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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1997-05-20-PBC-min.pdf TOWN OF LEXINGTON, MASSACHUSETTS PERMANENT BUILDING COMMITTEE Minutes of Tuesday May 20 1997 Meetina in Room G-15, Town Office Building, as approved May 27 , 1997 The meeting was called to order at 7 35 p m by Chairman Bruckman with other committee members Himmel , Johnson, Kelley, Poinelli and Touart present Also present were Director of School Buildings Operation Moynihan and at the end of the meeting School Committee chairman Peltz Observers throughout the meeting were Bruce Collier and Dawn McKenna Visiting for presentation and discussion with the meeting were representatives of the Carlisle Consulting Group's Project Director Richard R Thuma III , President Stanley H Durlacher and community relations person Linda J Lawson Another visiting group was comprised of Philip Lewis and Dorothea Hayes of HMFH (in the absence of John Miller, who was recently elected a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects) as well as Sverdrup representatives Jim Mitchell and Bob Stringland The Carlisle Consultina Group Inc , present at the committee' s request to describe the role of project manager, told through their project manager Thuma, that their sole business is project management , mostly in the public sector He emphasized that his firm acts as advocates for the owner of a building project , overseeing all phases of the project , including the architects ' work, contracting process , legalities , budget and cost control and, most importantly scheduling With the architects, documentation would be checked in order to minimize need for change orders For construction they would provide clerks-of-the-works and oversee safety and education issues They would provide timely and accurate budget and work progress reports In Weston, phasing with the school schedule was carefully monitored and care taken that students living with the project were informed A newsletter and Internet home page were communication tools Durlacher and Thuma enumerated projects at Westwood middle schools , Ayer and Shirley libraries and at the Mass General Hospital Cancer Center The Carlisle group is four years old and composed of twelve people Their spokesmen pointed out that their management should be able to save the project owner at least as much as their fee and more HMFH representatives introduced the Sverdrup members , who gave a presentation on their automated computer method for generating an "objective" and speedy analysis of existing conditions in buildings Costs of repairs or remedies as well as cost of not repairing would be compared Their services were described as a way to maximize shrinking maintenance and operation budgets Cost of their services would be about $100 ,000 or possibly more for working on all nine schools After Sverdrup people left , Lewis passed out copies of draft project goals Organization and staffing for the project will be completed by the end of this week, he said Among the consultants proposed to be brought aboard are civil engineer Judy Nitsch, geotechnical engineers McPhail Associates at about $8 ,000 per school Committee asked that these consultants be chosen after collecting proposals from three firms Borings may not be needed, but site studies are An existing conditions survey has been done for Fiske School Next are coming Hastings, and Diamond The educational program plans will evolve PBC Minutes of 5/20/97 - Page 2 from the meetings that are currently being held Schematics will be done in small scale and keyed with changes These are being produced earlier scheduled and design development will be evolve from them Moynihan said he did not favor hiring Sverdrup to inventory existing conditions Committee agreed Detailed inventory sheets distributed by HMFH for Fiske garnered general praise from the committee Upon inquiry Dorothea Hayes explained how the existing conditions inspections were done, with specialists inspecting the various systems separately and then each building receiving a detailed going-over by a team of two architects Himmel recommended that the relationship between white and shaded areas on the inventory sheets be shown more clearly; he also called for better room identification by numbering Also it was noted that cost information was missing Fiske School impressions were asked of Lewis by the committee He said he liked the school , but that it needs a lot work The casements are in very poor condition, and systems such as HVAC and electrical largely need replacement in order to be brought up to code Committee called for cost estimates to get some idea how the total cost is going Poinelli recommended meeting at each school , starting with Fiske next week The meeting could begin outdoors during daylight at 7 p m Since Moynihan was not present , this arrangement could not be confirmed Concerns over costs concerned both the needs to bring older schools such as Fiske and Diamond up to code as well as the effect of inflation in phasing the project over as many as ten years Ways to hold down costs in scheduling and contracting were discussed, with Himmel recommending add-ons rather than alternates and subtracts Also the possibility of coupling schools in contracting might bring price economies, bundling and ways to add in another school might be explored Cutting the design development shorter to avoid backtracking was also suggested (in other words holding back some funds for future out-year revisions) A recommended strategy in negotiations was to ask the architect , "What can you do for x dollars?" Another option that was discussed at the end of the meeting Should a new school (or two) be built to replace Fiske and/or Diamond and to provide swing school space during construction? Need for more information in the community on the nroiect was expressed by visitors and School Committee Chairman Peltz , and agreed that a public information meeting should be held before end of the school year Minutes APPROVED March 18, 1997 and April 8 , 1997 as submitted April 19, 1997 as amended April 22 , 1997 as submitted May 1 and 13, 1997 as amended Meeting adjourned at 11 02 p m until Tuesday, May 27 , 1997 Respectfully submitted, ell-' Secretary