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CAPITAL EXPENDITURES COMMITTEE REPORT TO STM 2016 -3
<br />Warrant - Article Explanation and Recommendation
<br />Article 2: Appropriate For
<br />Middle Schools—
<br />Additions and
<br />Remodeling
<br />Fund
<br />Authorization
<br />Requested
<br />Funding
<br />Source
<br />Committee Recommends
<br />$62,197,000
<br />GF (Candidate for
<br />Debt - Exclusion
<br />Vote)
<br />Approval (5 -0)
<br />"To see if the Town will vote to appropriate a sum of money for constructing, originally equipping and
<br />furnishing additions to the Clarke and Diamond Middle Schools and for remodeling, reconstructing and
<br />making extraordinary repairs to the existing Middle Schools, including original equipment and
<br />furnishings, and for the payment of all other costs incidental and related thereto; determine whether the
<br />money shall be provided by the tax levy, by transfer from available funds, by borrowing, possibly
<br />contingent on a referendum pursuant to MGL c.59, §21C, or by any combination of these methods;
<br />determine if the Town will authorize the Selectmen to apply for, accept, expend and borrow in
<br />anticipation of state aid; or act in any other manner in relation thereto.
<br />"DESCRIPTION: It is anticipated that there will be two parts to the motion for this article. The first part
<br />will seek an appropriation for renovation work at Clarke and Diamond Middle Schools (Phase 1) that, due
<br />to existing enrollment, it is imperative that the work be completed this summer, before the beginning of
<br />the 2016/2017 school year. The second part will be for the design and construction of renovations and
<br />additions to Clarke and Diamond Middle Schools (Phase 2) to address anticipated school enrollments.
<br />Phase 2 work will be completed over the next 18 months for the Clarke School and 30 months for the
<br />Diamond School. While it is anticipated that both Phase 1 and 2 of this project will be included as part of
<br />a Debt Exclusion question submitted to the voters later this spring, the Phase 1 work needs to be
<br />completed in time for the 2016/2017 school year. The contract for this work, therefore, will need to be
<br />signed the first week of April, before the likely debt exclusion vote. The contract for the Phase 2 work
<br />will go forward only if the debt exclusion vote is approved."
<br />[Town of Lexington Warrant for the Special Town Meeting 2016 -3 ", February 1, 2016, Page 5]
<br />The dollar amount of this request is based on the latest total - projects -cost estimate (released this
<br />March 7th) totaling $66,615,000 less $4,418,753 from two previous appropriations for these projects
<br />($2,467,753, a portion of the $4,080,000 appropriation at the March 23, 2015, STM #1, Article 2, and
<br />$1,951,000, a portion of the $5,386,000 appropriation at the November 2, 2015 STM #1, Article 2). (The
<br />net amount is rounded up to the nearest thousand dollars as this is proposed for debt financing which is
<br />issued at the thousands level.) Of the requested amount, $4,104,940 is for the Part 1 prioritized scope;
<br />$58,091,307 is for the Part 2 completion of scope. This Committee is pleased that the recommended
<br />value - engineering and peer- review processes were undertaken to look for cost savings and validation of
<br />the design. The current cost estimate reflects the benefits from both efforts.
<br />The space needs at the Middle School level are well documented. For this Committee's previous,
<br />extensive, reporting on these projects, please see the CEC Report to November 2, 2015, STM #1,
<br />available at <http: // records .lexingtonma.gov /WebLink8 /0 /doc /246498 /Pagel.aspx >. For graphics of the
<br />physical changes to be made to both schools as of the Design Development stage, you will find them at
<br />< http:// www .lexingtonmultipleprojects.com /projects /lexington- middle - schools /home / >. (There, click on
<br />one of the schools and on the next page, click on the "Design Development" link.)
<br />The two Middle Schools are currently overcrowded and the enrollment is expected to continue to
<br />increase. (Lexington Public Schools (LPS) projections based on the Enrollment Working Group
<br />methodology) The current capacity, given the need for general education, special education, music, art,
<br />cafeteria and other space is based on the number of teams and the desired size of the teams. DiNisco
<br />Design Partnership., contracted by the town to assist in the planning- and - design phase of the project, puts
<br />the capacity at nine teams in each school for a total of 18 teams. The School Committee has not taken an
<br />official position on the desired team size, but the working assumption is 86 students per team. This results
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