if they just want a larger vehicle or would they want a large one and a smaller one (for trips with only a few people). Ed and Joe agreed that that might work better. The members on the Committee gave Joe and Ed
some ideas on how to be more prepared for next year with their submissions.
John Patton and Chairman Kelly Trueb explained the box on the request form “impact on operating budget” and how it is misunderstood by a lot of groups submitting projects. They will look at that particular box and see if they can make it easier for people to understand when submitting projects. Joe and Ed were thanked for coming and presenting their projects.
4. Board of Education (BOE).
Interim Superintendent Dr. Jacqueline Jacoby and Center School Principal Phil Stevens were present to speak for the BOE.
Dr. Jacoby mentioned that she wanted to speak to the Committee before she started with their submissions. She stated that there are three distinct goals; the first is improving student achievement, and you can draw a direct line from that goal to what their budget is going to look like. She stated at this time, they are probably presenting a budget with a 1.5% increase. They have done a lot of re-allocating and zero based budgeting and selected items so they feel pretty good about where they are, but their emphasis is on improving student achievement. The second goal of the board is about facilities and the issue about facilities is trying to make decisions about the future; therefore, the requests that they have in CIP have a direct line to that goal.
Their first priority is a request for a facilities study. They did put a proposal together and sent it out to three architectural firms, provided the committee with information about those proposals, they have made no commitment to anyone, but are requesting funds for that.
The third goal of the BOE is the Superintendent search that is well underway and Dr. Jacoby is facilitating that process. The application pool closes on January 20 and they have received 15 complete applications so far. She expects about 20 by the closing date. John Patton asked if that is a good response. Dr. Jacoby said she is very pleased with that response as she expected 12 to 15 applications. The goal of the BOE, when they finish all of their budget workshops, is to go to the Board of Finance (BOF) and their concentration will be on the search, interviewing candidates with the goal of hoping that the BOE can name someone in the spring (thinking in April) and Dr. Jacoby would stay on to assist with transition and hopefully that person would be permanently in place by July 1, 2017 or earlier.
Dr. Jacoby stated that their goal is two-fold. The BOE’s number one priority is the facilities and the BOE wanted to be sure she stressed that tonight.
The first submission is “School Facilities Study” for $15,000. Dr. Jacoby stated that with regard to the facilities, when she wrote the proposal she took into consideration everything people had said, she selected the architectural firms, she contacted them and then she sent the proposal to them. She chose people who had done work like this before. She looked over a report that Friar Associates had done for Ashford. She stated there are proposals from three different groups ranging in price from $12,000 to $15,000. She used the highest number in case that’s the direction they go in. If this is approved under CIP, the BOE Facilities Committee will review with her all of these proposals and they will interview the architectural firms. Dr. Jacoby has already put a matrix together to look at the
proposals so they know exactly what they are getting. Barry Wallett thinks that the school study committee is a great idea, but he was wondering if there was any discussion on merging the two schools if that is the way the Town decided to go. Dr. Jacobi stated that she talked about renovation and expansion to see if there is a possibility that it could be done. She said you have to take into consideration accessibility and if you have younger children in the building with 8th grade students you have to keep them separate and distinct unless there on separate floors. You can’t have the younger children walking around when there might be older children coming down the stairs. There are guidelines for that. She said that’s a piece of what they hope to gain and she will make sure that will be part of the plan.
Dr. Jacoby stated that there are two more items on the summary sheet related to the District; a new security monitoring system for the schools and a phone system.
The second submission is “New Security Monitoring System” for $93,677.40. In regards to the new security system, Dr. Jacoby stated that she is in no way being critical of the current security system; however, the cameras they have cannot be replaced, the company is no longer in business, they cannot be repaired and they were purchased on ebay. Dr. Jacobi stated that the security system is a priority as are most of the other projects; however you have to weigh that study against how many of these items you want to do. How much money do you want to put in each building before you know what you are going to do long-term?
She stated they are working to secure funds if she can get them through another process, she has met with the state and people who were involved in the brief study that was done in terms of “shared services and regionalization”. There was money set aside by the state to support that committee’s work, of which very little was used. She contacted the state, the person from Capitol Region Education Council (CREC) whose goal was shared services and regionalization and Kelly Lyman, the Superintendent of Schools in Mansfield and she proposed that they pay for Willington’s school study. She will let the CIP Committee know if she gets any kind of commitment so the study can be taken off of their CIP requests.
The third submission is “Phone System” for $196,544.40. Dr. Jacoby stated that the phone system they currently have is antiquated (speaker phones don’t work, phones don’t ring when they should, etc.). The computer company that works with the Town gave the BOE the bid for the new phone system and it’s for the Town and all of the schools. Barry Wallett stated that in the Selectman’s package there is a request for a new phone system also, and he is wondering if these are the same or separate items because they are for different amounts. Dr. Jacobi stated that she was unaware of the Selectman’s request and would get together with First Selectman Mailhos and discuss this. John Patton asked if the security system and the phone system are items that can be leased or does it have to be purchased.
Dr. Jacobi will check with First Selectman Mailhos on the phone system and she and Donna Latincsics will both check on leasing for the security system and the phone system. Stuart Cobb stated that some vendors may provide the phone service as a yearly service where you could pay for the year and then at the end of the year you could either buy the system or get a new system. Stuart stated that phone service is frequently changing.
Dr. Jacoby stated that the next six projects are ones that she has checked with the building maintenance people and custodians and they felt that these are necessary (if it’s the Town’s wish to maintain both buildings as schools).
The fourth submission is “CES Upper Wing Accessibility for $350,000 in fiscal year 2017-2018. Dr. Jacoby stated that this submission for handicap access to the 2nd floor at Center Elementary School (CES) via a chair lift or ramp to meet ADA codes. She said it is just lucky that they have been able to put handicapped students on the first floor where they have accessibility to the cafeteria, etc. located on that floor. If a handicapped student needs to go to the second floor, they have to either be carried by a staff member or must exit the building to the outside to another entrance that is uncovered. She states that this is unacceptable. John Patton stated that when the ADA upgrades were done to the schools this was all taken into consideration and that first floor was made specifically that way
for handicapped access. John stated that it was decided that programmatically they would be able to meet the ADA/State requirements with the way they did make that school handicap accessible. If they had done the ramp or the chair lift it would have been extremely expensive and they would have had to make a cut somewhere else. Randy Belair asked if there were other ADA gaps in the facilities that they know about. She stated that that is the only one they are aware of.
The fifth submission is “CES Playgrond Mulch Replacement” for $6,600 in fiscal year 2017-2018. Principal Stevens stated that last year Public Works came in and put a top layer of mulch and he was advised at that time by Director Derek Dimmock of Public Works that the next time they replaced the mulch they would need to scrape everything out because they just keep putting mulch on top of mulch and it is rotten underneath and needs to be cleaned out. Principal Stevens said they received a couple of estimates to clean everything out and put new mulch in which were very high. They found a business that will deliver 300 yds. of certified playground mulch for the amount listed above. What is not in the submission is the cost of labor that would be done by the Public Works Department to clean out the old mulch and
replace it with the new mulch. They do understand that Public Works would have to fit this into their schedule when they could.
The sixth submission is “CES Upper Wing Exhaust Fans” for $9425 in fiscal year 2018-2019. Dr. Jacobi stated that when the new roof on CES was installed in 2014, they did not install new exhaust fans. At the time of the replacement, the contractor was told that the exhaust fans were not needed. The duct work for the fans is still in place. The exhaust fans are required by Emcor, the maintenance company that takes care of both schools. John Patton asked if going to Emcor was worth it, and both Dr. Jacobi and Principal Stevens said it was and they have done a lot to improve things at both schools.
The seventh submission is “CES Classroom Heat Replacement” for $72,982 in fiscal year 2018-2019. Dr. Jacobi stated that the life expectancy of the current heaters is 15 years and they are 37 years old.
The eighth submission is “CES Window Replacement or Film” for $79,915 in fiscal year 2019-2020. Dr. Jacobi stated that this is for energy savings. She stated that is for the upper wing, and they would be replacing the 1950’s single pane windows with energy efficient windows. The other option would be to put a film application on the windows and it would cost about $20,000.
The ninth submission is “CES Gym Air Conditioning Upgrade” for $25,580 in fiscal year 2019-2020. Dr. Jacoby stated that all assemblies are held in the gym and it gets extremely warm in there when there are crowds of people there.
The tenth submission is “CES Generator” for $40,000 in fiscal year 2019-2020. Dr. Jacobi stated that this would be for power outages. Principal Stevens stated that there was a lot of feedback on this item last year as to the size of the generator and the use of it, etc.; it would just be used if power was lost to keep minimum things running at the school.
Dr. Jacoby stated that at the last BOE meeting they asked her to send a letter to the BOF to say that based on their realized savings currently unless something catastrophic occurs, they would be returning $32,500 to the BOF plus any additional realized savings.
The eleventh submission is “HMS Exterior Trim, Doors, Pilasters” for $17,800 in fiscal year 2017-2018. Dr. Jacoby stated that the front façade and side pillars have deteriorated and they have patched them up as much as they can. Chairman Kelly Trueb asked if it was just cosmetic or was there also structural deterioration. Stuart Cobb stated that the deterioration is at the bottom and is working its way up; therefore, soon it will be structural also.
The twelfth submission is “HMS Sidewalk/Landing Replacement” for $18,740 in fiscal year 2017-2018. Dr. Jacoby stated this is a tripping hazard. There were some questions as to whether this was for both the sidewalk and the ramp, and Dr. Jacoby stated she would have to get back to the Committee on that.
The thirteenth submission is “HMS South Roof Repair” for $87,122 in fiscal year 2018-2019. Dr. Jacoby stated that they have had significant water leaking in from that roof. Some patch work had been done to that roof and they thought that they had taken care of the issue; however, there has been some significant leaking in that section of the roof. They are going to have an air quality check done in that area. Dr. Jacoby mentioned that the state does do some reimbursements for roof replacements at schools. She will be checking into that. A discussion was had on when the roof was replaced, etc.
The fourteenth submission is “HMS Parking Lots Chip Seal” for $22,786 in fiscal year 2019-2020. Dr. Jacoby stated that this would be the parking lot behind the school.
The fifteenth submission is “HMS Student Locker Replacement” for $20,031 in fiscal year 2020-2021. Dr. Jacoby stated that this locker replacement is for incoming teams that play at HMS and the current ones are in bad shape and not secure.
The sixteenth submission is “HMS Oil Tank Replacement for $44,000 in fiscal year 2017-2018. Dr. Jacoby stated that the oil tank is about 30 years old and per DEEP underground tanks need to be replaced every 30 years; however she received information from Public Works Director Derek Dimmock that DEEP is changing that requirement from 30 years to 40 years for fiberglass tanks. A discussion was had on whether the oil tank is fiberglass or steel, and John Patton suggested that Dr. Jacoby contact Karl Acimovec, the Town Engineer, he would know the answer to that.
Stuart Cobb asked if the study was just for the two schools or would it also include the alternative of getting land, building one school, consolidation, etc. Dr. Jacoby said she would like all that included in the study. John Patton believes the study is a good idea, and any money that the BOE has left over from this fiscal year should be put towards that study and not given back to the general fund. Dr. Jacoby said in that letter she writes to the BOF on the realized savings she will request that. The general consensus of the Committee is that the study is a good idea. Dr. Jacoby stated that company that did the study for Ashford (Friar Associates) did a great job.
Dr. Jacoby stated that the BOE has gone from an object budget to a program budget so that everyone will be able see what it costs to run each school. She believes that is a good way when you get a facilities study done to see what your actual costs are.
Dr. Jacoby and Principal Stevens were thanked for coming in and presenting their projects.
John Patton stated he will have the spreadsheet he has been working on done by the next meeting.
Kelly Trueb moved to adjourn the meeting, seconded by John Patton.
Vote: All yes.
The meeting was adjourned at 8:07 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Eileen Smith
Eileen Smith
Recording Secretary
Board of Selectmen
860-487-3100
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