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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1997-04-19-PBC-min.pdf TOWN OF LEXINGTON, MASSACHUSETTS PERMANENT BUILDING COMMITTEE Minutes of Saturday April 19 1997 Meetina in the School Administration Building, as approved May 20 , 1997 The meeting was called to order by Chairman Bruckman at 8 43 a m with other committee members Kelley, Johnson, and Touart present Also present were School Committee Chairman Peltz , Director of School Buildings Operation Moynihan, Dawn McKenna, Perry Pollins and Steve Tripi Committee member Poinelli ' s absence was explained His firm Symmes, Maini and McKee has bid on design development for the high school only Therefore he cannot be present during discussions on design for the high school or for discussion about how many design firms to select In response to Tripi 's questions the total number of square feet of additions ( 136,000) was detailed 72 ,000 in the elementary schools , 51,000 in the middle schools and 13 ,000 at the high school The total 876,000 square feet of school space the town owns is planned to be renovated in the current project Kindergarten space was especially questioned Moynihan explained the differences between school programs of the '70s and now Committee members Bruckman and Kelley as well as Dawn McKenna told how kindergarten rooms are used for Lextended Day program following their morning-only use by the schools Moynihan, who is supplying factual information to Tripi explained what the $2 8 million (or less) will be buying and what is expected to be learned from design development (pinpointing true needs and more exact costs , giving the schools and PBC bases for more refined decisions) As questions arose about town meeting's recent vote to appropriate for design development, Chairman Bruckman reminded that the PBC is a committee dealing with buildings , not policy The topic of whether to hire more than one design firm was touched upon but no decision was made Johnson pointed out that the $83 million contemplated being spent in the major renovation does not include fire suppression and flashings ( lintels , etc , when replacing windows) He asked if we are selling the community short in the long run by renovating rather than building new schools Kelley cautioned that all really necessary should be included, i e the whole envelope The BFC report , he said, did count the pupil population bulge but did not consider new program requirements He added that as the BFC report noted, there are some values in buildings that cannot be quantified Johnson urged that the drawings in design development should be all- inclusive, especially since rehabilitation work often involves change orders that drive up costs Bruckman called for good estimating The committee should do a walk-through of all buildings to make sure that wise decisions are made Some negotiation is possible on state standards It was noted that town meeting adopted state legislation requiring sprinklers in all buildings when renovations of more than 25 percent are down Committee members questioned if partial sprinkler coverage would be possible, since nobody sleeps overnight at the schools PBC Minutes of 4/19/97 - Page 2 Prolect management and second opinion estimatina by people hired separately by the town was strongly favored by committee members present Cost estimates to within five to seven percent will be needed by September About two to three and a half percent of the construction cost should be allotted to project management that would last for the seven years ' duration of the project , beginning with a cost estimator Funding could be incremental , and part of the $2 8 million could be used j to begin the town's oversight Among the advantages of project management would be (1) better control of costs, (2) better decisions about what to include, (3) some value engineering, (4) assistance with phasing of project components Moynihan will bring a draft of project management scope of work description to the next PBC meeting After answering many questions about earlier decisions in the process of planning the schools project , it was pointed out to Messrs Pollins and Tripi that a referendum on Town Meeting's appropriation for design development would delay obtaining adequate cost estimates in time for a special fall town meeting Then the next hurdle would be a debt exclusion for the project construction cost so that the town could apply for state for 59 percent reimbursement in May The committee will select a short list from among the 17 proposals submitted at their meeting of Tuesday, April 22 and begin interviewing design firms on Tuesday, April 29 The meeting adjourned at 10 45 a m Respectfully submitted, 1 Erna S Greene, Secretary