Approved March 27, 2024
MPS BUILDING COMMITTEE MEETING
Oliphant Administration Building
Michael S. Pinto Conference Room
26 Oliphant Lane, Middletown, RI 02842
March 13, 2024 5:00pm
Members in Attendance:
| Present | Voting Member | Name | Title |
| X | Yes | Edward Brady | Chair, Community Member |
| X | Yes | William Nash | Vice Chair, Community Member |
| X | Yes | Rosemarie Kraeger | Superintendent of Schools |
| X | Yes | Theresa Spengler | School Committee Chair |
| X | Yes | Tami Holden | School Committee Vice Chair |
| X | Yes | Poe George | Director of Facilities Management, Transportation and Safety |
| X | Yes | Thomas P. Welch, III | Town Council Vice President |
| X | Yes | Peter Connerton | Town Council Member |
| R | Yes | Donna Sweet | Middletown High School Principal |
| X | Yes | Michelle Fonseca | Asst Superintendent for Teaching and Learning |
| X | Yes | Shawn Brown | Town Administrator, Local Budget Official |
| X | Yes | Don Morin | Secretary, Community Member |
| X | Yes | Marc Thayer | Community Member |
| N | Alternate | Georgia Fortunato | Special Education Consultant, Alternate Superintendent of Schools |
| P | Alternate | Gregory Huet | Alternate Member of School Committee |
| P | Alternate | William O’Connell | Alternate Member of School Committee |
| N | Alternate | Christopher Logan | Alternate Town Council Member |
| X | Alternate | Bill Niemeyer | Gaudet Middle School Principal |
| P | Alternate | Marc Tanguay | Town Finance Director, Alternate Local Budget Official |
X = Present/Voting; R=Represented; P=Present/Non-voting; N=Not Present
1. Call to Order
· The meeting was called to order at 5:00 pm by Chair Ed Brady. Thirteen (13) of thirteen (13) voting members were present or represented by an alternate.
· Also present: Justin Bernard, Colin McCarthy, OPM, Colliers Project Leaders.
· Present via Zoom: Matt LaRue, Tina Stanislaski, Alexandra Christiana, Connor Heinzman, and Olivia Ouellette, HMFH Architects; Ed Cifune, DBVW Architects; Colin McCarthy, Colliers Project Leaders; and Steve D’Ambrosia, Traverse Landscape Architects.
2. Approval of Meeting Minutes from February 28, 2024
3. Architect’s Update
3.1 Design Update
· Matt LaRue introduced landscape architect Steve D’Ambrosia from Traverse Landscape Architects. Steve walked the Building Committee through the preliminary design of the courtyards at the new middle/high school.
· The courtyard design in front of the high school entrance on the east side of the building was reviewed. It will have a more formal, collegiate feel than the middle school entrance. The main entrance will have a covered entrance and flex space in the center of the courtyard.
· Plantings will be easy to maintain and drought tolerant, with a rain garden out front to assist with storm water management and to provide an educational benefit for students. The area will allow for outdoor dining and learning spaces. The open space is approximately the size of two classrooms.
· The middle school courtyard on the west side of the school will have a cloverleaf shape in the middle with small breakout areas around the cloverleaf. Informal seating will be available using boulders and benches. The main entrance will have a canopy to protect from inclement weather. The space will be less formal than the high school side.
· Low maintenance, drought resistant shrubs and trees will be planted on this side as well, along with two rain gardens. One rain garden will assist with stormwater management via runoff from the roof and will provide an educational benefit.
· Greg Huet suggested that the landscape architect reach out to the Middletown Tree Commission when it comes time to select trees for the property.
· Feeback from the Building Committee included a concern about students walking through the rain garden to get to the buses, along with a request to better understand the elevation difference in the courtyards. HMFH will look into potentially widening the walkway to make it easier to pass through the rain garden during bus drop-off.
· ACTION: Share images of rain gardens that HMFH has done at other schools. – HMFH
· ACTION: Share renderings that show elevation difference in the courtyards and investigate distances between the drop off points to align with the way buses will line up to drop students off. – HMFH
3.2 RIDEM Meeting Update
· Matt LaRue informed the Committee that a preliminary meeting with the RI Department of Environmental Management was recently held. It was led by their civil engineer and wetlands consultant and was meant to prepare for formal submission of a freshwater permit near the end of the design development phase.
· Some key takeaways are as follows:
o The permit fees will be waived for municipal projects.
o Average RIDEM permitting review timeline is 90 days after submission.
o RIDEM has strict performance standards for stormwater management.
o Existing and proposed pervious and impervious areas must be calculated, as RIDEM doesn’t want to increase the stormwater management requirements for the site.
o Work in wetland buffer zones is allowed for municipal projects but will likely require a variance.
o Any vegetation removed from wetland buffer zones will have to be replicated, but Matt didn’t think this would take place.
o The stormwater hydrology report will be completed later in the design development phase when more details about the design are finalized.
3.3 Facilities, High School & Middle School In-Person Meetings Update
· Matt LaRue provided a brief update on the recent meetings with the high school and middle school principals and the facilities director.
· HMFH now has a better understanding of the middle and high school arrival and dismissal schedules and will try to make it easier to manage the student traffic of middle and high school students coming and going throughout the day.
· HMFH will investigate reorienting entrances to the toilet rooms to make them easier to supervise. Theresa Spengler suggested that the bathroom stalls be large enough to allow for easy entrance by a student carrying a backpack.
· The CTE spaces will be flexible.
· The cafeteria will have tables with different shapes and heights and some separation between the middle and high school areas. It will also allow for concessions during off school hours.
· HMFH will investigate ensuring easy access to the low roof areas.
· HMFH will investigate the access to the auditorium lighting with the sloped ceiling for ease of maintenance.
· Recycling centers will be provided in hopes of increasing the recycling that currently takes place at the schools.
· The team aligned on the number and sizes of dumpsters needed.
3.4 Two Week Look Ahead
· A determination of the future needs of the existing cell tower at the Gaudet School is ongoing.
· The Stage III Schematic Design submission is planned for March 15th.
· A security meeting is tentatively planned for April 10th.
· A site visit to the existing high school is planned for April 17th by the mechanical, electrical, and plumbing consultants to develop an updated scope of work for this portion of the project.
· The third sustainability workshop is planned for April 24th from 3-5pm, prior to the regularly scheduled Building Committee meeting. HMFH hopes to attract as many people as possible who may be interested in participating.
· A review with the Special Education director and teachers will be scheduled in the next two to three weeks.
The entire update from HMFH can be viewed here: https://5il.co/2gmt8.
4. Owners Rep Update
4.1 Review of the RIDE Stage III Schematic Design Submission
· Chair Ed Brady allowed community member Antone Viveiros, 45 Bay View Park to speak about this topic. Mr. Viveiros expressed concern that the Stage III submission is being rushed and that the public should have the opportunity to review the Stage III submission before it is shared with RIDE.
· Justin Bernard explained that RIDE has agreed to perform a parallel review of the Stage III Schematic Design along with the Stage II submission that was already submitted. This is purely an administrative change and is possible because we are at 100% Schematic Design, which isn’t always the case. This is the exact same schematic design that was included in the Stage II submission that has already been approved by the Town Council and School Committee so no additional approval by them is required.
· Two additional pieces of information need to be included with the submission: the first is user sign-off by the School District, Town Administration, and Chair of the Building Committee, and the second is a copy of the minutes from this meeting that documents the approval of the Building Committee to allow for the submission to RIDE. No additional approvals are required. This will allow the project to move on to Design Development.
4.2 CMaR RFP Update
· Justin Bernard informed the Committee that two RFPs for a Construction Manager at Risk were posted to BidNetDirect.com on March 6, 2024. One was for the new middle/high school, and one was for renovation work on the remaining schools.
· A mandatory pre-bid conference took place earlier in the day and nine companies showed up. Questions from potential bidders are due by March 18th, and an addendum to answer the questions will be issued on March 19th.
· Proposals are due back by April 3rd at 10am in the Town Hall. The Building Committee’s Technical Review team will review the proposals and recommend two or three for each RFP: new middle/high school and renovation of other schools.
4.3 Two Week Overview March 14-27
· Colliers will submit the Stage III Schematic Design Submission to RIDE on Friday, March 15, 2024 pending approval by the Building Committee.
· The addendum to the RFPs for the CMaR will be issued on March 19, 2024.
· The contract with ECM for Hazardous Material Consulting Services will be finalized by March 22, 2024. The abatement consulting work at Gaudet will be deferred as the proposal will only be good for one year and the entire school will need to be abated. That focus will be on the other schools and will depend on the scope of work for each building.
· A scorecard for the CMaR selection will be provided to the Building Committee on March 27, 2024.
· The entire update from Colliers can be viewed here: https://5il.co/2gmt7.
5. School Building Committee Update
5.1 Update on School Committee Charge and Committee Membership
· The School Committee approved the School Building Committee charge based on the Town ordinance at its meeting on March 5, 2024. Peter Connerton, Marc Thayer, and Don Morin are now all voting members of the Building Committee. This will require an update to RIDE.
· ACTION: Update RIDE on the change in Building Committee membership. – Superintendent Kraeger
5.2 Discussion on Building Committee Organization
· Chair Ed Brady outlined the process to elect a Vice Chair to the Building Committee. He then asked for a motion to open the nominations for Vice Chair.
· MOTION: Theresa Spengler moved to open the nominations for vice chair and Bill Nash seconded. The motion passed unanimously (13-0).
· Tom Welch nominated Bill Nash and Don Morin seconded.
· Marc Thayer nominated Tami Holden and Peter Connerton seconded.
· Chair Ed Brady asked for additional nominations. Hearing none he asked for a motion to close the nominations.
· MOTION: Theresa Spengler moved to close the nominations for vice chair and Bill Nash seconded. The motion passed unanimously (13-0).
· DISCUSSION: Tom Welch asked to hear from the two nominated candidates. Tami Holden stated that since there was another candidate nominated for the vice chair position, she was comfortable with removing herself from consideration for Vice Chair. Bill Nash stated that he was humbled to be nominated for the Vice Chair position. He asked about the need to formally elect Don as the secretary and Town Administrator Brown confirmed that Don is the secretary, and no additional action is needed.
o VOTE: To Select a Building Committee Vice Chair. Ed Brady moved to approve Bill Nash as Vice Chair and Peter Connerton seconded. The motion passed unanimously (12-0) with Bill Nash abstaining.
5.3 Discussion of RIDE Stage III Schematic Design Submission
· As mentioned earlier in the meeting the Building Committee needs to vote to recommend the submission of the Stage III Schematic Design to RIDE in parallel with their Stage II Application review.
o VOTE: To Recommend the Submission of RIDE Stage III Schematic Design for parallel review with the Stage II Submission. Bill Nash moved to recommend the submission of the Stage III Schematic Design to RIDE in parallel with their Stage II Application submission and Tom Welch seconded. The motion passed unanimously (13-0).
· Justin Bernard explained that Stage III has three levels: Schematic Design review will take place now, Design Development submission will take place in about five months, and 60% Construction Document review will take place later in the process.
· Chair Brady stated that Donna Sweet and Poe George are planning to visit Saugus Middle/High School next week. If any others wish to attend, they should inform Superintendent Kraeger.
· The Construction Manager at Risk reviews will take place once the proposals are received.
· Chair Brady is reaching out to the Historical Society to try to obtain pictures that can be incorporated into the school building design. Tina Stanislaski explained that HMFH worked with the local historical society and the local librarian to obtain pictures and information about the history of Saugus for incorporation into the Saugus Middle/High School design.
6. Adjournment
MOTION: Tom Welch moved that the Building Committee adjourn at 6:17pm and Theresa Spengler seconded. The motion passed unanimously (13-0).
Future Meeting Schedule – The next meeting will be on March 27, 2024 at 5:00p.m. at the Oliphant Administration Building.
Respectfully Submitted,
Don Morin