Mar. 12, 2025 - Building Committee Meeting

Approved March 26, 2025

MPS BUILDING COMMITTEE MEETING

Oliphant Administration Building

Michael S. Pinto Conference Room

26 Oliphant Lane, Middletown, RI 02842

March 12, 2025 5:00pm

Members in Attendance:

| Present | Voting Member | Name | Title |
| X | Yes | Edward Brady | Chair, Community Member |
| X | Yes | William Nash | Vice Chair, School Committee Clerk |
| X | Yes | William Niemeyer | Superintendent of Schools |
| X | Yes | Tami Holden | School Committee Member |
| X | Yes | Ed Collins | Middletown Shared Facilities Director |
| X | Yes | Thomas P. Welch, III | Town Council Vice President |
| X | Yes | Peter Connerton | Town Council Member |
| X | Yes | Donna Sweet | Middletown High School Principal |
| X | Yes | Michelle Fonseca | Asst Superintendent for Teaching and Learning |
| X* | Yes | Shawn Brown | Town Administrator, Local Budget Official |
| X | Yes | Don Morin | Secretary, Community Member |
| X | Yes | Marc Thayer | Community Member |
| N | Yes | vacant | Community Member |
| P | Alternate | Gregory Huet | Alternate Member of School Committee |
| N | Alternate | Christopher Logan | Alternate Town Council Member |
| P | Alternate | Jerry Haas | Gaudet Middle School Principal |
| N | Alternate | Marc Tanguay | Town Finance Director, Alt. Local Budget Official |

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

• Ed Brady and Billy Niemeyer participated via Zoom; Shawn Brown arrived at 5:11pm

·         The meeting was called to order at 5:00 pm by Vice Chair Bill Nash.  Eleven (11) of thirteen (13) voting members were present or represented by an alternate.  Shawn Brown arrived at 5:11pm, raising the quorum to twelve (12), two of which joined via Zoom.

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

·         Present via Zoom: Matt LaRue and Tina Stanislaski, HMFH Architects; Ed Cifune, DBVW Architects; Ed Brady, Chair, Building Committee and Billy Niemeyer, Superintendent of Schools.

·         ** MOTION:** Tom Welch moved to accept the meeting minutes from February 26, 2025 and Marc Thayer seconded.

·         ** DISCUSSION:** None.

·         ** VOTE:** The motion passed unanimously (11-0).

3.1 100% Construction Document Status and Next Steps

·         Matt LaRue informed the Committee that the 100% Construction Document development phase was completed for the Middle/High School on March 7, 2025 and all documentation was transmitted to the Town and Construction Manager (Gilbane).

·         Matt added that many documents were created for the Middle/High School, including three volumes of drawings consisting of 620 sheets in total and three volumes of project manuals including specifications consisting of 2138 pages.

·         Included in the bid documents is a list of nine Add Alternates that are included in the design but not included in the base bid package until the cost is known.  The nine Add Alternates are as follows, in no specific order:

o   Provide Multipurpose Playfield with Scoreboard beyond basic grading and lawn

o   Provide Softball Field with Scoreboard beyond basic grading & lawn

o   Provide North Driveway beyond basic grading, lawn & walkways as indicated

o   Add Site Furnishings: benches, picnic tables, trash receptacles (bike racks are in the base bid package)

o   Change from Bituminous Walkways to Concrete (courtyards as concrete are in the base bid package)

o   Increase Emergency Generator from 550kW to 800kW

o   At Emergency Shelter areas, change windows to hurricane-rated curtainwall, and change all base scope standard curtainwall to hurricane-rated

o   Provide Hoist way and Elevator at middle school wing in lieu of storage rooms

o   Provide Roof Visual Screen at roof above high school entry

o   The original list also contained a tenth Add Alternate for outdoor classrooms, but in an effort to increase CHIPS points per RIDE’s request, this was replaced with a pollinator garden outdoor classroom that is now included in the base bid.

·         At some point the Building Committee will need to make a recommendation on whether to execute any of these alternates based on affordability.  Justin Bernard informed the Committee that Gilbane will be submitting five groups of bid packages and will come back with a Request to Award (RTA) after receiving proposals for each.  Colliers has asked Gilbane to provide a deadline for a recommendation by the Building Committee on whether to proceed with each of the alternates.

·         Regarding the Add Alternates for the upgraded generator and the hurricane-related upgrades, Town Administrator Shawn Brown informed the Committee that he has met with State Senator DiPalma and a request to include state funding for the emergency shelter in next fiscal year’s budget has been made.   Shawn is also meeting with US Senator Jack Reed on Monday to request federal funds to support the upgrade of the school to serve as an emergency shelter (generator and hurricane-rated upgrades).

·         Vice Chair Nash asked HMFH if they could provide diagrams and illustrations of the roof mounted signs on the new Middle-High School for the Planning Board.  Matt LaRue agreed to provide these.

·         ** ACTION:** Provide diagrams and illustrations to give a better visual of the roof signs for the Planning Board. – Matt LaRue

·         Shawn Brown suggested that the Building Committee not lose sight of the fact that the new Elementary School will need some Add Alternates to be considered as well.  These will be brought to an upcoming Building Committee meeting for review.

·         Matt LaRue stated that HMFH has received the written comments back from RIDEM. RIDEM has requested more information on a variety of things, including additional flagging and survey work around the wetlands.  HMFH will be addressing these requests in the coming weeks.

·         RIDOT would also like some additional survey work completed, mainly regarding those areas that were impacted by the Aquidneck Avenue reconstruction work that was performed after the initial survey by the HMFH consultants was carried out.

·         A meeting with RIDE is scheduled for March 13, 2025 to review the MS/HS 60% design package and the elementary school DD package.

·         Bidding RFI’s and/or Addenda (as needed) will be supported as they come in from the Construction Managers.

·         The update from HMFH/DBVW can be viewed here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1GDP5VCB_IRbZ8_qXOGR_f79yD91HgnkD/view?usp=sharing.

4.1   RIDE 60% CD Submissions Update

·         Justin Bernard reminded the Committee that Colliers submitted the MS/HS 60% CD package to RIDE on February 13, 2025.  Colliers received some comments back from RIDE on March 3rd to address some administrative issues.  Colliers uploaded the additional requested information to the RIDE portal.  A review of the DD package for the Elementary School complex will also take place at this meeting.

·         The 60% Submission for the elementary school will be completed after approval of the DD package from RIDE.

4.2   Construction Manager Update

·         Justin informed the Committee that a meeting with Bentley took place on February 27th to discuss the logistics regarding the work to take place in the summer of 2025.  The work will center on the HVAC system and the initial stages of installing the sprinkler system.

·         A purchasing kickoff meeting with Gilbane took place on March 3rd to review the process for the project buy-out.  Gilbane will be posting five bid packages.  The first package will be for concrete, structural steel and elevators and will be posted by March 17th with bids due by April 2nd.  Scope review meetings will be completed by April 9th and a Recommendation to Award (RTA) will be provided from Gilbane to Colliers by April 16th.  Colliers will present the recommendation to the Building Committee on April 30th.

·         Additional RTA’s will be presented to the Building Committee in subsequent meetings.  After approval by the Building Committee, each of the RTA’s will need to be presented to the School Committee and Town Council for approval.  Justin will generate a schedule showing the anticipated dates when the RTAs from Gilbane will be presented to the Building Committee and the School Committee/Town Council for approval.

·         Gilbane is on track to mobilize in April with a groundbreaking planned for late May.

·         Colliers has a meeting with RIDE on March 13th to review the MS/HS 60% CD package and the Elementary School DD package.  Pending approval by RIDE of the Elementary School DD package, the 60% Elementary School CD submission will take place.

·         A materials testing RFP will be put together for an upcoming School Building Committee meeting.  The state requires the Town to hire someone to test materials such as concrete, structural steel, structural fill, etc. to ensure that they meet the material specifications.

·         The update from Colliers can be viewed here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1MG4KFQ-2j9bP1Z-pnPo42ZpMnPN9ftFw/view?usp=sharing.

5.1 Project Labor Agreement

·         Town Administrator Shawn Brown stated that the Town Council awarded the contract to Bill O’Gara to provide the feasibility study for a Project Labor Agreement on the MS/HS project.  Attorney O’Gara will work with the Town, Colliers and Gilbane to complete the study by the end of the month.

5.2 Two Week Look Ahead

·         The next School Building Committee meeting is scheduled for March 26th at 5:00pm.  Vice Chair Nash will not be able to attend, but Chair Ed Brady will be back.

·         Colliers will coordinate the groundbreaking with all the appropriate officials from the Town, State, contractors, etc. with a target date of late May.

Adjournment:

·         ** MOTION**: Tom Welch moved that the Building Committee adjourn at 5:45pm and Peter Connerton seconded. The motion passed unanimously (12-0).

Future Meeting Schedule – The next meeting will be on March 26, 2025 at 5:00p.m. at the Oliphant Administration Building.

Respectfully Submitted,

Don Morin