Jan. 17, 2024 - Building Committee Meeting

Middletown

Minutes · January 17, 2024

Approved January 31, 2024

MPS BUILDING COMMITTEE MEETING

Oliphant Administration Building

Michael S. Pinto Conference Room

26 Oliphant Lane, Middletown, RI 02842

January 17, 2024 5:00pm

Members in Attendance:

X = Present/Voting; R=Represented; P=Present/Non-voting; N=Not Present

· Call to Order

· The meeting was called to order at 5:00 pm by Co-Chair Ed Brady. Eleven (11) of eleven (11) voting members were present or represented by an alternate.

· Also present: Justin Bernard and Colin McCarthy, OPM, Colliers Project Leaders.

· Present via Zoom: Matt LaRue, Tina Stanislaski, Alexandra Christiana, Soha Mohammed-Eltaher, Olivia Ouellette and Justin Viglianti, HMFH Architects; Ed Cifune, DBVW Architects; Manuel Cordero, Civic; and Derek Osterman, OPM, Colliers Project Leaders.

· Approval of Meeting Minutes from January 3, 2024

· ** MOTION:** Tom Welch moved to accept the meeting minutes from January 3, 2024 and Bill Nash seconded. The motion passed unanimously (11-0).

· School Building Committee Update and matters related thereto:

Recommendations to School Committee regarding structure and membership

· ** MOTION**: Bill Nash moved to postpone this item to the next Building Committee meeting agenda and Tom Welch seconded. The motion passed unanimously (11-0).

· ** ACTION**: Add “Recommendations to School Committee regarding structure and membership” to the January 31, 2024 meeting. – Co-chair Brady

· Architect’s Update and matters related thereto:

Coordination of Building Plan with Educational Specification

· The new middle/high school space summary has been shared with Civic to ensure that the educational plans are fully encompassed in the design. The high school capacity has been verified, including the number of spaces available, the number of periods in the school day, the number of students to be supported, etc.

· Manuel Cordero will be developing a letter to summarize the variances from the RIDE designations and the offerings in the educational program. This variance will require approval from the Department of Education.

· The elementary school space summary at the current high school is under development by the architectural team with support from Manuel Cordero.

· A letter seeking a variance request from the Chevron bus parking will also be written. RIDE has a policy where buses should be queued in a Chevron bus pattern. The School District would prefer to line the buses up along the curb to make it safer for students to enter and exit. Justin Bernard stated that Colliers has a draft of the letter just about ready and will bring it to the next School Building Committee meeting for review.

· ** ACTION:** Bring letter seeking a variance from the Chevron bus parking requirement to the January 31, 2024 School Building Committee meeting. - Colliers

Geotechnical Test Pit Reports

· Seven test pits were conducted on 11/29/2023 in the vicinity where the new school will be located. These pits allow the geotechnical engineer to understand the soils better and to make ground water observations.

· Ground water was encountered in two of the test pits at approximately nine feet; an observation well was installed at one of these test pits to allow for monitoring through the coming months.

· The excavator encountered some difficult/very difficult conditions at about five feet. Weathered rock was encountered in three test pits at about ten feet.

· An updated geotechnical report based on these test pit findings is expected in the next couple of weeks. The report will be shared with the Building Committee at the next meeting.

· ** ACTION:** Share geotechnical report with the Building Committee when it is available. – HMFH

Civil Engineer’s Soils Assessment

· The civil engineer completed eight test pits on 12/27/2023 to better understand the makeup of the site soils to assess the impact that the soils will have on the stormwater management plan. Based on the findings, the stormwater management plan can consist of an infiltration system, a detention system underground or a surface detention system.

· Based on how well the water infiltrates the soils and how high the ground water table is will play into the design of the stormwater management plan.

· The groundwater high mark was encountered about two to four feet below grade. A hydrology assessment is the next step but given these initial findings an infiltration system may not be feasible. The hydrology assessment will be shared with the Building Committee when it becomes available.

· ** ACTION:** Share the stormwater management hydrology assessment with the Building Committee when it becomes available. – HMFH

Two Week Look Ahead

· Weekly meetings with the Middletown Public Schools staff continue to review space program efficiencies.

· A meeting with the Middletown Building Official has been scheduled for Friday, January 26th at 10am at the Town Hall. Co-chair Brady asked Justin to invite Bill Nash and Poe George to the meeting. Peter Connerton stated that he will attend if he’s available.

· ** ACTION:** Add Bill Nash, Poe George and Peter Connerton to the meeting invite with the Building Official on Friday, January 26

· High school spaces have been reviewed with Donna Sweet. HMFH hopes to meet with Donna again in person on January 26th after they meet with the Building Official.

· The updated geotechnical report and civil engineering hydrology report are expected during the week of January 22nd.

· HMFH is populating a file share folder with information for the Stage II application that Colliers can pull from. A working document will be completed by January 26th to be compiled for a draft document to be reviewed with the Building Committee at its next meeting.

· The civil engineer is scheduling a meeting with RIDEM to review plans to install a paved driveway at the former drive-in entrance.

· Marc Thayer asked if there are any concerns with RI Energy supplying enough power to support the HVAC system in the new school. Matt LaRue stated that a meeting has been held with RI Energy and no concerns with power exist today, but more discussion is needed. Co-chair Brady asked if the Building Committee could be made aware of any future meetings with RI Energy in case a member or two are available to sit in. Matt agreed.

· ** ACTION:** Alert the Building Committee when the next meeting with RI Energy is held so a member or two from the Building Committee can attend. – HMFH

· The presentation from HMFH can be viewed here: https://5il.co/2cwmi.

· Owners Rep Update and matters related thereto:

Stage II Status Update

· Justin Bernard informed the Committee that the Stage II application will be ready for review on January 30, 2024. Colliers is requesting that a vote to approve the Stage II application for submission to RIDE be held on February 5, 2024 in a joint meeting of the Town Council, School Committee and School Building Committee. All three bodies will need to post a meeting for that date:

· ** ACTION:** Post a joint meeting on February 5, 2024 to approve the Stage II Application. – Town Council, School Committee and Building Committee

· Co-chair Brady asked Justin Bernard to send the Stage II Application checklist to the Building Committee so members can prepare to review the appropriate sections of the application on January 31st.

· ** ACTION:** Send the Stage II Application Table of Contents to the Building Committee ahead of time so Building Committee members can be prepared to review the Stage II Application on January 31

· Town Administrator Brown suggested that Colliers point out the important sections for the Building Committee to review on January 31st.

· ** ACTION:** Highlight the key sections of the Stage II Application to the Building Committee during its meeting on January 31

Open Action Items

· Schedule planning meeting with local building official. – HMFH – due 1/17/2024. This meeting is scheduled for January 26, 2024 at 10am at the Town Hall. This item is now closed.

· Develop specifications for operating buses from the renovated Middletown High School property (access, office space, parking space, etc.) – Poe George – due 01/03/2024

· Poe has a meeting scheduled with the bus company next week and will bring an update to the meeting on 1/31/2024.

· Investigate how Saugus Middle-High School schedules athletic facilities (via the Athletic Director) – G. Fortunato due 01/03/2024.

· Rosemarie stated that the Athletic Director (AD) has scheduled a meeting to go up to Saugus on January 19th to meet with their AD. She will bring an update to the meeting on 1/31/2024.

· Determine provisions required for emergency accommodations at MS/HS – HMFH / Colliers – due 02/14/2024.

· Confirm that all items listed as “not included” in the cost estimate were consciously omitted. – HMFH – due 1/17/2024

· Matt LaRue stated that a couple of items in the original cost estimate should not have been omitted, including the playing fields base and the bi-directional communications system. This item is now closed.

· Provide a plan for getting the Stage II Application to the Committee for review/feedback and allow time for the School Committee and Town Council to approve. – Colliers - due 1/17/2024

· This item was reviewed at this meeting. This item is now closed.

· Ask Donna Sweet to share her presentation on CTE programs expanding to “academies” with the Building Committee. – Superintendent Kraeger – due 1/17/2024

· Superintendent Kraeger stated that the presentation is on the school district website. To review the presentation, it is posted here: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1Na3V92whhZM6UtlN2ofmf-FhlLYGaGFW

· Bill Nash asked if we were keeping a list of action items that were closed. Don stated that he maintains a list of the open action items from the Building Committee meetings but that it is not posted. He agreed to share the process with the Committee.

· ** ACTION:** Share the process used to capture and monitor open action items, including tracking closed items. – Don – due 1/31/2024

· Don asked about the extension of the Colliers contract as it was an open action item at the last meeting, yet it didn’t show up on this meeting’s list. Bill Nash suggested we leave this item on the open action item list until it is closed.

· The presentation from Colliers can be viewed here: https://5il.co/2cwmj.

· Adjournment:

· ** MOTION**: Tom Welch moved that the Building Committee adjourn at 5:56pm and Bill Nash seconded. The motion passed unanimously (11-0).

Future Meeting Schedule – The next meeting will be on January 31, 2023 at 5:00p.m. at the Oliphant Administration Building.

Respectfully Submitted,

Don Morin