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. City Manager School Building Committee Meeting Meeting Minutes Date: August 24th, 2023 Time: 6:00 P.M Location: Mayor’s Reception Room / Zoom School Building Committee Members Present: Thomas A. Golden, Jr. (City Manager), Mike Vaughn (Chief Procurement Officer), Liam Skinner (LPS Superintendent), Richard Underwood (LHS Operations and Maintenance Director), Michael Fiato (Head of School), Conor Baldwin (Chief Financial Officer), Mark Byrne (Facilities & Infrastructure Manager), William Samaras (Former Mayor of Lowell), Edward Kennedy (State Senator), Rodney Elliot (State Representative), Maryann Manzi (LPD), Benjamin Opara, Erica Harvey, Paul St. Cyr (DPW Commissioner) City Staff Present: Shawn Machado (Assistant City Manager), Austin Ball (Deputy CFO) Perkins Eastman Consultants Present: Joe Drown, Robin Greenberg Skanska Consultants Present: Jim Dowd Suffolk Consultants Present: Rex Radloff, Pannha San Chung The order of business was as follows: I. Attendance / Roll Call: Meeting Called to order at 6:02 P.M by T. Golden and asked to accept and place on file remote / zoom participation, roll call showed 14 present. City of Lowell: T. Golden asked the committee to review the minutes from last months meeting and to make a motion to place on file. Minutes passed by roll call, motion by E. Kennedy and 2nd by M. Vaughn. II. Suffolk: Phase 2 – Construction Update Rex – Showed progress photos of ongoing construction. Mechanical, electrical and plumbing (“MEP’s”) are underway on Freshman Academy. One of the big milestones is closing walls with drywall. The first drywall date will be 9/5 and elevators will begin next month. The next milestone after drywall will be ceiling grid. Spoke about Masonry work and that there will be a big push to have them finished right after the first of the year (before spring). Spoke about building D and how in the next four to six weeks it will be closed off. Major milestone for Building D will be getting studs on inside of building in October. B. Opara – October of this year or October of 2024? Rex – October of this year (2023). Rex – Showed photo of South Bridge and will begin MEP work in the fall. Another big milestone will be rooftop units, showed photo of a current rooftop unit. Currently, wrapping up 2023 summer work. Focus for the next week will be getting everything ready for the start of school. E. Kennedy – Are we still on schedule to finish the project on time? Rex – Yes, as of now, however we still have critical elements to get to including masonry, permanent power, filling in MEP’s in building D. E. Kennedy – Do you expect that you will have an issue with that? Rex – No, not as of now. W. Samaras – With all the rain we have received has this affected the project in any way? Rex – It has not impacted the schedule of the job, however we have increased efforts and put provisions in place to mitigate the impact. Jim – Where water did come into the building we had a consultant come in with an infrared scanner to pinpoint the areas. S. Machado – Can you tell us what the expectation is for school on Tuesday? Rex – To prepare for school we have done the following things; on stair L we were able to turnover in full, in east campus all electrical will be turned over in full, in the gym we will turn everything over and in the 1922’s building is to have drywall and ceiling in. All of these are cosmetic related not life safety items. IV. Perkins Eastman - Designer Update: Robin – Showed photos of floor plan that are currently under construction. Next photo was of main entry and what the entry will look like when finished. Also showed photos of how it currently looks during the middle of construction. Mentioned media wall which will be able to show highlights from athletic events, advertisements, etc. Showed photo of a projected hallway that included lockers and seating etc. The last couple of photos were of a couple classrooms and what it is projected to look like with natural lighting. V. Skanska – Budget / Cash Flow Update Jim - The total budget for the LHS project is $381.9 million dollars and the MSBA has reimbursed the city $98.1 million to date. In construction contingency there is currently $18.7 million remaining. We have spent 144 million to date through July. There is a summary of the OAC meeting. C. Baldwin – Just an update for the committee and public, in September we are schedule to sell $30 million in bonds, which would bring us just under $90 million to date. We utilize this strategy to borrow in tranches to take advantage of the interest rates. R. Elliot – Can you please tell us what rates are projected to be? C. Baldwin – The monies that have already been borrowed are well under 3% and in some cases less than 2%. The rate that we are hoping for when we sell in the fall is around 3.5%-3.75%. Jim – Also included in the attachments are an updated summary schedule and if any committee members would like to be walked through the drawings they can visit our office anytime. Next Steps: Jim – Big push for the first day of school next week and the fall is also a big push to get the building tight before the snow comes. T. Golden – Any questions? R. Elliot – Can you speak to the contingency numbers? The third column shows an amount that says encumbered to date of $18.7 million, is that correct? Jim – The $18.7 million is remaining balance. Motion to adjourn at 6.34 by E. Kennedy, 2nd by P. St. Cyr, so moved.