HomeMy WebLinkAbout2026-03-18-SBC-min (Finance Subcommittee)School Building Finance Sub -Committee
Minutes, Meeting of Wednesday, March 18, 2026
Virtual Meeting
4:30 PM
This was a public meeting of the Finance Subcommittee of the School Building Committee, held via
Zoom
Members Present: Mike Cronin (Facilities Director), Jonathan Himmel (Permanent Building Committee),
Carolyn Kosnoff (Assistant Town Manager Finance), Joe Pato (Select Board), Kseniya Slaysky (Resident),
Dan Voss (Resident)
1. Call to Order
The meeting of the Finance Subcommittee of the School Building Committee was called to order at 4:40
PM by Joe Pato, due to the absence of a previously designated chair.
2. Attendance
Members Present
• Mike Cronin (Facilities Director)
• Jonathan Himmel (Permanent Building Committee)
• Carolyn Kosnoff (Assistant Town Manager Finance)
• Joe Pato (Select Board)
• Kseniya Slaysky (Resident)
• Dan Voss (Resident)
Staff / Advisors Present
• Mark Barrett
Members of the public were present via Zoom.
3. Chair Selection
Following discussion, Jonathan Himmel was nominated and agreed to serve as Chair of the Finance
Subcommittee. No objections were raised, and consent was unanimous.
4. Discussion of Subcommittee Charge and Purpose
The Subcommittee discussed and reached general consensus on its role and scope. Key points included:
• The Subcommittee is not an audit committee, but serves an oversight and transparency
function.
• Review will occur at an executive summary level, not by examining individual invoices
line -by-line.
• The Subcommittee's responsibilities include:
o Reviewing project financial status and schedule on a regular basis.
o Understanding and documenting financial and procedural controls used by the project
team (CM, OPM, architect, and town staff).
o Supporting clear public communication through dashboards and explanatory materials.
o Identifying areas where public confusion exists and requesting clarifying information or
presentations from the project team.
It was agreed that early work would focus on explaining processes and terminology, followed by a
transition to ongoing monthly review.
5. Dashboard Review
Mike Cronin presented a draft version of the project financial and schedule dashboard (clearly noted as
using placeholder data).
Key Feedback and Discussion
The Subcommittee provided extensive feedback, including:
• Layout and Clarity
o The relationship between total project budget, construction costs (GMP), soft costs,
grants (e.g., MSBA), and town share should be explicitly clear.
o Visual layouts should avoid implying that grants are additive rather than offsetting.
• Financial Reporting Improvements
o Add indicators for "under contract / encumbered" amounts in addition to "spent to
date.
o Distinguish clearly between committed funds and actual expenditures.
o Consider visual bars showing spent, encumbered, and uncommitted portions within
each budget category.
• Terminology and Definitions
o Provide a glossary or hover -over definitions for technical terms such as GMP, soft costs,
FF&E, contingency, and encumbrance.
o Use plain -language labels where possible.
• Contingency Reporting
o Clearly differentiate between:
■ Owner construction and soft -cost contingencies.
■ Contingencies and allowances within the GMP.
o Avoid language suggesting contingency funds "belong" to the Construction Manager.
• Schedule Information
o Focus on critical path and milestone status, not minor date fluctuations.
o Avoid creating anxiety through overly specific dates when overall project delivery
remains on track.
o Prefer schedule data drawn directly from CM/OPM source schedules.
• Content Reduction
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o Remove or minimize detailed metrics such as RFI counts, submittal totals, and QA/QC
statistics, which were viewed as overly granular and of limited public value.
• Emphasis
o Move Monthly Highlights and the high-level project schedule visualization closer to the
top of the dashboard.
o Construction cameras and time-lapse features were considered useful but secondary.
6. Action Items
• Kseniya Slaysky to draft a short (1-2 page) explanatory document covering:
o Budget vs. cost
o Committed vs. spent funds
o Change orders
o GMP structure and contingencies
• Carolyn Kosnoff, Mike Cronin, and Mark Barrett to draft a visual workflow outlining invoice
review and approval processes.
• Mike Cronin to revise the dashboard incorporating Subcommittee feedback.
7. Next Meeting
An interim meeting was scheduled for:
• Date: Monday, March 30, 2026
• Time: 3:30 PM
• Location: Zoom
The Subcommittee intends to transition to a monthly meeting cadence thereafter.
8. Adjournment
Upon motion duly made and seconded, the meeting was adjourned at 5:48 PM.
Public Comment
No public comment was taken during this working meeting. It was noted that public questions and
comments should be directed to the full School Building Committee, either via email or during its
designated public comment periods.
Minutes submitted by Joseph Pato drawing on Zoom transcript
Approved 4/23/2026
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