Board of Education

Middletown Public Schools -Board of Education BOE Facilities Committee Meeting Minutes November 18, 2020 at 5:30 PM The meeting was held over Zoom and streamed on YouTube. Chairperson Deborah Cain called the meeting to order at 5:35 PM. Present: Deborah Cain (Chairperson), Peter Staye, Sean King, Marco Gaylord, Superintendent Michael Conner, David Bauer, John Giuliano, Dan Penney, Christine Bourne, Vinnie Lofreddo – Community Member, John Giuliano, Tina Ford – BOE Member/Community Member, Jonathan Polino, Ray Linehan from BOE IT and recording secretary Leslie Spatola. I. Introductions II. Review of the October 21, 2020 Meeting Minutes Chairperson Cain made a motion to accept the minutes as presented and was seconded by Mr. King. Motion passed unanimously. III. Update of the Beaman Middle School Mr. Staye stated that the project is on schedule and is currently being enclosed for the winter. The steel is in place for the 3rd floor library, concrete floor will be placed next week and mechanicals are also on schedule. Easement for Eversource electrical lines on the property has been received and new electrical service will be installed. New electrical service will allow the buildings’ heating system to be started. Furniture inventory has started and FF&E should be bid in the beginning of 2021. IV. Status of School Lighting Project We are currently in the midst of issuing the contract for work to Environmental Systems Corp., which has a state contract to perform this work. Funding will come from the Alliance Buildings Grant and we received approval to disperse the funds including lighting at the elementary schools. Work at the Central Office and Adult Education buildings has been deferred as these buildings are not eligible for Alliance Buildings Grant funding. V. Status of Air Monitoring at Wesley School Work is considered complete, including cleaning of the HVAC coils which was funded by Covid Reimbursement funds. Flooring, which was perceived by occupants as a potential source of contamination, has been replaced in the hall and 6 classrooms. Air monitoring, performed in September, indicated that there were no concerns with indoor air quality, and there have been no complaints from teachers since. As there is no plan to undertake any further work or study the issue is considered resolved and will be removed from the Committee’s agenda.  - Page 2 - VI. Review of Custodial Labor Study (with attachments) Custodial supplies are largely purchased from Hillyard (and Staples for a few items) a National Custodial Supply manufacturer and distributor. Hillyard performs custodial labor studies (at no charge to its customers) that are based on a variety of metrics and industry standards including The Association of Higher Education Facility Officers (APPA) and The Institute of Education Sciences/National Center for Educational Statistics. Hillyard started their study prior to the pandemic, and it is now complete. The study included all schools (including Beman) except Keigwin and Woodrow. The findings of the study indicate that, after improvements and upgrades of existing equipment, custodial services are understaffed by a 6 positions (after accounting for the transfer of employees from Keigwin) with the majority of that extra staffing required at Beman and the high school. Lawrence and Snow Schools each need one additional person. Upgrades to equipment would play a critical role in increasing efficiency and reducing the need for additional staff. $90,000± of equipment upgrades reduce the need to add 13 FTE staff district wide. The new equipment is offered at a three year, zero percent lease which will be incorporated into the department upcoming budget. VII. Miscellaneous Staff Update: A full time custodian has been hired at Wesley School, one person was transferred from Snow to Bielefield School and we are waiting for the position at Snow School to be filled. Interviews will take place for the vacant Building Superintendent position as soon as testing of applicants in completed. We expect the ripple effect of transfers and hiring’s to continue for several months. Temporary custodians are in place at MHS, Snow and Woodrow. Building Committee Ordinance Changes: Mr. Lofreddo spoke about proposed changes to the ordinance that defines building committees. It is being recommended that a permanent building committee be established to oversee all projects costing in excess of $500,000. The makeup of the committee was discussed. The members would have a two-year term that would be staggered along with a Kleen Energy Task Force. The BOE Director of Facilities would likely be a member of, or support to the committee. The 5-year Capital Plan: Updates to the capital plan were discussed. Mr. Staye prepared a spreadsheet with both past and future years along with highlighting the items that should be completed in the upcoming fiscal year. Projects currently in plan for 2021 and 2022 are approximately around $450k as well as vehicle replacement and IT allocations. The largest items will be the Farm Hill and Snow Schools roofs (#141 and #142) which both are in very poor shape. Items #18 and #19 show funds for the architect and the City’s portion of roof replacement costs along with phones at the Lawrence School, oil tanks replacement at MacDonough School and tables that are unsafe at MacDonough. The plan continues to be revised and will be discussed again at future meetings. Mr. Bauer thanked the Facilities department for the wonderful work they provided on the day of voting. The meeting adjourned at 6:58 PM by Chairperson Deborah Cain and seconded by Mr. King. The next BoE Facilities Committee meeting will be on Wednesday, December 16, 2020. Minutes recorded by Leslie A. Spatola, Leslie A. Spatola Facilities Committee Recording Secretary