Approved September 13, 2023

MPS BUILDING COMMITTEE MEETING

Oliphant Administration Building

Michael S. Pinto Conference Room

26 Oliphant Lane, Middletown, RI 02842

August 30, 2023 5:00pm

 

Members in Attendance:

Present	Voting Member	Name	Title
X	Yes	Edward Brady	Co-Chair, Community Member
X	Yes	Charlie Roberts	Co-Chair, Community Member
N	Yes	Rosemarie Kraeger	Superintendent of Schools
X	Yes	Tami Holden	Member of School Committee
R	Yes	Theresa Spengler	Member of School Committee
X	Yes	Poe George	Director of Facilities Management, Transportation and Safety
X	Yes	Thomas P. Welch, III	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	William Nash	Community Member
X	Alternate	Gregory Huet	Alternate Member of School Committee
P	Alternate	William O’Connell	Alternate Member of School Committee
N	Alternate	Christopher M. Logan	Alternate Town Council Member
N	Alternate	Bill Niemeyer	Gaudet Middle School Principal
N	Alternate	Marc Tanguay	Town Finance Director, Alternate Local Budget Official
P	Alternate	Marc Thayer	Alternate Community Member
P	Alternate	Don Morin	Alternate Community Member

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

 

·         Call to Order

·         The meeting was called to order at 5:01 pm by Co-Chair Charlie Roberts. Ten (10) of eleven (11) voting members were present or represented by an alternate.

·         Present via Zoom: Matt LaRue and Tina Stanislaski, HMFH Architects; Ed Cifune and Doug Brown, DBVW Architects; Derek Osterman and Justin Bernard, OPM, Colliers Project Leaders; and Manuel Cordero, Civic.

 

·         Approval of Meeting Minutes from August 16, 2023

·         MOTION:  Tom Welch moved to accept the meeting minutes from August 16, 2023 Shawn Brown seconded.  The motion passed unanimously (10-0).

 

 

·         Architect’s Update and matters related thereto:

Two Week Look Ahead:

·         Matt LaRue provided a two week look ahead to the Committee.  The architects are working with the Middletown Public School administration to define the school’s needs for the auditorium regarding size and equipment.  Details being discussed are the right size for the stage and how to best use overflow areas for simulcasting events.

·         The architects would also like to better understand the Town’s needs.  Tom Welch asked for more information on what the options might be and the potential costs associated with each.  Co-chair Roberts added that the design needs to ensure that the auditorium is accessible after hours while preventing access to the rest of the school.

·         Regarding capacity, the auditorium is being designed around the RIDE guidelines of 2/3 of the high school population, which leads to about 400 seats.

·         Matt added that the traffic report was received yesterday and is being reviewed.  The architects plan to meet with the athletic directors, drama instructors and CTE instructors to gather their input on the school design requirements.

·         The architects would like to schedule a second Sustainability Charrette for late September or early October.  Michelle agreed to connect with Superintendent Kraeger to identify a date that would work.  Tami asked if the team should select a 3-5pm time slot prior to a Building Committee meeting like was done for the first charrette.

·         ACTION: Identify a date for the second Sustainability Charrette. - Michelle Fonseca with Superintendent Kraeger

·         The presentation from HMFH can be viewed here: https://5il.co/23zl0.

 

·         Educational Planner Update and matters related thereto:

 

Education Plan Update

·         Manuel Cordero informed the Committee that he had no formal update for this meeting but that he hoped to complete the final report on the Education Plan in the next two to four weeks.

 

·         Owners Rep Update and matters related thereto:

 

Discuss Schedule, Budget and Communications

 

·         Derek Osterman informed the Committee that he had no presentation to share but stated that the project was “on schedule and on budget”.  He asked how the beach event went.

·         Co-chair Roberts stated that it would have been better if a table was set up where attendees could come up to pick up the postcards and engage in a Q&A with the Building Committee reps.  He was able to drop some postcards off at the concession stand for patrons to grab.  He suggested cards be dropped off at locations around town, like the 7-11 and coffee shops.

·         Ed walked around and talked with people at the beach.  He stated that many people are not aware of the project.

·         Tami asked if information could go out via the School District’s email and Michelle said that this could be done.  Co-Chair Brady suggested that the school building information go out on its own and not be added to the end of a long email.

·         ACTION: Send out communications via School District's email to parents, teachers, staff, etc.  She will start with the initial postcard then the Committee can supply Michelle with future updates for the School District to share. – Michelle Fonseca

·         Derek added that community forums need to be scheduled, hopefully in October.  One should be scheduled by the School Committee and one by Town Council.  He added that video content will be recorded soon, and mailers will be sent out.  He suggested that Building Committee members start attending events to allow residents to ask questions about the project.  Events should include upcoming fall sports activities, both for the school district and the Town youth sports.  Michelle agreed to put together a schedule of fall events where Building Committee members could sign up to attend.  Town events should be added to the school events calendar.

·         ACTION: Create a spreadsheet containing the name, date, and location of upcoming school events where a table can be set up for Building Committee members to sit and address questions from the Community.  The Town can add other Community events to this same spreadsheet, e.g., Harvest Fair, Broadway Street Fair, Town soccer games, etc. – Michelle

·         Don asked if Main Street Media can help with creating a poster that could be used on the table at these events to draw people to come by to pick up information.  Derek agreed to do this.

·         ACTION: Ask Main Street Media to make a poster board that can be used as a display at a table for the fall events. – Derek Osterman

·         Adjournment

·         MOTION:  Tom Welch moved that the Building Committee adjourn at 5:46pm and Ed Brady seconded. The motion passed unanimously (10-0).

 

Future Meeting Schedule – The next meeting will be held on September 13, 2023 at 5:00p.m. at the Oliphant Administration Building.

 

Respectfully Submitted,

 

Don Morin