School Building Committee (2020)

School Building Committee (2020) Regular Meeting City Hall Room 335 100 Broadway, Norwich Tuesday December 20, 2022 6:30 PM Committee Members Present: Chairman Mark Bettencourt, Alderwoman Stacy Gould, President Pro Tem Joe DeLucia, Gregory Carabine, Peter Gauthier, Cindy Beauregard (ZOOM) and Mark Kulos (ZOOM). Committee Members Absent: William Hull, Gregory Ballassi and Christine DiStasio. Ex-Officio Members Present: Bob Castronova. Citizens Present: None. I. Call to Order and Quorum: Chairman Mark Bettencourt called the meeting to order at 6:35 PM. II. Approval of Previous Meeting Minutes: Peter Gauthier made a motion to approve the November 15, 2022 regular meeting minutes, with some corrections. Alderwoman Stacy Gould seconded. The chairman called the roll of members present and all were in favor. The motion passed unanimously. III. Chairman’s Report: Chairman Mark Bettencourt stated he would offer a monthly’s chairman report during the progression of the project, and that currently any information regarding it had been distributed through email. Chairman Bettencourt stated that he and City Purchasing Agent Bob Castronova have scheduled an introductory meeting with the State Office of School Construction on January 18th. Bob Castronova stated the goal is to make sure that the committee is in communication with the state while working on submitting a package for June 30th. Chairman Bettencourt stated the next step in terms of finishing the package would be to get an owner’s representative on board, then further steps could be discussed. IV. Public Comment: None. V. Presentation of RFQ for Owner’s Rep: Chairman Bettencourt noted that the draft RFQ had been sent out to members for review and that much of it included boilerplate language. Chairman Bettencourt stated he was surprised by the inclusion of three schools, over two, in the draft RFP. Bob Castronova clarified that he began the draft with two schools but the city comptroller Josh Pothier notified him that the 385 million dollar bond that went to referendum, and the report submitted by DRA, predicated that the first phase of the project was for three schools. Discussion ensued. Gregory Carabine questioned how project costs would be determined by the firms. Bob Castronova explained the various ways the firms may provide a cost, but noted the difficulty in providing a flat rate for a five year project. Bob Castronova stated the committee would want to evaluate the firms based on their qualifications, experience, quality of personnel and past successful projects before looking at their cost proposal. President Pro Tem DeLucia added the committee would design a rating rubric, similar to what was done when hiring DRA, to use for rating candidates and then decide, based on those ratings, who to interview as a group. Bob Castronova stated it was his understanding that the state would like to see the city select four potential applicants chosen. Chairman Bettencourt added that after rating the firms based on their qualifications the committee would assess if the fee rates provided were reasonable. Bob Castronova stated at this point the project designs were unknown, as well as the depth of the project, which again made it difficult for a firm to provide an overall set cost. Mark Kulos joined the meeting by ZOOM at 6:50PM. Bob Castronova continued that the firms that would bid on the RFQ often compete against one another and would be experienced in working in the state of Connecticut. Gregory Carabine asked if additional costs would be negotiated by the city purchasing agent. Bob Castronova responded they would and additional purchase orders would likely be utilized. Bob Castronova noted that additional funds would need to be bonded so the firms would have to provide some degree of what those costs would be. Bob Castronova stated the RFQ was scheduled to close on January 27, 2023 which provided time for advertising and for firms to put proposals together. Bob Castronova added that date also provided the committee time to evaluate and schedule interviews with finalists in early to mid-February. Bob Castronova noted that given the timeline some additional committee meetings may need to be scheduled. Gregory Carabine asked when, based on those dates, the city is required to issue a contract. Bob Castronova responded the firm would be under contract no later than March 1, 2023, which would provide four months for a package to be put together for the state. Chairman Bettencourt suggested adding an item to the priority list within the draft RFQ noting that the deadline for the firm’s submittal is June 30, 2023. Gregory Carabine questioned putting a dated timeline for interviews and other items within the RFQ, to which Bob Castronova responded was possible but he did not want to speak on scheduling on behalf of the committee. A decision was made to  include the goal weeks for the timeline, opposed to exact dates. Peter Gauthier questioned if firms would be called back for a second interview, as was done with DRA, to which Chairman Bettencourt responded that could be determined after rating occurs. Bob Castronova stated that he had questions prepared for their meeting with the State Office of School Construction, so if any changes or addendums to the RFQ needed to occur there was still time for that to happen. Discussion ensued regarding notifying applicant firms about the intended interview timeframe and regarding scheduling of interviews. Chairman Bettencourt suggested holding interviews between the 13th and 17th of February 2023, with the committee still meeting on the regularly scheduled date of February 21, 2023. Peter Gauthier asked if the committee would issue additional RFQ’s in the future if the committee wished to continue working with the firm selected on other phases. Bob Castronova stated he imagined the city would expand their contract, but that was a question he planned to ask the state at their meeting. Discussion ensued regarding the various city organizations that reviewed the draft RFQ and provided edits. Peter Gauthier questioned if the RFQ should further detail which city departments would be involved with the project, to which Bob Castronova responded he would reword the document to cover all pertinent city departments. Bob Castronova noted that once a firm was selected he would be open to a discussion regarding the possibility of building LEED certified schools. Peter Gauthier noted, in terms of the firms providing period reports, he felt that bi-weekly reports would be more appropriate. Bob Castronova noted that any expectations for reporting and invoicing needed to be included in the contract, which could be revised prior to signage. Gregory Carabine asked where the risk manager referenced in the RFQ under pre-construction would come from. Bob Castronova stated that he served as the risk administrator for the city. Discussion ensued regarding any changes in cost that would need to be reviewed by the committee. Discussion ensued regarding continuing the language within the RFQ across the phases of the project. Chairman Bettencourt stated the School Building Committee may want to consider forming a subcommittee to work directly with the owner’s representative on daily issues. VI. Discussion and Action on RFQ: Alderwoman Gould made a motion to approve the draft RFQ 21-31 for an Owner’s Representative for the Construction of Three New Schools created by the city purchasing agent, with some grammatical corrections, for posting. Peter Gauthier seconded. The chairman called the roll of members present and all were in favor. The motion passed unanimously. Bob Castronova stated his goal would be to post the RFQ that week and could  add on any needed addendums. VII. Anything else to be brought before the committee: Chairman Mark Bettencourt suggested forming a subcommittee for the development of a rating rubric for the firms that respond to the Owner’s Representative RFP. Chairman Bettencourt clarified that the rubric would need to be completed by January 27th. President Pro Tem DeLucia noted the invitation should extend to members not in attendance. Peter Gauthier, Gregory Carabine and Chairman Bettencourt all volunteered to serve on the subcommittee. Chairman Bettencourt stated one additional member would be secured for the subcommittee. VIII. Adjournment: Alderwoman Stacey Gould made a motion to adjourn at 7:45 PM. Gregory Carabine seconded. The chairman called the roll of members present and all were in favor. The motion passed unanimously. Respectfully Submitted, Katherine Rose