Approved November 21, 2022
MPS BUILDING COMMITTEE MEETING
Oliphant Administration Building
Michael S. Pinto Conference Room
26 Oliphant Lane, Middletown, RI 02842
November 8, 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 | Interim 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 |
| N | Yes | Thomas P. Welch, III | Town Council Member |
| R | Yes | Donna Sweet | Middletown High School Principal |
| N | Yes | Michelle Fonseca | Asst Superintendent for Teaching and Learning |
| X | Yes | Shawn Brown | Town Administrator, Local Budget Official |
| X | Yes | William Nash | Community Member |
| P | 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 |
| X | 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
*Bill O’Connell covered for Tami Holden until Tami arrived at 5:03pm.
· Call to Order
· The meeting was called to order at 5:00 pm by Co-Chair Charlie Roberts. Nine (9) of eleven (11) voting members were present or represented by an alternate.
· Also present: Justin Bernard, OPM, Colliers Project Leaders.
· Also present via Zoom: Matt LaRue, Soha Mohammed-Eltaher, and Alexandra Gadawski, HMFH Architects; Ed Cifune and Doug Brown, DBVW Architects; Derek Osterman, OPM, Colliers Project Leaders; and Manuel Cordero, Civic.
· Approval of Meeting Minutes from October 25, 2023
· MOTION: Marc Thayer moved to accept the meeting minutes from October 25, 2023 and Don Morin seconded. The motion passed unanimously (9-0).
· Public Input
· No Input
· Architect’s Update and matters related thereto:
Design Update:
· Matt LaRue provided an update on the designer work plan. Building schematics, site schematics and elementary school enabling design will continue from now through mid-December.
· HVAC system options will be completed over the next week. Once done, a life cycle cost analysis will be performed to identify the most cost-effective mechanical system options. The analysis should be ready for review by mid-December.
· The code report is due at the end of November.
· Initial cost estimating should be ready for review in mid-December.
· A meeting with the local building and fire officials will be planned for the first week of December. Poe George asked that the police be included in the meeting, and Matt agreed.
· ACTION: Invite the police chief to the planning meeting in early December. – Matt LaRue
· An initial round of value engineering is planned for the first two weeks of January, leading to an updated cost estimate in mid-January.
· Once all the above is completed, the schematic design can be completed by the end of January.
· Local approvals of the Stage II application will need to take place in mid to late January.
· It is important to meet the above timeline to be able to submit the Stage II application by February 15, 2024.
· Charlie asked if the Town needed to check in with RIDE before the February 15th deadline, and Derek stated that it is not necessary unless the Town has specific questions that need to be answered.
· Ed asked when the NE-CHPS work needs to be completed, and Derek said that Colliers would work with the local teams to get this coordinated.
· Charlie asked if the Town needed to do anything with FEMA as the current Gaudet school is the emergency shelter for Aquidneck Island, and Derek said he would rely on the Fire Chief for this.
· Some policies will need to be updated, and Colliers will work with the School Committee on these.
· ACTION: Work with the School Committee on any policy updates that are needed. – Colliers
Two Week Look Ahead:
· Meetings with the appropriate school representatives will continue to review space program efficiencies.
· Property easement research continues.
· Schematic design of the new building and the site will continue until mid-December.
· Schematic design cost estimating will continue and be ready for initial review in mid-December.
· Geo-technical test pits are planned for November 21st. Georgia Fortunato asked if they could be moved to the 22nd as school is still in session on the 21st. Matt will investigate this.
· ACTION: See if the test pit work can be moved from the 21st to the 22nd. – Matt LaRue
· Elementary school phasing options will be ready for review at the next meeting.
· Furniture and equipment user meetings will take place in late November.
· The presentation from HMFH can be viewed here: https://5il.co/28ogm.
· The next meeting is currently scheduled for Wednesday, November 22nd, but since this is the day before Thanksgiving, the Committee suggested moving it to Tuesday the 21st. Shawn Brown stated that the Town Council has a meeting that evening at 6:30pm, so the Committee decided to start the meeting at 4pm instead of 5pm.
· Owners Rep Update and matters related thereto:
Bond Referendum Result Discussion
· Derek Osterman explained that work on construction contracts and preparation for hiring a construction manager need to begin soon.
· Don asked if a planning meeting can be arranged between the Building Committee, Town Council and School Committee to agree on roles and responsibilities for the upcoming building project. Derek stated that he could share best practices and policies that can be put in place.
· Don asked about using a new website and document portal to use for the project after the Stage II application is submitted as the current website is very limited. Shawn Brown stated that the Town might be able to offer a solution for document storage, as he would prefer that documents reside on a Town website.
· Theresa suggested that the Committee do more outreach in the future to keep the public informed, perhaps in venues that can support a large audience. Ed suggested the Committee do this after the Stage II application is approved by RIDE. Derek stated that RIDE approval might not take place until late June or early July. The Committee suggested scheduling an event soon after the Stage II application submission (March?) to inform the public about what was submitted to RIDE for approval.
· Adjournment
· MOTION: Don Morin moved that the Building Committee adjourn at 5:56pm and Marc Thayer seconded. The motion passed unanimously (9-0).
Future Meeting Schedule – The next meeting will be held on November 21, 2023 at 4:00p.m. at the Oliphant Administration Building.
Respectfully Submitted,
Don Morin