Approved March 15, 2023
MPS BUILDING COMMITTEE MEETING
Oliphant Administration Building
Michael S. Pinto Conference Room
26 Oliphant Lane, Middletown, RI 02842
March 1, 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 |
| X | Yes | Rosemarie Kraeger | Superintendent of Schools |
| X | Yes | Tami Holden | Member of School Committee |
| X | Yes | Theresa Spengler | Member of School Committee |
| X | Yes | Poe George | Director of Facilities Management, Transportation and Safety |
| - | Yes | Thomas P. Welch, III | Town Council Member |
| R | Yes | Jeffrey Heath | 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 | Vincent Lechmanick | Community Member |
| X | Yes | William Nash | Community Member |
| - | Alternate | Gregory Huet | Alternate Member of School Committee |
| P | Alternate | William O’Connell | Alternate Member of School Committee |
| - | Alternate | Christopher M. Logan | Alternate Town Council Member |
| X | Alternate | Bill Niemeyer | Gaudet Middle School Principal |
| - | 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
· Call to Order
· The meeting was called to order at 5:01 pm by Co-Chair Ed Brady. Nine (9) out of twelve (12) voting members were present or represented by an alternate. Shawn Brown and Michelle Fonseca arrived at 5:04pm, bringing the quorum to eleven (11) voting members.
· Also present: Justin Bernard, OPM, Colliers Project Leaders, Peter Connerton, Middletown Town Council member, and several community members.
· Present via Zoom: Tina Stanislaski, Matt LaRue, HMFH Architects; Doug Brown, Ed Cifune, DBVW Architects.
· Approval of Meeting Minutes from February 15, 2023
· MOTION: Charlie Roberts moved to accept the meeting minutes from February 15, 2023 and Bill Nash seconded. The motion passed unanimously (9-0).
· Status of the Ongoing Facility Condition Index for the High School and J.H. Gaudet Middle School
· Ed Brady explained that the Town has received the report and that Shawn Brown should have an update when he arrives.
· Update on Summary of Projects Covered by the $10 Million Bond and Current Maintenance Costs
· Poe George stated that he posted the comprehensive spreadsheet that lists the items that were covered by the $10 million bond approved by Middletown voters in 2017. Co-chair Brady said that there was a lot of information on the sheet and asked for it to be summarized by school. Don offered to work with Poe to generate a summary.
· ACTION: Generate a summary of the spending by school from the $10 million bond that was approved back in 2017. – Don/Poe
· Facility Condition Index
· Co-chair Brady revisited the agenda topic regarding the Facility Condition Assessment. Town Administrator Brown explained that he has received a verbal update from RIDE and that both the middle and high school Facility Condition Index scores suggest that both schools should be replaced, making Middletown eligible for the maximum bonus points from the state. Once the final report is received from RIDE, Town Administrator Brown will share it with the Building Committee.
· Update on High Level Schedule for the Preliminary Stage II Submission
· Matt LaRue presented a high-level schedule for the Stage II Submission as follows:
Middletown MHS - Stage II Work Plan, HMFH / DVBW, 03/02/23
Start End
Educational Planning
Facility Walk-throughs 02/06/23 02/10/23
Leadership Interviews 02/06/23 02/10/23
Educ. Programming Meetings 02/13/23 03/24/23
Teacher Surveys 02/24/23 03/10/23
Other Surveys - TENTATIVE 03/06/23 03/24/23
Teacher Forums - TENTATIVE 03/06/23 04/10/23
Comparables Tours 03/06/23 03/24/23
MHS Spatial Planning 02/13/23 03/24/23
MHS Educational Specifications 02/13/23 04/10/23
Educational Program Document 03/27/23 06/02/23
Demographics Study
Information Gathering 02/13/23 03/03/23
Numbers Assessment 03/06/23 04/07/23
Forecast Results 04/10/23 04/14/23
Final Report 04/17/23 04/28/23
Communications
Informational Flyer 02/20/23 05/01/23
School Based Meetings / Tours 03/06/23 05/01/23
Community Meeting #1 03/27/23 03/27/23
Community Meeting #2 04/24/23 04/24/23
Preliminary Gaudet Site Investigations
Site Survey 03/06/23 06/14/23
Geotechnical Investigations 03/06/23 06/14/23
Geo-environmental Investigations 03/06/23 06/14/23
Wetlands Delineation 03/06/23 06/14/23
Traffic Study 03/06/23 06/14/23
Hazmat Investigations (By Town) 03/06/23 06/14/23
District-wide Master Planning
Preliminary Options 03/06/23 03/24/23
Finalize Masterplan 03/27/23 04/07/23
MHS Concept Designs
Preliminary Layout Options 03/13/23 03/24/23
Developed Layouts 03/27/23 04/14/23
Town-wide Vote (CONFIRM) 04/11/23 05/02/23
Preliminary MHS Schematic Design
Building Schematics 04/17/23 05/12/23
Site Schematics 04/17/23 05/12/23
RIDE Kickoff Meeting 04/10/23 04/14/23
Sustainability Charrette/Energy Analysis 04/24/23 05/15/23
Cost Estimating 05/15/23 06/02/23
Stage II Production 05/15/23 06/02/23
Local Approvals 06/05/23 06/09/23
Finalize Stage II Submission 06/09/23 06/14/23
Stage II Submission 06/15/23 06/15/23
RIDE Review (estimated)
Preliminary Comments 06/16/23 07/27/23
Formal Comments 07/28/23 09/14/23
District Response / Revisions 09/15/23 10/05/23
MOA 12/01/23 12/31/23
RIDE Board Approval 12/01/23 12/31/23
· Superintended Kraeger explained that two community meetings are planned for March 17th and April 24th at the Town Hall. School based meetings will also be planned. Bill Niemeyer stated that tours will be offered during upcoming parent teacher conferences to allow parents and community members to see the pros and cons of the existing school buildings.
· Co-chair Charlie Roberts asked Matt how many test pits were anticipated as lacrosse is played on the fields where testing will be performed. Matt thanked Charlie for the information about lacrosse and assured him that they would be sensitive to the needs of those who will be using the fields.
· Co-chair Ed Brady reinforced that the schedule is aggressive due to the current RIDE timeline which requires the Town to have a contract signed with a construction manager at risk by the end of December, 2023.
· Presentation of Architects Projects Incorporating Career Pathways and Technical Education
· Tina Stanislaski shared a presentation highlighting many different career pathways and technical education opportunities at some of the schools that they have designed, including the Bristol County Agricultural High School, the Dover High School and Regional Career Technical Center, the Hanover High School, the Winthrop Middle/High School and the Arlington High School, as well as the Weymouth Chapman Middle School. Programs supported include biotechnology, horticulture, auto collision, carpentry, cosmetology, culinary arts, nursing, animal science, fabrication, and many others.
· Superintendent Kraeger informed the Committee that Middletown currently offers three CTE pathways: biomedical, computer science, and robotics, and that the district was talking about possibly adding a fourth one. Bill Niemeyer added that there has been talk about possibly combining computer science and robotics while potentially adding agriculture, carpentry or fabrication. Bill said he would work with Jeff Heath and provide an update on the status and future vision for the CTE programs. It was suggested that the school administration connect with the Middletown Economic Development Advisory Committee to gain some additional insight into what types of careers may be needed most.
· ACTION: Update the Committee on the current Middletown CTE programs and the vision for the future. – Bill/Jeff
· At this point a member of the press asked if the Committee members could use nametags at future meetings. Superintendent Kraeger acknowledged that this was a good idea.
· ACTION: Investigate making name tags for the Committee members for future meetings. – Superintendent Kraeger
· Update on Possible Tours of Saugus, MA Middle/High School and Winthrop, MA Middle/High School
· Matt and Tina stated that they are working on scheduling tours that could take place in the next couple of weeks.
· Educational Planning Update
· Manuel Cordeiro was not able to attend so Justin Bernard shared a few slides from Manuel. Manuel’s work coincides with the schedule that was shared by Matt earlier in the meeting. Facility walkthroughs, principal interviews and teacher forums have been held. Spatial planning bubble diagrams have been created to capture spatial needs and adjacencies.
· Teacher/staff surveys have been sent out and a large percentage of them have been received. Teacher focus groups are being scheduled and enrollment numbers have been received. The architects have been providing excellent guidance to the team.
· Discuss Probable Deliverables from the Consultant Team for the Bond Campaign
· Town Administrator Brown has requested information from the consultants to include in upcoming communications documents.
· Update on the Bond Campaign Communications Package
· Town Administrator Brown explained that when the information from the consultants is received, such as building renderings and educations benefits, Matt Sheley will complete the flyer and trifold to educate the voters about the bond.
· Update on the Building Committee’s Information Campaign for the Bond Vote
· Superintendent Kraeger informed the Committee that the first parent teacher conferences are scheduled for March 15th. Community meetings are going to be co-led by Town Council President Rodrigues and School Committee Chair Spengler. Superintendent Kraeger said she would have a complete schedule of all upcoming meetings in the next week.
· ACTION: Share meeting schedule for communications opportunities with the Committee. – Superintendent Kraeger
· Status of Building Committee Membership
· The School Committee has decided that Tami Holden and Theresa Spengler would be the primary representatives on the Building Committee while Gregory Huet and Bill O’Connell will serve as alternates.
· Open Discussion
· Matt Larue shared an update of the school construction costs for schools built from 2009 through 2022 as supplied by the Massachusetts School Building Authority and where the HMFH schools fell on the trend line. The most recent HMFH designed schools fell within the typical trend, with costs ranging from $432 per square foot (Bristol Agricultural High School) to $509 per square foot (Weymouth Chapman Middle School). As this only reflected the construction costs, Matt added that the total cost could be estimated at about 1.2 times these numbers.
· Community member and former Town Council member Terri Flynn expressed her concerns that a Facility Condition Assessment was not performed on the elementary schools. The Facility Condition Assessment was completed on the elementary schools in 2017 and is included in the Stage I application. She also suggested reaching out to the Chamber of Commerce to assist with understanding the needs of the community when determining additional CTE programs to consider.
· Community member and former Town Council member Antone Viveiros stated that he wanted the Committee to be sure to understand the future enrollment needs of the community when developing the plans for the new middle/high school.
· Don asked if there was any update on the pending legislation for additional reimbursement from RIDE. Town Administrator Brown stated that the legislation for the $190 million bond was out of the Senate committee on February 28th and was expected to go to the full Senate for a vote next week. The House is expected to take up the bill in committee next week and it should be through both houses within a couple of weeks.
· Town Administrator Brown added that four other bills have been introduced:
1. Raise the reimbursement floor from 35% to 40%
2. Raise the bonuses from 20 to 25% (restore 5% energy bonus)
3. Extend the deadline for a signed contract with a construction manager at risk from December 2023 to June 2024
4. Pull in the RIDE reimbursement to immediately when an initial bond is issued instead of after year three. (NOTE: This is not an increase in reimbursement, just a timing change.)
· Town Administrator Brown will provide the bill numbers to the Committee when they are available. Co-chair Brady reminded the Committee that all bonuses expire in June 2024. Town Administrator Brown added that eighteen other municipalities will benefit from these four new bills and Middletown officials will try to solicit support from them.
· Adjournment
· MOTION: Vince Lechmanick moved that the Building Committee adjourn at 6:47 pm and Bill Nash seconded. The motion passed unanimously (11-0).
Future Meeting Schedule – The next meeting will be held on March 15, 2023 at 5:00p.m. at the Oliphant Administration Building.
Respectfully Submitted,
Don Morin