School Building Committee

The City of Lowell • Office of the City Manager City Hall • 375 Merrimack Street • Lowell, MA 01852 P: 978-674-4402 • F: 978-970-4007 www.Lowellma.gov Thomas A. Golden, Jr. School Building Committee Meeting City Manager Meeting Minutes Date: March 22nd, 2023 Time: 6:00 P.M Location: Zoom / Virtual Participation School Building Committee Members Present: Thomas Golden (School Building Committee Chair), Mike Vaughn (Chief Procurement Officer), Richard Underwood (Operations and Maintenance Director), Michael Fiato (Head of School), Conor Baldwin (Chief Financial Officer), David Peaslee (Captain LPD), William Samaras (Former Mayor of Lowell), Edward Kennedy (State Senator), Rodney Elliot (State Representative), Maryann Manzi (LPD), Jay Mason (Lowell Sustainability Council – Architect), Maria Sheehy City Staff Present: Shawn Machado (Assistant City Manager), Paul St. Cyr (DPW Commissioner), Austin Ball (Deputy CFO) Perkins Eastman Consultants Present: Joe Drown, Robin Greenberg Skanska Consultants Present: Jim Dowd Suffolk Consultants Present: Pannha San Chung The order of business was as follows: I. Attendance / Roll Call: Meeting Called to order at 6:05 P.M on behalf of Manager Golden and asked to accept and place on file remote / zoom participation, roll call showed 12 present. S. Machado opened the meeting and welcomed those in attendance and asked the body to take a look at last months meeting minutes and accept the minutes. II. City of Lowell: Motion to accept and place on file the minutes from Feb 15th SBC meeting, by W. Samaras and C. Baldwin III. Suffolk: Phase 2 / 3 – Construction Update Pannah – Started concrete slab placement on level 2 for main entrance and building F. Will begin structural steel at Building D. In April, will be substantially complete with structural steel and begin south bridge steel. In May will see façade work and start the roof on Building F. Pannah showed some progress photos. Showed a slide with all project milestones and informed the committee that Phase 2 would have to be extended until August 2024 due to the occupancy permit. The delay of this phase does not affect the timeline of Phase 3. J. Mason – Will there be any cost associated with this delay? Pannah – No there will be no additional cost. Jim – This delay will not change the overall end date of the project. W. Samaras – Can you please explain the process moving forward in regards to additional bathrooms? Pannah – Will explain this in more detail in the designer update. IV. MBE/WBE: Total construction minority workforce is at 24.7%, the female workforce is 3.8%, total Lowell workforce is 10.9%. The female workforce increased from last month. V. Perkins Eastman - Designer Update: Joe – Have taken a look into toilets throughout the schools and have spoken with school department to see how Phase 1 has been going. School department feedback was they would like to see more toilets added to the first floor. Robin – After feedback from LPS, went in and re-designed the fifth team room to be more toilets. 6 new toilets for females and 1 toilet and 1 urinal for males. W. Samaras – How many toilets per floor? Robin – It varies based on the floor and section. W. Samaras – Just want to follow up that we are adding bathrooms on all floors not eliminating them? Robin – Yes, that is correct. W. Samaras – Is there any way to isolate bathrooms in the auditorium. Robin – It was talked about isolating the bathrooms during off hours. W. Samaras – Last night several city councilors spoke about the bathroom situation in the restaurant, and how it is an issue to have resident utilize the same bathrooms as students, has this been discussed? Robin – During the design, it was noted that they would use bathrooms outside of restaurant. W. Samaras – Made his concerns noted about how it is unusual for residents and students to use same bathrooms. Joe – We will take a look to see what we can find as a solution. VI. Skanska – Budget Update: Jim – Total budget is $381.9 million. The amount of contingency remaining is just over $20 million. MSBA reimbursement is $73.5 Million to date and another request for $7.4 Million was just submitted as well. Total invoices for LHS project for February was $4.1 Million, total invoiced to date is $117.8 Million. VII. Skanska – Next Steps: Next SBC meeting will be after the 12th of month and will coordinate with School Committee meeting. Looking to complete steel at end of April and the concrete decks are being poured. Questions / Comments: M. Fiato – Is there a chance to add bathrooms in the gym before the freshman academy comes online. Joe – Yes, this is expected to be completed at the end of Phase 2. J. Mason – Want to raise an issue that has been discussed previously. Would like the committee to receive three things: 1. SBC to be presented with OAC meeting minutes 2. An electronic copy of the set of building plans 3. A project schedule. M. Sheehy – Agreed with J. Mason W. Samaras – Brought up bathrooms and would like to have more information to answer questions he is asked from the public. S. Machado – Any other questions? None at this time. Motion to adjourn by W. Samaras, 2nd by C. Baldwin. Meeting adjourned at 6.31.