Feb. 5, 2024 - Joint Meeting

MIDDLETOWN SCHOOL COMMITTEE

MIDDLETOWN, RHODE ISLAND

JOINT MEETING

MIDDLETOWN TOWN COUNCIL

AND

MIDDLETOWN SCHOOL COMMITTEE

AND

MIDDLETOWN PUBLIC SCHOOLS BUILDING COMMITTEE

February 5, 2024

Middletown Town Hall

Members Present:       Theresa Spengler, Chair

Tami Holden, Vice-Chair

William O’Connell

Greg Huet

Wendy Heaney

Also Present:              Rosemarie Kraeger,  Superintendent of Schools

Michelle Fonseca, Assistant Superintendent of Schools

Poe George, Director of Facilities, Transportation, and Safety

The Middletown School Committee Meeting was called to order at 5:31 p.m. by Chair Theresa Spengler.

The Pledge of Allegiance was recited.

Building Committee members present were Edward Brady, Co-Chair, Rosemarie Kraeger, Tami Holden, Poe George, Theresa Spengler, Peter Connerton, Tom Welch, Donna Sweet, Michelle Fonseca, Shawn Brown, William Nash, William Niemeyer, and alternate members Greg Huet, William O’Connell, Marc Tanguay, Marc Thayer, Christopher Logan, and Don Morin.

Middletown Town Council members present were Council President Paul Rodrigues, Vice President Thomas Welch, III, Peter Connerton, Christopher Logan, Emily Tessier, Dennis Turano, and Barbara VonVillas.

Administrative staff members present were Donna Sweet and William Niemeyer.

Also present were ____Derek Osterman, Colliers Senior Director Project Manager, Manuel Cordeiro, Educational Planner, CIVIC, and Matt LaRue, Architect Design Parter from HMFH.

·         Derek Osterman, Senior Director Project Manager, Colliers Project Leaders and Matt LaRue, Architect Design Parter from HMFH, presented a PowerPoint “Joint Meeting of the Middletown Town Council, School Committee & School Building Committee”, which is on file in the Office of the Town Clerk.

·         Town Administrator Shawn Brown explained that he is seeking authorization to execute the Stage II RIDE application which will allow the Town to seek reimbursement from the State for the school building project.

·         The following emails were sent to the Town Council with a request for them to be part of the minutes:

TOWN COUNCIL:

* *

I cannot attend this evening’s session but offer these comments for consideration during your discussion on :   Joint Meeting with the School Committee and the School Building Committee.

·         The Stage 2 application isn't ready to be approved by council; technical complexities, educational,  and fiscal details are not in the 29/1000 pages posted for public review.   Twenty-nine pages are  insufficient to provide the information  politicians promised before voters narrowly approved a $190M bond, and for RIDE. In January the building committee told the public that the entire Stage II application would be distributed to the Town Council, School Committee, and School Building Committee on Jan 31.

·         *The purpose of Stage 2 is to describe a solution for the STAGE 1 need for "new construction." *

·         The first sentence of the executive summary in the 29 pages emphasizes that Middletown expects to receive state reimbursement bonuses of 20% of some part of the $190 Million to be borrowed.  Is that Middletown’s  solution?

·         *RIDE flagged our Stage 1 application with 2 UNSATISFACTORY Sections. Those Sections are supposed to be included in the Stage 2 application - they are not in the 29 pages. *

·         The COMPLETE STAGE 2 application needs thorough and thoughtful political and public vetting, discussion, and review for technical, fiscal, and educational relevance and veracity, and consistency with your promises to the citizens of Middletown.

·         Rushing to approve this will put Middletown at risk.

* *

Paul Mankofsky

20 Pequot Lane

Middletown RI 02842

Good Afternoon,

*Could the Council please address the following at tonight's meeting under Agenda Item #1 or #7, and make this email a part of the public record? *

*At a November 29, 2023 Planning Board meeting on the Oliphant School housing proposal, the Town Administrator, Shawn Brown, reported the median single family home price in Middletown was $675,000.   *

He got this number from the Housing WorksRI 2023 Housing Fact Book that he said was released in October.   See page 59: https://d337wih8hx5yft.cloudfront.net/documents/Housing-Fact-Books/2023HFB.pdf

*The cost for the school bond was estimated at $2/day for a median home price of $424,600.   *

How will the median home price increase, from $424,600 to $675,000, impact the daily cost for the school bond to the median home owner?

Thank you,

Karen Biastre

Maple Ave

Middletown, RI

Antone Viveiros, Middletown, addressed the Council inquiring where the Town stands in the application process and noted concern that the project has changed since the voters passed the bond.

Discussion centered around that the Stage II application is 90% complete, there has been no change in the school project since the bond passed, the bond legislation lays out the scope of the project, the school project is updated at every Town Council meeting and the project is on time and on budget.

Larry Connell, Middletown, addressed the Council reading the following into the record:

My name is Larry Connell

My address is 23 Shore Drive

Good evening.

On page 21 of the 29 pages in the Docket for Agenda Item #1, it shows the new Middle/High school budget for construction is estimated to be approximately $128 million dollars.  As a taxpayer, I was told that I could expect the following for this investment:

A Middletown Poster touted:

Ø  Nearly 200K square feet of educational space

Ø  State of the Art classrooms

o   Audio Visual Control Systems

o   Projectors & Screens and Large Flat Panel Displays

o   Camera Choices

o   Microphones, Speakers, and Audio Processing

o   Lighting and Lighting Controls

o   Lectern Design: Features to consider

Ø  Providing Support to Instructors in the Classroom

Ø  Back End Logistics: Power, Racking, Conduit, Cabling, etc.

Ø  55% reimbursement by the state

Mailed Postcards listed:

Ø  a building that will serve as 2 completely separated individual schools,

Ø  a building using the latest sustainable, environmentally-friendly standards,

Ø  more than 90% of the occupied spaces will have sunlight and quality views,

Ø  an auditorium.

AND Fliers Added the following:

Ø  A fourth Career & Technical Education program.

Ø  An educational system that is a 21st century powerhouse,

I hope that means we will no longer be a mediocre 2-star school system and will now be a 5-star school.  Otherwise, someone will have some explaining to do.

I also hope that includes teaching our kids reading writing and arithmetic, which all appear to be in decline these days.

Ø  A new gymnasium with 2 basketball courts,

Ø  An additional indoor sports facility,

Ø   A more efficient, healthier school creating savings to put back into education,  (I missed the part that explains “how” on that one.)

Ø  Benefits from maximizing existing spaces and reducing our footprint,

Ø  And, a cost of only $2 a day for the median homeowner.

Ok Town council, you fought hard to get this approved, and it wasn’t approved by

much.  The town is split down the middle on the approval of this new school.  However,

it was approved.   Now we, the taxpayers, will hold you accountable for ensuring we get

a return on our hard-earned tax dollars and hold you to your promise “on time and on

budget”

Please make this statement a part of the public record. I appreciate your time this

evening.

Terri Flynn, Middletown, addressed the Council reading the following into the record:

My name is Terri Flynn, 34 Warren Avenue. Thank you for the time this evening.

Almost 3 weeks ago, the Building Committee did ask the consultants to provide

completed sections of the approximately 1000-page Stage II Application, so they could

start the review process. The consultants stated that reviewing completed sections

separately, and I quote, "would not improve your comprehensiveness of the

submission,” end quote.  As of last Friday, the Building Committee received the same 29

pages that are in the Council docket.  The consultants were scheduled to present the full

document on Jan 30th, and advised against a partial document review, yet 29 pages of

about 1000 is what was provided.  This seemed something the Town Council would

want to know before they voted this evening.

There also appears to be a few discrepancies in those 29 pages that were provided:

Number one. Section 4 is titled, “Design and Construction Cost Projection.”   This

section has two cost projection pages:  one is titled “Middle High School” and one is

titled “Former High School.”   The discrepancy is that there does not seem to be a cost

projection page for Forest Avenue School.

Number two. On both of the cost projection pages just referenced, is a Subheading, titled

“Soft Costs.”  Line item number two under this subheading is an expense line item

called, “Construction, Project Management & Commissioning Fees.”  Between the two

cost projection pages, the line item totals approximately $7.2 million dollars.  The

discrepancy is that the change order for Colliers, in item number 3 of tonight’s agenda,

increases Colliers fees to approximately $7.7 million dollars, which is about $500,000

thousand dollars more than the total of the cost projection provided.

A third discrepancy is on page 24 of the 29 pages, which is an empty page titled,

“Section 6 - Site Purchase Plan.”  The Middle-High School Cost Projection page shows

$5.4 million dollars on a line item titled “Land and Building Purchase.”  The line item

notes that this amount is based on a cost of about $93,000 per acre.  This calculates out to

be roughly a 58-acre purchase, for a project that was understood to be on town land

already owned.   Now we learned earlier, just this evening, that there’s a purchase for

the Hoogendoorn property that has also now been made part of this budget. That’s an

agricultural property, likely to need remediation monies. Any purchases added to this

project simply reduce the amount available for the building promised the voters. A land

purchase is not what the voters voted for.

Before you vote this evening, I hope you will clarify the apparent discrepancies, and will

submit this statement for public record.

Discussion centered around negotiating with RIDE for funding, Town land that may be

considered for playing fields, agriculture may be a career pathway the Hoogendorn  property could be considered for an agriculture pathway, and the monies to purchase the Hoogendorn property will be from open space bonds not the School Bond money.

Audrey McLeod Pfeiffer, Middletown, addressed the Council reading the following into the record:

I have concerns about the Stage II Report being submitted to RIDE in that it contained only 29 pages out of the full report of 1000.

I feel that a 29-page synopsis cannot contain a meaning recapitulation of a 1000-page report and that important details of the HS/Middle School project was not provided for review by all involved parties. I feel it is critical that all construction plans be given to the School Building Committee in a timely manner so that they may be reviewed in detail, so we don't experience the problems that Rogers HS is experiencing, for example, the removal and disposal of contaminated soil. In question, is who is responsible for the oversight re: the use of the soil and who will pay the millions of dollars to dispose of the soil. The Middletown School Building Committee, although advisory, is the only committee out of the three involved in the project, that has the professional training, hands on experience and technical expertise to evaluate the construction and renovation of the various buildings to determine if taxpayers are getting a quality product. Given that this is their responsibility, they should have full authority to request future plans and details in a timely manner. Thank you.

Discussion centered around that the Building Committee is comfortable with the submitted synopsis provided for the Stage II application, the Building Committee meets every other week and thoroughly reviews each step of the project, and the School Committee is comfortable with the submitted synopsis provided for the Stage II application.

Antone Viveiros, Middletown, addressed the Council noting concern with the soil on the property and Stage I inquiries from RIDE that must be addressed.

Discussion centered around RIDE inquiries from the Stage I application will be addressed in the Stage II application, there have been community meetings with School Staff, students, some Building Committee members, School Committee members and Educational Planner Manuel Cordeiro; the process has been on going regarding education curriculum and career pathways, the School Committee is charged with developing school curriculum, and there is a project management team with a project manager for the School Building project.

All the questions above were answered by either the Town Administrator Shawn Brown, Derek Osterman, Senior Director Project Manager from Colliers Project Leaders, Ed Brady, Chair of the School Building Committee and Manuel Cordeiro, Educational Planner, CIVIC.

AUTHORIZATION OF RIDE STAGE II APPLICATION

1) Tami Holden 2) Greg Huet.  That the School Committee Approve the Resolution to Authorize the School Committee Chair and Superintendent  to sign the RIDE Stage II Application on behalf of Middletown Public Schools

** MOTION**:  1) Tami Holden 2) Greg Huet.

Respectfully Submitted,

Theresa M. Spengler, Chair