Approved October 12, 2022
MPS BUILDING COMMITTEE MEETING
Oliphant Administration Building
Michael S. Pinto Conference Room
26 Oliphant Lane, Middletown, RI 02842
10/5/22 5:00pm
Members in Attendance:
| Present | Voting Member | Name | Title |
| X | Yes | Edward Brady | Co-Chair, Community Member |
| X | Yes | Rosemarie Kraeger | Superintendent of Schools |
| X | Yes | Tami Holden | Member of School Committee |
| X | Yes | Poe George | Director of Facilities Management, Transportation and Safety |
| X | Yes | Thomas P. Welch, III | Town Council Member |
| | Yes | Jeffrey Heath | Middletown High School Principal |
| | Yes | Michelle Fonseca | Asst Superintendent for Teaching and Learning |
| X | Yes | Shawn Brown | Town Administrator, Local Budget Official |
| X | Yes | Charlie Roberts | Co-Chair, Community Member |
| X | Yes | William Nash | Community Member |
| X | Yes | Vincent Lechmanick | Community Member |
| | Yes | Doug Arnold | Member of School Committee |
| | No | David Annese | Director of Technology |
| X | Alternate | Don Morin | Alternate Community Member |
| | Alternate | Marc Thayer | Alternate Community Member |
| | Alternate | Christopher Logan | Alternate Town Council Member |
| | Alternate | Liana Ferreira-Fenton | Alternate Member of School Committee |
| | Alternate | William O’Connell | Alternate Member of School Committee |
| X | Alternate | Marc Tanguay | Town Finance Director, Alternate Local Budget Official |
| X | Alternate | Bill Niemeyer | Gaudet Middle School Principal |
o The meeting was called to order at 5:08 pm by Co-Chair Ed Brady. Ten (10) out of twelve (12) voting members were present or represented by an alternate.
o Superintendent Rosemarie Kraeger informed the Building Committee that Gaudet Middle School Principal Bill Niemeyer (in attendance) would be the alternate to Middletown High School Principal Jeffrey Heath.
o Also present: Derek Osterman and Justin Bernard, OPM, Colliers Project Leaders and Peter Connerton, Community Member
o MOTION: Tom Welch moved to accept the meeting minutes from September 21, 2022 and Don Morin seconded. The motion passed unanimously (10-0).
o Derek Osterman and Justin Bernard informed that Building Committee that six proposals were received by the Town in response to the Request for Qualifications for Architectural Services for Stage II and III to support the Town of Middletown Capital Improvement Program to build new schools to support all students in the Town of Middletown.
o The six proposals were posted to Dropbox for the Technical Evaluation Committee (TEC) to review and rank.
o Colliers shared a spreadsheet summarizing the compiled scores from the Technical Evaluation Committee, the subset of Building Committee members who reviewed the proposals (Ed Brady, Vince Lechmanick, Poe George and Don Morin).
o The top three proposals came from HMFH Architects, Inc / DBVW Architects, SLAM Collaborative, and Symmes Maini & McKee Associates. Colliers will reach out to the three firms to schedule interviews on October 12th between 1pm and 4pm.
o The Building Committee agreed to post a meeting for Wednesday, October 12th at 5pm to review the recommendation from the interview team and vote to approve moving forward to authorize Colliers to begin negotiations with the selected firm.
o MOTION: Don Morin moved to accept the recommendation from the Technical Evaluation Committee to accept HMFH Architects, Inc / DBVW Architects, SLAM Collaborative, and Symmes Maini & McKee Associates as the top three firms to interview to provide architectural services to the Town. Tom Welch seconded. The motion passed unanimously (10-0).
o ACTION: Post a meeting at 5pm on October 12 with a single agenda topic to review and approve the recommendation from the interview team regarding the top choice to provide architectural services to the Town and to direct Colliers to begin negotiations with the chosen firm. – Ed/Charlie
o Shawn asked to postpone this update until the next regularly scheduled meeting on October 19th.
o Shawn handed out a single page flyer and Tom Welch handed out a similar folded pamphlet to the group for review. Shawn stated that the flyer will be going out to all the households in Middletown along with a flyer that covers School Regionalization. He agreed to send a soft copy of the flyers to Mary Toppa and will ask her to send them to the Building Committee. Tom plans to hand out the pamphlets at the soccer fields.
o ACTION: Shawn will send a copy of the flyers to Mary Toppa and will ask her to send them to the full Building Committee distribution.
o Shawn also mentioned that social media will also be used to communicate the facts about the bond vote and the regionalization ballot questions, and Matt Sheley is putting together “talking points” for those who may want to use them. A panel discussion is also being taped to show on Cox cable, and an effort to get on the local radio station (WADK) is in the works.
o Small groups of elected officials continue to meet with different groups of interest, including the Newport Senior Center, Elks, Rotary Club, etc. and there’s a visit to the Middletown Senior Center planned for Friday morning, October 7th. These small meetings will continue up until the ballot vote.
o Don handed out a copy of the Action List that Ed Brady originally drafted and shared at the prior meeting. Ed asked if the contract with Colliers to provide pre-bond support was signed and Derek said that it was in place. No other updates were needed.
o MOTION: Tom Welch moved that the Building Committee adjourn at 6:05pm and Don Morin seconded. The motion passed unanimously (10-0).
Future Meeting Schedule – The next meeting will be held on October 12, 2022 p.m. at the Oliphant Administration Building with a single agenda topic to review and approve the Technical Evaluation Committee’s recommendation for an architectural firm that Colliers can begin negotiating with.
Respectfully Submitted,
Don Morin