School Building Committee (2020)

School Building Committee (2020) Regular Meeting City Hall, R00m 335 100 Broadway, Norwich, CT And via ZOOM Tuesday, June 18, 2024 6:30 PM Committee Members Present: Chairman Mark Bettencourt, President Pro Tem Joe DeLucia, Alderwoman Stacy Gould, Peter Gauthier, William Hull, Gregory Carabine, Christine DiStasio. Gregory Ballassi, Sheila Hayes (ZOOM), Mark Kulos and Cindy Beauregard. Committee Members Absent: None. Ex-Officio Members Present: Bob Castronova (ZOOM), Mayor Peter Nystrom and Attorney Michael Driscoll. Consultants Present: James Barrett and Greg Smolley from DRA; Chip Natsis from Downes Construction; and Mike Faenza and Jim Guiliano from CSG. Citizens Present: None. I.Call to Order and Quorum: Chairman Mark Bettencourt called the meeting to order at 6:32 PM. II.Public Comment: None. III.Chairman’s Update: Chairman Mark Bettencourt stated that he met with CSG after seeing the cost grant applications put forth, which were higher than expected due to the escalation in building costs. Chairman Bettencourt stated the committee would need to consider how they would like to address this. Chairman Bettencourt stated it was prudent to bring the City Manager and City Comptroller in on the issue so he met with John Salomone and Josh Pothier earlier that day. Chairman Bettencourt stated he also reached out to State Representative Derrell Wilson and Senator Cathy Osten, but noted the senate was not currently in session. Chairman Bettencourt stated the school construction project would likely need to go back to referendum for a reallocation of funds or they may need to consider re-doing the process as a whole. Chairman Bettencourt noted this could be problematic but there may only be certain options available. Chairman Bettencourt stated there would not be any action for the committee to take until November and the determination would be handled by city council moving forward. Chairman Bettencourt stated he spoke to the CSG team at the meeting with the City Manager earlier that day and would be asking them to develop an estimate for Teachers' Memorial Global Studies Magnet Middle School so that the committee would have a realistic number to move forward with. Chairman Bettencourt stated currently only the projections for the first three schools were available, which CSG would discuss during their report. Chairman Bettencourt stated he also met with Mayor Nystrom and Superintendent Susan Lessard to make them aware of the situation. Chairman Bettencourt noted that all situations that led the committee to approach the school construction project in the way that they did still existed. Chairman Bettencourt stated in the initial Master Plan done by DRA an excessive amount of needed repairs to the existing buildings were identified and those had not changed. Chairman Bettencourt stated the best chance at addressing the issue would be to get new budget numbers passed. Chairman Bettencourt asked the teams present for updated projection numbers for fixing the schools as-is over the next twenty years, which would be without any reimbursements from the state. Chairman Bettencourt stated the committee would move forward with the RFP for an architect for the next schools as well as a project  manager for the Uncas School project. Chairman Bettencourt stated he would follow up on the numbers for Teachers' Memorial Global Studies Magnet Middle School for bond council and develop a package from there. Chairman Bettencourt stated he was open to all ideas moving forward. IV.Approval of Minutes: Chairman Bettencourt amended the agenda to add the approval for the last month’s meeting minutes. Peter Gauthier made a motion to approve the minutes with an amendment. Mark Kulos seconded. The chairman called the roll of members present and all were in favor, other than Gregory Ballassi who abstained. The motion passed. V.Report from CSG: Mike Faenza provided a project update packet to all members, that was also presented on screen for all to view. Mike Faenza reported that the design development package for the Stanton Elementary project was released to Downes Construction for estimating. Mike Faenza stated that the project was approved at the June 6, 2024 Inlands Wetlands Commission meeting and the Letter of Map Amendment from FEMA was received and approved by FEMA. Mike Faenza reported that the design development drawing package estimates from Downes Construction and Tarbell Construction were due on July 8, 2024 with reconciliation to occur in the following days. Mike Faenza stated that the Stanton Elementary project would be presented at the June special meeting of the Commission on City Planning to review special permits needed. Mike Faenza noted the project budget on the second page of the package provided contained the original grant application costs, not the new projected costs. Mike Faenza reported so far $1,140,207.44 had been spent on the Stanton project. Mike Faenza reported that the updates for the Greeneville project were similar; the design development package was sent to Downes Construction for estimating and the project was approved by the Inlands Wetlands Commission at their June 6, 2024 meeting. Mike Faenza added that the additional subsurface exploratory work was ongoing. Mike Faenza stated the design development estimates were due on July 8, 2024 with reconciliation to occur July 11 to July 12, 2024. Mike Faenza stated that the Greeneville project would also be presented at the June 26, 2024 Commision on City Planning special meeting. Mike Faenza stated that $1,086,810.03 had been spent so far on the Greeneville project. Mike Faenza reported that every item for the Moriarty Elementary grant application had been completed aside from receiving certified signed and sealed minutes from the May 15, 2024 Board of Education meeting for the approval of the educational specifications. Mike Faenza stated he would get that taken care of this week. Mike Faenza stated all other items required for the grant application had been signed, vetted through any necessary committees, and the previous grant application resolutions were in place. Mike Faenza continued that those three resolutions, that were needed to submit a grant had gone in front of city council, were to allow the superintendent to submit a grant; authorize the preparation of at least schematic drawings, schematic cost estimate; and appointing the School Building Committee as the building committee for the projects. Mike Faenza stated that over the past few weeks CSG had worked on the grant applications and re-benchmarking the costs from the Master Plan estimate. Mike Faenza noted the original cost estimate for the John Moriarty Elementary School project was $64,204,445. Mike Faenza stated the new estimate represented an approximately 16 million dollar increase. Mike Faenza stated after receiving the certified minutes the next step was to upload the grant application to the state website. Mike Faenza stated he was looking to do that by June 26, 2024 ahead of the June 30th deadline. Mike Faenza stated that the Uncas Elementary School grant application was completed by the CSG estimator and a copy was included with the provided package. Mike Faenza reported that the current estimate for the project was $81,802,880 which was higher than the $66,761,215 estimate within the Master Plan. Mike Faenza stated the first payment request for the Stanton and Greeneville project to the state for invoices processed through May 31, 2024 had been drafted. Mike Faenza stated CSG reached out to the state to have the costs input into their system so they could use the payment request module, and was told the state was unable to input values until after July 1, 2024. Mike Faenza stated he received sign offs on the packages from the superintendent’s office so as soon  as the project values were input into their system he would submit the package which would include all of those invoices. Mike Faenza stated the next payment request CSG would make, which may happen in July, would include all invoices from May 31, 2024 until a cut off date is set. Mike Faenza stated the current request reimbursement total is approximately 1.5 million dollars. Discussion ensued. Mark Kulos asked what the main cost driver was for the increase? Mike Faenza responded it was due to construction escalation from the time the original estimates were done up until the current date. Mike Faenza stated the 1.2 million dollar cost difference between from Moriarty to Uncas grant estimates was due to the logistics of the site and if a building could be evacuated or not during new construction. Discussion ensued. Mike Faenza noted that understanding which students would end up at which schools as soon as possible would have an impact on the building costs, due to the logistics involved. Mike Faenza stated that the current estimate for the Stanton project with value engineering was $69,524,124. Mike Faenza stated that the current estimate for the Greeneville project with cost engineering was $78,938,636. Mike Faenza stated the new grant application estimate for the Moriarty project was $80,618,358 and the current grant application estimate for the Uncas project was $81,802,880. Mike Faenza stated that without the middle school, Huntington, or the remaining balance that were the six projects, the current project total was $310,883,998 dollars. Mike Faenza stated the Master Plan cost estimate for Teachers’, which was now in question due to construction cost increases, which was $99,530,936 and that Huntington Adult Education Board of Education Master Plan cost estimate was $25,060,064. Mike Faenza stated if you were to add the last two costs in, the grand total came to $434,997,998. Mike Faenza stated this total was over the referendum budget of $385 million by $49,997,998 if the Master Plan cost estimate for Hungtinton and Teachers’ were included in the numbers. Mark Kulos clarified this was using the existing numbers and not future projection numbers. Peter Gauthier made a motion to authorize CSG to spend $9,500 on a cost estimate for the Teachers' Memorial Global Studies Magnet Middle School site. Greg Ballassi seconded. Jim Guliano stated they would look at options to renovate and build as new. The chairman called the roll of members present and all were in favor. The motion passed unanimously. VI.Report from DRA: James Barrett read the description of services for PSS S-#5 into the record which stated “The approved wetland filling activities will require notification to the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) through a Self Verification Notification Form (SVNF). This is the lowest level of permitting/notification through the USACE. The SVNF will require a few other items which will include notification to the State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) and Tribal Historic Preservation Offices and United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) regarding the project. Please note that notifications to SHPO could trigger the need for cultural/or historic site investigations. Those USFWS will likely require tree clearing time of year restrictions (TOY) as it relates to the Northern Long Eared Bat which is a federally endangered species. The TOY for tree clearing typical states that “trees three inches or greater at breast height shall not be cleared between April 1 and September 30.”” James Barrett stated this was triggered by the wetlands notification process and the same controls would be required for the Greeneville project. Alderwoman Stacy Gould made a motion to authorize professional services supplements S-005 and G-004 to DRA for $4,370 each for the Stanton and Greeneville school projects, totaling $8,740. Gregory Carabine seconded. The chairman called the roll of members present and all were in favor. The motion passed unanimously. James Barrett stated that Mike Faenza covered most of the updates within his report and reiterated that the design development package was delivered to Downes Construction on June 6, 2024. James Barrett showed an example of the Stanton school package on screen for all to view. James Barrett stated the package including additional studies, hydrant flow test information, the LOMA, wetlands assessment and hazardous materials assessment, as all of those items will affect the cost estimator's consideration. James Barrett stated the package for Greeneville included the same studies. Jame Barrett stated the subsurface investigation at the  Greeneville site was ongoing and they would share it with the two cost estimators once it was available. Jamess Barrett reiterated that the projects received approval from the Wetlands Commission on June 6, 2024 and was seeking approval for special permits from the Commission on City Planning at their June 26, 2024 meeting. James Barrett showed a sample of the interior design development package on screen for all to view. James Barrett noted the additional mechanical and electrical information that was incorporated into the design after meeting with the school district food service consultant to understand requirements they had and what was available within the educational specifications. James Barrett displayed the samples shown on screen for all to view and acoustical functions of proposed cafeteria design for Greeneville. James Barrett discussed riser and stage sizing consideration for the Stanton school which was developed after speaking with school administration. Discussion ensued. James Barrett noted an element that arose from their landscape architect was recognizing access to the site for a pedestrian walking on Golden Street. James Barrett stated that a sloped walkway was placed to accomplish this. VII.Report from Downes: Chip Natsis stated the design development packaged provided to them will assist in fine tuning their numbers and give them a better idea on what can be refined. Chip Natsis stated they put drawings out to their consultants to examine the building pricing. Chip Natsis stated that the Downes estimate and their consultants' estimate would be ready to submit by Jul 8, 2024. Chip Natsis stated that following that the estimates would be reconciled and reviewed with each party checking over the other's estimate. Chip Natsis stated the final estimate would be presented at the next regularly scheduled meeting. Mark Kulos asked where things stood with the gross infrastructure from the utility company. Mike Fazena responded that those costs have now been delineated by Norwich Public Utilities. Chairman Bettencourt added that the Greenville site was already in an enterprise zone but Stanton was not, and he believes all the schools in the project will be added to the enterprise zone for a reduced utility cost from NPU following action from city council. Chairman Bettencourt asked for an update on the RFP for an architect of the Moriarty and Uncas school projects. Chairman Bettencourt stated he was advised by the city comptroller and city manager to move forward with the RFP to get numbers together and determine where things stand. Bob Castronova stated he would begin working on that immediately. VIII.Invoices: Chairman Mark Bettencourt read the separate invoice and professional service supplement amounts aloud into the record. ● CSG - Greeneville #15- $10,680.02 Stanton #15- $10,555.46 Moriarty #1 (4/2024)– $19,523.20 Moriarty #2 (5/2024)- $19,523.20 Uncas #1 (4/2024) - $15,000.00 Uncas #2 (5/2024) - $15000.00 ● DRA - Greeneville #8 - $186,676.27 Greeneville PSS (Professional Services) #1 - $10,044.10 Greeneville PSS #2 $11,039.47 Greeneville PSS #3 $4,344.13 Stanton #8 - $206,183.30 Stanton PSS #1 – $9,181.96 Stanton PSS #2 – $4,940.69 Stanton PSS #4 - $5,800.31 William Hull made a motion to approve the consent agenda for the above invoices and professional service supplements. Alderwoman Stacy Gould seconded. The chairman called the roll of members present and all were in favor. The motion passed  unanimously. IX.Anything else to be brought before the committee: None. X.Adjournment: Alderwoman Stacy Gould made a motion to adjourn at 7:46 PM. Peter Gauthier seconded. The chairman called the roll of members present and all were in favor. The motion passed unanimously. Respectfully Submitted, Katherine Rose