Budget Review Committee

BUDGET REVIEW COMMITTEE NOVEMBER 17, 2011 A meeting of the Budget Review Committee was held Thursday, November 17, 2011 at 7:02 p.m. in the Aldermanic Chamber. Alderman-at-Large David W. Deane, Chair presided. Members of Committee present: Alderman-at-Large Mark S. Cookson, Vice Chair Alderman Jeffrey T. Cox Alderman Diane Sheehan Alderman Mary Ann Melizzi-Golja Members not in Attendance: Alderman-at-Large Lori Wilshire Also in Attendance: Alderman-at-Large Brian S. McCarthy Alderman-at-Large Ben Clemons Alderman-at-Large Barbara Pressly Alderman Paul M. Chasse, Jr. Alderman Michael J. Tabacsko Alderman Arthur T. Craffey, Jr. Alderman Kathryn D. Vitale Shawn Smith, Director Plant Oper., Nashua School District PUBLIC COMMENT - None NEW BUSINESS – RESOLUTIONS R-11-163 Endorser:Alderman-at-Large Brian S. McCarthy Alderman Michael J. Tabacsko Alderman Mary Ann Melizzi-Golja Alderman Jeffrey T. Cox Alderman Diane Sheehan Alderman Kathryn D. Vitale ADDING AN ADDITIONAL SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT PROJECT TO THE SIX MILLION NINE HUNDRED AND FIFTY THOUSAND DOLLARS ($6,950,000) BONDS AUTHORIZED FOR VARIOUS SCHOOL IMPROVEMENTS BY R-10-27 MOTION BY ALDERMAN COX TO RECOMMEND FINAL PASSAGE OF R-11-163 ON THE QUESTION Alderman McCarthy I just wanted to go over where the numbers are at the moment. As you know, we took on the Ledge and Fairgrounds projects. We had originally intended to do those in successive construction seasons starting a year ago, and because it took a while to get to the point of bidding them out we actually did both projects over this past summer and this current school year. They are in progress. Those projects are both essentially completely bought out and are about $1.3 million under budget. The school board, on October 18th or thereabouts had taken a vote and sent a request to the Joint Special School Building Committee to re-add Charlotte Avenue to that project. If you recall originally Charlotte was one of the three schools that would have been done and we had pushed it out because it was the one that was in the best shape and could wait a little while. Budget Review – 11/17/11 Page 2 Having the numbers we think that Charlotte comes in at about $3.9 million, just a couple of thousand dollars more expensive than Ledge. We think there is some real advantage to trying to get the engineering on that done now so that we can bid it out during the winter before people are booked up for next year’s construction season. That will help us; 1) we can get a number of the low bidders that we had from the other schools to extend contracts onto the third school, and 2) we also will save money with the construction manager on general conditions because we will just be continuing the project on when it is done. We think there are more savings to be had by going ahead and doing that project It is worth about $3.9 million, we have $1.3 million in the construction costs from the other two projects, which would be put towards it. There is still a discussion to be had of the other $2.6 million. There is more than adequate money in the school capital reserve fund to fund the remainder of the project; however, there should be some discussion on whether it makes sense to spend that down or to bond that part of the project given the bond rates are as low as they are today. That will be a discussion that we will have after we get final numbers for the construction costs. What is in front of you tonight is just the Joint Special School Building Committee had approved, contingent upon this resolution, Turner to do work not to exceed $150,000 on the design for Charlotte Avenue to get to the point where we would have construction documents to send out to bid. Chairman Deane The balance of the funds of the $1.3 million under budget so you are going to take this $150,000 and use it towards the professional services for the design work, and then will we need another resolution to take the offsetting balance to redirect it to the other project? Alderman McCarthy At some point we will need that. I wanted to wait until we understood the entirety of the construction financing to come in with either a resolution that appends this bond with the rest of the construction and extends the bond authorization or does the transfer out of the school capital reserve fund. Chairman Deane So I take it it is alright to use the money from the bond for the design even though it doesn’t have a useful life? Alderman McCarthy Well it does because it is considered part of the overall construction project. We almost always, on larger projects, bond the engineering costs as well. Chairman Deane Does anyone have any questions on this? My other question Alderman McCarthy, I don’t know if you can answer it, but this board had provided funding for Stellos Stadium in which we received reimbursement. What is the plan with the reimbursement of those funds? Do you happen to know? Alderman McCarthy I don’t know, but I can tell you that I think it happens that the rollup is on the back of the sheet from the other three projects. I think there is probably about $120,000 left in the Stellos funding, and I don’t know Budget Review – 11/17/11 Page 3 whether that is funds we can transfer somewhere else or whether those are funds that need to be dedicated to maintenance of that facility based on where they came from. Maybe Alderman Cox knows better than I. Alderman Cox Thank you Mr. Chairman. My belief is that it is going to go into the Stellos capital fund, but Mr. Smith is here in the audience and would probably be best suited to answer that question. Chairman Deane Mr. Smith do you happen to have an answer to that? Could you come up to the microphone please? Thank you. Shawn Smith I believe the Board of Education actually wants to come up with a recommendation for that. It is one of the two things; go back into the capital reserve fund for Stellos or put it towards the project we’re talking about, but they didn’t come forward with a recommendation as of yet. Chairman Deane So that would include the $200,000 we got from the NFL as well as the near $80,000 we got from Bishop Guertin? Shawn Smith Correct. Understand the money coming from Bishop Guertin is going to be over a period of time. It is going to trickle in over I think it is a 4 or 5 year period. The $200,000 we already have. The rollup that Alderman McCarthy talked about is accurate; it is $120,000 give or take that should be left over. Chairman Deane Thank you. Alderman Cookson Just a clarifying question; you indicated that the $80,000 that Bishop Guertin was providing or paying back, I had read, and correct me if I’m wrong, it was about $9,900 over a ten year period and not a 4 or 5 year period. That is as it was reported in the Nashua Telegraph. Is the Telegraph incorrect with their figures? Shawn Smith I haven’t heard that particular number. The last I heard it was 4 or 5 years. Alderman Cox And the total was $78,000. Budget Review – 11/17/11 Page 4 Alderman McCarthy The financial rollup says it is $78,000 over 5-8 years. Alderman Cox Correct. Alderman Cookson Thank you. Chairman Deane Are there any other questions? Alderman Sheehan I just wanted to note that the system is sorely in need of fixing right now, and last winter classes were held with the windows open throughout the winter because it won’t shut down, and that has got to be a cost savings. The sooner we get it done the sooner we can stop wasteful heat going out the window so I support this. Alderman McCarthy Apparently the heat works however. Alderman Sheehan Works really really well so I suppose that is ahead of the schools where it doesn’t work at all. Chairman Deane Is that the case Mr. Smith we have that sort of issue going on there? Shawn Smith We have a central steam plant. Steam is a little different to control; we have unit ventilators that the teachers may or may not utilize. If they are on they are often noisy. They are all, at least in the front part of the school, date back to the mid ‘50s. Controlling it is difficult, and often times if you are a teacher and you don’t want to hear the noise of the ventilator going on you either shut that off or you open a window. Chairman Deane The temporary boiler that was purchased in case of catastrophic failure, what happened to that? Shawn Smith I think that will go back to the Joint Special School Building Committee to decide… Budget Review – 11/17/11 Page 5 Alderman McCarthy We have it. We have discussed it a little bit and we are probably going to sell it at some point. Chairman Deane Did we ever use it? Alderman McCarthy I think we did at Fairgrounds? Shawn Smith We did not. We were prepared to use it but we… Chairman Deane So it is still on the crate/ Shawn Smith No it inside of an 18 wheeler trailer. Chairman Deane How much did that cost? Do you know off the top of your head? Shawn Smith Around $26,000 or $27,000. Alderman McCarthy We should be able to… Chairman Deane Put it on E-bay and see if we can… Alderman McCarthy Yeah. Chairman Deane Are there any further questions? The motion on the floor by Alderman Cox is to recommend final passage of R-11-163. MOTION CARRIED GENERAL DISCUSSION - None Budget Review – 11/17/11 Page 6 PUBLIC COMMENT - None REMARKS BY THE ALDERMEN - None ADJOURNMENT MOTION BY ALDERMAN SHEEHAN TO ADJOURN MOTION CARRIED The meeting was declared closed at 7:13 p.m. Alderman-at-Large David W. Deane Chairman, Budget Review Committee