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