Good afternoon everyone. Today is the uh August 15th meeting of the elementary school building committee. Um and I thank you all for joining in the middle of August, which I know for many of you is potentially vacation time. Um my my
my first order of business as always is since we're conducting the meeting um by Zoom is to make sure all the committee members can hear and behold heard by us. And I'm just going to call out names and
just indicate that all is well. M Gallo Okonnell present. Bruce, I'm here. Simone here. Allison, hello.
Angelica here. Uh, Tammy here. And welcome back, Tammy. Um, Jennifer here. Deb. Um, Deb, could you just speak up? I
didn't hear any voice. Okay. Yeah, good. Elicia. Okay. So, uh, the meeting is called to order. And Cassenya, um, we have a pretty simple agenda. So, we're going to lead off with you, but I think as
everyone saw, we have a construction update. I'll just stick it off. We have a construction update and then we have an update on the playground with a memo that you all received. And I listed as potential vote, so we don't necessarily
have to vote today. And invoices and public comment. Um, so that's the sequence. So, first off, our Consena um, andor whoever is doing the update on construction and I see we've got both
Danesco here and Accenture. So, Cassenia, it's yours. It's all all a team project as will be the presentation. Um, so we'll have Connor put up the slides and um, Tim
will walk us through the what we see. But overall, I'll just start by saying that by the money the project is about a third spent um, by the money on the construction contract where we live 28%.
So that gives you a general idea of how far we are through this. Um, and the visual impact of the changes is a little steep by itself. Go ahead and maybe uh one slide at a time.
So, is is someone is Tim talking us through these or we just going to flash through slides? Which what are we doing? I can talk through them uh if if that's my cue. Certainly. Um here we are. I believe uh actually this is is this last month's photo or now? Um uh the exterior
the steel structure is complete at this point and has been for a little while. Uh you can see the exterior walls being framed. Um uh to date there are about 60% enclosed on the building and as we go through the other photos you'll see the progress. Uh I would read the text
and sort of go along with the presentation but I can't really read it with a low contrast on my screen. Um so here you can see uh the sheathing has made it all the way to the east end of the building. the library is on the right. The yellow is the exterior sheathing that uh is the exterior wall
and the white on the left is the air and vapor barrier that is applied once the sheathing is up. Um and then the lower leftand corner of the built of the picture on the left you can see the masonry has started at the northwest corner and is all the way up to the second floor. Uh you're on the uh north
side of the building so it's in shadow there and you can't really see the contrast of colors but u they are progressing nice. Uh here is a preparation to pour the slab in the administration area in the picture on the left and the cafeteria on the
picture of the right. Uh with these final slab pores, all of the floors in the building will be cast and um the concrete uh portion of the job will be done and that should happen in the next few weeks. Here's a better look at the
brick that is going up at the north and south of the building so you can have a better sense of the colors and the contrast that you will see. I should note that on the window openings to the left that you see the larger format concrete block that is not the final
product. There is um a tile that will be applied to that that you may um remember from the renderings. It's a series of very vibrant colors that will give the whole building a little bit of pop in the final condition. Uh here are pictures inside. On the left is the corridor. Those hangers are all
of the mechanical piping that's going to be above the ceiling. And on the right is actually the third floor uh adjacent to the cafeteria which will be a couple of offices and the literacy library in the background. Uh but it is an interesting shot of the steel and all of the bracing that we have there.
Uh more pictures of the exterior. Uh here you can see in a few locations they have the brackets up for the uh exterior sun shades that will be on the south elevation. Um to toward the Yeah, you can see them there. And then on the right all the way in the distance they
are up. Um but uh the masons and the exterior uh like gage metal framing crew are progressing uh quite nicely. And then on to uh the last slide. The next site tour will be believe it's
September uh 30th, Tuesday, September 30th at 3 p.m. So if you are interested in attending, please send me an email and I will be creating a um a calendar hold for that as well.
And the first site for uh Monday, July, it was very well attended. Um, everybody enjoyed being there so much that it it it went on. Um, and um, we had really good participation. So, we had started
that one at 400 p.m., but because it went on as long as it did, I think we were keeping the construction crew there a little long. Um, so we decided going forward to move it up to 300 pm. Um, hopefully that still works for everybody. do please let Connor know
when um who wants to attend and when we're available. And if there's particular interest to participate from some folks that the 3:00 hour just never works, uh please let us know that too and we'll make adjustments.
Uh Cassen, I just have a question. The school will in be in session that day, correct? I expect so. So my question is if people come we should try to park offsite is what what
I'm thinking that you won't necessar or will you have places where we can park? It'll depend on um it'll depend on how many people are coming. So once we know uh a couple of days out we will send instructions and
we'll make accommodation on the site itself. also send specific instructions, reminders about appropriate clothing and footwear, etc. Uh to those people who indicated an interesting Okay. Okay. Um
are there any um sorry to just jump in, but are there any questions on any of this uh for people? I do encourage anyone who didn't go on the last walkthrough to come. It's pretty exciting when you look out um the
windows when you can you can get all the way up to the third floor and look out when we were there and it's amazing how much has been done since we were there on what the 22nd of July. It's not only a few weeks later. It's kind of stunning. So,
so I think we can take this down and just so I I don't see any hands up for any questions or comments. So the the next agenda item is something that was almost under the late breaking
news 20 the 48 hour rule but Bob parent who um on behalf of the town because I think you remember the the entire playground surface cork was removed from Danesco doing it to being the town
responsibility because of the concerns with the risks with it. So Bob as the a project manager for the town and first with Margaret alerting us Margaret and Daniscoco alerting it to us that not all was going well with the cork out at this
one school. Bob has been pursuing it because he the town is the one that will have to contract directly not through Disco or anyone else with the product. Uh, so Bob, I'm going to turn this over to
you and I've allowed um screen sharing. So to the extent everyone was sent your memo in advance and I posted it. So, uh, uh, what I would suggest is you summarize your findings and then use
your pictures to also talk about what you saw because he he went out to the school, which is my understanding it's it's the first one in Massachusetts, but I also think it's the first one in New England that has been trying to use this product. Um, so that's why we're it's on
the agenda for today. Deb, point of order. Um, can you reiterate the part about the 48 hours because I'm not following that. It seems to me that it was this potential vote was posted less than 48
hours. So, I'm concerned. No, no. The the issue is that anything that's late breaking that happened within 48 hours of me of me posting the original agenda which just had construction update um is is fine. We
don't have to take a vote today. We can decide not to take a vote today. So I listed as potential vote, but we do have to do something because the instruction to the town was cine. So if we're going to shift in any way, we have to at least
have a discussion today. But anything that's late breaking that um I have to post the agenda within 48 hours of the meeting and I had already posted agenda when you all got it that just said construction update, but I only found
out about this on Wednesday. So that's that's just said I could have just done it on 48 hour but since I had the memo I decided to get it to everyone as quickly as possible and put it on uh not just put it on the agenda. Is that okay for you? I mean we can
just a process followup. I mean, I understand that that the the memo was was um it just seems like the site visit was more than 48 hours
ago. So, I understand the memo was more current than that, but I'm just not understanding why this was not originally because I didn't have any information, right? I didn't have any information on this a week ago. Nothing.
Nothing. You know, Bob Bob put together this memo. So, so it is on our agenda, we do not have to take a vote. I think we should hear what was seen. Um the the issue is if we think Cine
after what we hear from Bob is not viable, what instructions do we want to give? We don't have to decide what other direction we go in right now, but we have to make a decision because the playground is going in. Um, we'll hear
about the timing for the playground in time for the school to open. So, this isn't something that we can just ruminate on for months. Um, and if we want to, so the other thing I'll say on timing, if we want to go back to the conservation commission, if we want to,
that's an if. um they have a pretty full agenda and they don't move quickly. Yeah. Okay. We don't have to go back to them if we went to engineered wood fiber. If we went to you know what we went to a completely different they're fine with
cork. There may be but that was only because of that decision that we moved off of PIP um originally. You know that was we moved off of it because of their decision. So, this is just uh it's a timing issue, but we do not have to
decide today. Okay. Okay. So, Bob, why don't I'm turning it over to you on a um uh present what you found out. And I I have to also I think a big thanks to all of us because this
wasn't just a few phone calls. This was uh visiting and talking and um after an early alert. and Bob the the floor is now yours. Great. Thank you. Um just a little bit of background as to
why I'm involved as you indicated the history with Disco um not being comfortable moving forward with this product. When that came up, the town manager asked me to get involved uh to be the town's representative in terms of moving this project forward and I was very comfortable with that. And you may
or may not know but my prior position as city engineer in Holio I oversaw the design of uh five playgrounds in the past about half dozen years or four years when I was in Holio that involved a variety of engineered wood fiber and port in place obviously didn't involve
cork keen so when Paul asked me you know was I comfortable moving this process forward I said definitely very comfortable with that um I got involved I believe it was originally in February of this year and started to try to get a dialogue going
with the supplier, manufacturer, and potential installers because I needed to make certain before we started a procurement process that what we're putting out for public bidding because the installation will
have to be public bid um was something that they were willing to bid on it. You know, it made no sense to go out there. So I shared the specifications, I shared the design that Denis Grid produced for the playground layout um and started a d
a dialogue with the former sales manager um of for Amaran uh Amaran America who's the supplier of the cork material um and went back and forth a couple of times and then it got silent and we were
eventually advised that he was no longer at the firm and that I should reach out directly to the president of Amaran North America who is responsible for the entire business that Amaran North America uh does relative to cork products in the country. Um had a
dialogue going with him. Again things stopped. It got silent. At that point um I talked with Margaret and Margaret said well you know maybe maybe I can reach out to the international contact that I had at Amaran and maybe they can get the attention of the president. Um and
that's what happened. uh the president uh finally responded back and said, "Oh, I didn't see your emails. I didn't, you know, I didn't get your phone calls, etc., etc." Um, and then we were then turned over to a new sales manager for
Amaran uh just recently and put in contact with a new installer for the material. Then the new installer went silent as well. Um, and I placed a couple of phone calls to the new sales manager and ultimately basically left
him a fairly tourist message that said, you know, we need to figure this thing out or we're not going to be able to move forward. Um, so there's a lot of history there and I I probably don't need to elaborate. I did learn a few things from the from the sales manager that I'll share it at some point if the
opportunity comes up, but we knew that there was a problem at the Eastern facil Easton facility. you know, we were advised of that early this spring, late winter, early spring. Um, I believe we shared that with the building committee at one point and basically indicated we
are aware of some issues. We're going to look into those issues um and report back to the building committee. Essentially, what happened in Easton is nothing happened um until just this summer. There was an agreement
originally between the contractor, installer in town to repair and replace the work that had been installed that was supposed to start right at the beginning of of the school break. That didn't happen. The contractor didn't show up. It finally got pushed and
pushed and pushed and I was advised by the facility manager about a week week and a half ago that things were happening. So, it was actually a great time for me to get down there. I was able to see uh really the core product in all the phases of the core product as
well as um you know the repair areas and if if you don't well let me so that's what brought me to Eastern last week and that's what allowed me to because I I didn't want to come back to this committee and offer any new information without actually having a chance to get
out there see it understand it have conversations with the manager as well as with the designer for the facility Uh, and I'll keep this brief because I've learned enough so that you I Anyway, I'll keep this brief. What you see in this photograph is
a new installation of cork partly underway. Uh, you see the the the stone base material and you see the corken base material. This was actually on an area of the playground that was not touched last year at Easton. that was they authorized in addition to the
repair they authorized the contractor to move forward with the work that had been halted because of the performance problems. Um, one of the interesting things I learned from the sales manager at Corken is if you you can't really see it in this
photograph, but you're there in in person, you would see that the stone is shiny. And I, you know, wondered why is it shiny? Looked like it had been treated with something. And in talking with the sales manager, they actually take the binder material that they apply to the core keen to stick it all
together and they apply that to the stone as well. Let that set up and then place the binder material on top of that and place the the base material on top of that. And that's the reason some of the difference is that corkine that's because corkine has the tendency to
float and they've learned that if they don't effectively stick it to the stone they have had problems with this material floating if groundwater accumulates um in that location. So that's one difference with corken that that we don't see with the conventional
poured in place material. This again a shot of a completed base new base material installation. You can see it's relatively coarse material. I included a photograph that's you know they're they're pieces of cork about a/4 in maybe a little bit big in in general
dimension. Uh same thing base material at a new installation. This is a finished top course at a base installation and I have a zoom in on it. It's a much finer material that's
applied, but it also feels differently. And again, talking to the sales manager, what and it feels stiffer. And the designer confirmed with me that was her the same impression that she had that it didn't feel quite as pliable as a port
and place material or even the base material of core keen. And what the manufacturer indicated, sales rep, is that that's by design because the base material underneath the surface material is not as strong as the
surface material. And it has a tendency to effectively crack and to break into pieces. And the intention of the surface material is to tie all of that together. And and and because of that, that's why it feels different. It's it's a it's the same material, but it's constructed
differently and behaves differently than the underlying material. Again, that's a difference with this product. That's what this product looks like very close. You know, the the the the the pieces of cork are very small, less than an eighth in, you know, in dimension.
And again, as comparison to the the the base course, again, closeup of the base course material. I took a photograph of the binder material that they use to glue everything together with effectively. And I did it for two
reasons. One to just indicate, you know, there's some, you know, very high volatile solvent type material that that basically that this binder is made up of very similar to the poured in place. I don't know if it's the exact same chemical makeup, but it's the same idea.
you know, some some very um high high volatility chemicals that are used as the glue that binds everything together. The other piece that the main reason I took the photograph is if you look at the installation temperature, they talk about having a limitation of 5° C to 25°
C. 25° C is 78°. That's a pretty low temperature to install. You know, it's a it's a it's it's a pretty tight limit. you know, we don't have too many days in the summertime, for instance, where the temperature doesn't get above 78 degrees. So, what they are doing in um
Easton on the repair areas was they were doing all the work at night. During cooler temperatures, that's great. On the other hand, the ability to install things carefully, properly with lighting, etc. at nighttime is it can be tricky. Um, but it was mainly the
temperature that I picked up on here. So this slide shows one of the repair areas. So there the problems that they had. And let me if you don't mind, I'm going to jump. I'm going to stop sharing
this and show something else. Oops. Let me try this again. Almost there. So, these are some photographs that we obtained actually from February of this year. I didn't take these photographs. They were sent to us. This shows some of
the problems that were seen within a couple of months of installation. In some cases within a few weeks of installation at the eastern facility, they were getting delamination of the surface material in the high area wear areas around the spinning device at the
base of the swings and slides and things like that. You know, the surface material is basically, you know, breaking away from the the binder material underneath it. And the binder material is not as strong as the surface material. So that starts to wear away
fairly quickly. You know, the other thing they were seeing, again, this was very quickly, I think within a few weeks of installation, was cracking through that surface layer. Um, so, and another uh picture of some of the wear and delamination as of this last
spring or February, not not even before they started the repair work. So if I if I go back to the slides I was sharing originally let me. This shows an area that is in the process of being repaired. You can see
the circled areas. Those circled areas are areas where the base material was completely cut out and replaced. Um I don't know why that judgment was made, presumably because there was greater wear and more impact on the base layer. And then you see the remainder of the
the location where they physically came in and sanded much of the top course off. Um it's still part of the top course, but their their plan is now to then retop this entire location. That may be done by now. Um the work was supposed to have happened this last
weekend and it may have happened this last weekend. I don't know. So, and you can see, you know, this is a sanded area where there was delamination right through the top course down into the underlying base course.
Again, this is another location where they sanded took, you know, a significant piece of the top course off with the intent of of replacing it. Same thing again, cutting out some sections and sanding other sections.
And then in some areas, they completely replace the base course. So, this is a location where they took all the base course out and put in new base course. Um, and it has new top course on there as well now. So that's that's what I saw. Um I spoke
with the uh director of facilities. I spoke with a designer. Um you know, the designer hopes that this works in Easton. She's not sure, you know, based on what she's seen to date. U the the director of
facilities is skeptical. Um he says as a minimum it takes very good you know extensive training for the installation and very careful installation and very careful monitoring of the installation and that's that's the only way that he sees that there's a chance for the
product to be successful at their location. Um so that's what I saw in Eastern. Let me talk a little bit about Ammer and where they are today as I understand it and they what they've told me is that they
are retooling the way that they sell and install the product. They are coming up with a a different approach in terms of certifying installers, people that have been trained that they they are willing to put their name out there and say they're an Amaran certified person.
They're in the process of doing that. um they struggled providing many names to me. They provided one name. I had one great conversation with that firm and they have gone radio silent again. In fact, the the sales rep from um Amaran
told me on Monday, you know, I should hear from them in a day or two and if I don't hear from them in a day or two, let him know. So, he'll try to find another installer. So, you know, it's it's they they're really, you know, redoing the way they're doing things. And he also shared with me, honestly,
that this is not the only location they've had problems at. And the the installer in this location is not the only installer that they've had problems with. So, they're basically cutting loose all their prior installers and coming up with new certifications and
new firms that they feel comfortable working with. And I guess that's, you know, it's it's the product viable maybe. Uh, do they yet have a organization that
can sell and deliver the product reliably? I don't believe so. I haven't seen any evidence of that. And in fact, I continue to get confirmation of not having that organization yet because there have
been, you know, multiple, you know, dead-end conversations and commitments that, you know, haven't haven't been carried through with. So, why don't we take the slides down? Thank you. And we will post all of this.
Um um I think everyone has the memo, but uh what I thought would be good um the memo talks about uh several potential options and I I want to make sure everyone asks questions whether we have other options
we could consider because right now the memo lays out go to all engineered wood fiber um go to a hybrid model which would have PIP in it um which would require Hong Kong saying yes to it. Um
and those were kind of so and those were both saying if we move off Corkin. So with that as the background um uh do we stay with CE or not given what we've just heard and I see Margaret's hand is up and the um what I don't know is when
the uh decision has to be made in terms of procuring whatever surface we want and installing it. So I see Margaret's hand. Angelica, it's okay. Call call on Margaret first to see if I didn't lay it out and then I'll just go to any hand
that you I I just apologize. I had just got a call to I need to step away for a few minutes but I will be back. Okay. Okay. Fine. So, everyone should put hands up with any and all questions because I've already you know like I saw some
playgrounds in Switzerland and I have some questions on do we have other choices? So, Angelica. Yeah. you know, thank you, Robert, for this. Um, I appreciate the memo. I think that, you know, you have, in my view, presented some very compelling red
flags. Um, I will say though that I am eager to discuss, uh, about the recommendations that you suggest. Um, as a mother of children that will be attending the school and also as somebody that is concerned about accessibility, I would like to have the
following information. First, I'd like to have more information about um the accessibility of an engineer wood fiber. I know that there is a pos the there's the option of the what is it the more loosely more stabilized one because I
had raised previously concerns about the um accessibility of having a playground that is wood fiber for students with mobility vehicles. Um, I know that also the poor in the PIP had raises concerns for in in various ways. I know we've
raised before the concerns about the toxicity, but I want to once again raised the concerns about related to accessibility. So on the one hand, the PIP is more accessible for mobility vehicles, but on the other hand, and as of this morning, I heard from a special education teacher again about the heat
issues. So any of us that have been to Grath Park know that it's incredibly hot. It gets incredibly hot and you know uh the good thing about graph is it's got a a a splash pad. So children take off their shoes and they run right to the splash pad to cool off
because you cannot walk on it. Now many students will have of course their shoes on but a lot of students with sensory concerns will take off their shoes. And many students ambulate in various ways. They use not only mobility vehicles but also will take off their shoes or will use their hands to get to the
playground. And so this all of this races. So I'd like to have more information about the temperature of pour in place and I know before one of our discussions had been about if the color and choosing a different color can mitigate temperature. I'd like to have exact data about if as best we have
about the mitigation of temperature concerns that we have important place. So, if we can have a memo that buffers up the the part with the recommendations, I'm glad we're not taking a vote because at this point I don't have feel like I have enough data and enough information to take a vote on
it, but I appreciate the concerns raised. So, thanks Allison. Uh, thank you Bob. I really appreciate the information. Um and um in the report it's mentioned that EWF sand and
pearavevel were options and I just want to humbly say that I do not believe that those are options. Um cuz the the idea of a a stabilized EWF. I'd like more information on that, but we have wood chips now and it is not accessible. Sand
is not accessible. Gravel would not be accessible. We have um a handful of children who use wheelchairs. This is not a abstract idea that we really need to uh make sure we prioritize their ability to access the playground because at this time they are not able to access
our playgrounds. Um, and then also we I keep hearing about how Europe is doing things and I'm not familiar enough with the weather uh extremes because you know when I look at a map I know Germany is similar in latitude but I hear about how
much more mild the weather is there or something like that but Canada same you know I I if if maybe Canada is using this product or what are they doing that would give evidence to some of the concerns re regarding accessibility and
heat. Um, and so I just would like us to uh because that one recommendation in the report I do not feel are our options and uh so I just would like to make sure we have as much information as possible. Um and Canada might be a better
comparative uh resource since we don't have a whole lot of options in New England that are using uh things that we are finding usable. Thank you. Deb, hi. Uh, thank you for this. It's, you know, nobody wants to put in a
playground that nobody can use, but we also don't want to put in a playground that, um, students, some students can use and others can't. Um, my my issues, I mean, it seems like the memo identifies two basic issues. one is
whether or not cork would work for us based on the fact that it didn't work for Eastston. And um respectfully, I I would need more more um information about other installations in particular
um Bob you mentioned that there were other difficulties installing uh cork in the US. So, I would want to know what those were and have access to some of that information. I know, Kathy, we don't have an infinite amount of
time. Um but I also feel like um it's really important for the community to have the opportunity well for us to study it properly for them for the information to get out to the community about what we're basing our decisions on
because um you don't want to be in a bait and switch position where people go away at the end of the school year and say hey and then come back and say hey what happened to our playground um while we weren't uh over the summer. So those are those
are my concerns is that we really just do a thorough job in and zooming out and thinking about what our needs are. So one is the whether or not cork is going to work for us even though it didn't
work for Eastston or is not currently working for Eastston. And the other is that um the the the product itself is is not commonly used in the United States and therefore installation access
all of those things have been uh problematic and and that's certainly a concern. Um if overall the product is beneficial and um we can afford it, then it's worthwhile in my opinion pushing
past those difficulties in in getting through to um getting a a product that will work best for the environment and for our our students, all of our students. and and for those little bodies that will be absorbing whatever
um uh whatever outgassing these products do. And I recognize that all of them any composite material is going to have some sort of binding. Um so I I did go back to this playground surfacing from low
center for sustainable production to to remind myself of what the different binding concerns were. So, those are those are my thoughts. We really need some time to process this. We really need to get community input. Um, we really need some more
information. And is engineered wood fiber wood chips? Because I couldn't quite understand it. Um because and it seemed like in Bob your your memo you said it was
marginally accessible but if that is engineered by word wood fiber wood chips I can't see how it is even marginally accessible. That's it. Right, Bob. I think that's a question. What exactly is engineered wood fiber and the um is is it anything
we see in town and in terms of wheelchairs and protecting people against falls? So, I think the question it's loose, right? So, it's loose. It's not it's not a uniform surface. The lay person would look at it and call
it wood chips. It's a more carefully produced wood chip product with, you know, more carefully controlled gradation and material sizes and things like that. Um,
it is sold openly as being accessible. um and it might be the day it's installed, but it very quickly loses its accessible function um because of how the material moves and shifts and settles and things like that.
So that's that was the reason I chose the word marginally is yes, on day one it might meet AAB requirements, but on day two probably not. Bruce. Um Bob, I thank you for your report and you
and Margaret's energy in this. Um uh I'm not so inclined to be wanting to have more information. I do want to have more information on some things, but it seems evident to me that you've done a
fairly thorough job. And it's kind of distressing the result because uh um I too have read and I reread this morning the Tur report from Laurel uh that I think is probably the basis for the
Concom's finding that this uh put in place rubber is uh unacceptable because of the contaminant outwash. Um although I I think I'd like to be sure of that. So I I would probably want us at some point to uh depending on the
guess on the outcome, but uh it would seem that we want to be have know a little bit more now about uh how resolute the finding of the concom was in regard to uh the alternatives particularly the port in place rubber.
Um the because this this product seemed as though it provided all that we wanted. It was a light colored surface that seemed to more likely not get so hot. It was resilient and it uh it full protection seemed to be in order. It provided the level of accept
accessibility. It was a it seemed like uh the world had come up with uh an improvement and uh but now from what you're saying Bob I can understand from my 50 years in in in as as an architect and half of it as a
principal um and one who was uh in a practice that was often pioneering certain practices. And so we were always looking at uh in new products and and trying to decide whether or not we should recommend them to our clients and so forth. So I was mindful when um a
year or more ago that DNSCO decided uh not to make such a recommendation and uh and and u and I know not to be um I think by now um frivolous in those kind of determinations. So there was a a a
concern there a bit, but it seems as though this product uh was something that we could depend on. But now it seems that you found that uh that the product is suspect both from a an installation procedural point all the
way up to the robustness of the company and as to whether the company will um survive sufficiently to uh um be able to provide um reliable warranty uh uh
commitments. So it seems that this product whereas it might be suitable for a deep pocketed client um we often worked for rather wealthy institutions that could afford the risk of having to
redo uh this or to fight the battle with a manufacturer. But for a town and for a town such as us and so forth, it seems that this product and this manufacturer and is is not ready for u u for a place
like us to commit. It would seem what was found that that uh we would we're not in a position to consionably commit to this product and this company and this place at this time. um your data
about the um temperature range for installation seems to be exactly what you might expect from a product that's doing well in Norway um where you could probably get a lot of hours of the year through the the summer when you could install the product
within that temperature range. But you're right, it's it's it's a narrow window in this climate. So that's a concern. Um and uh I know from as I said from my time in the game that
um companies that are successful on one continent don't automatically quickly establish themselves reliably on another. That's true of u fiber cement products that were in Australia decades before they were successfully
established here. So it just seems that a um a small town with a a very large commitment to a project is not a good candidate to take on the risk associated with this kind of product,
this kind of company, this kind of innovation and so forth. So I'm um I would be persuaded that we should look for an alternative um sadly. So um I guess I would be asking our
design team whether they could recommend not just an alternative product but probably also an inter maybe an alternative approach because maybe it's possible to sufficiently diminish the uh the adverse
environmental consequences by doing some kind of hybrid combination. I don't know, but I would like to know whether our design team at this point would have thoughts that could help us through this because we it's clearly a dilemma and it's clearly one that has to be resolved
fairly quickly because we're in construction and we may have had uh we would have we had much more time to deliberate during design. But once you get into construction and you're, you know, well into construction, this is not a time when we can sit back and ask
for lots of reports and and more and more information. I think we've we we have involved someone who understands that right now you have to get the information. You have to get it quickly. You have to be thorough and you have to be exhaustive. So my guess is that there's not a lot more out there to
discover about this product and this company. Um, you could tell me whether you think I'm wrong, Bob, whether there's more you can discover, but but my sense is that we have to be a little more um uh engaged. We have to be a little more
uh aggressive and uh and and move towards looking for a viable alternative and and and sadly that doesn't seem to be a very big window. So my question would be Kathy uh madame chair uh to our design team whether such
recommendations could be uh given to us at the next meeting. Okay. I'm going to take a moment as chair just to provide some information that I think Deb asked about because she wasn't here for the first I don't think she was here for the first round of it.
We called around when Cork King came up as a product deb Margaret that we but we also looked to see where else had been installed and the issue is whether there was any installer that did anything in the northeast. So Eastston was the place we found because of that. There is no
other choice and we they're switching installers. The place we knew about in Philadelphia turned out it wasn't all CE underneath it was PIP. Um, so it had not been fully described well there. So Texas, um, but there wasn't anything
else in the kind of climate we have and there's a little bit in California. So there was an effort to find out where in the United States there was and so some of this is the company and also the installer. So what you heard from Bob is trying to find out anything about an
installer and and what we're hearing is installers have not been well trained. if they're not well trained. Eastston's replacing basically all of it. And they had to threaten to withhold the money. This wasn't a Oh, I'm so sorry. It's It's uh falling apart. So, the warranty
is a big issue. So, I So, just um I'm taking a series of notes, but I did want to give Tim a chance just so everyone knows. He did a sketch um of what a hybrid might look like, whatever else the issues of PIP are. So, I want to
make sure we have time for that, but I'll call on you, Deb. I just wanted to give you that background. There was a lot we called all around. Um, and Margaret did a lot of work with the conclusion that it's likely vol viable and we have one place that's installing
it, but we didn't have any more information. And that's when Danesco decided and and with a with actually um Rupert from the school system said there's no way we should be the first you know let's see what happens in Mass
in the other because the installation is the big issue. It's complicated to install it. So I think at least today it's sounding like quen in the summer of 2025
as far as we know is not viable for the spring of 2026 from what we know right now. That's that's about where we are with Bob's memo. We don't know for sure there's an installer that knows how to do it. We don't know whether there's a company that will back it up. So the the
question is what else we have on the table. So, I'll turn it over to you, but I just wanted also to let alert people that there is a drawing of what it might look like if the objection was the entire surface. Go on, Deb. Yeah, I just wanted to caution about
generalizing from a data set of one, which is what um scientists sometimes do. What I'm hearing is there are no other um successful installations at all um in the Northeast. Correct. And
this was we searched for that initially and we found Eastston was the one that was about to do it. Um and then we knew about one in Philadelphia. There were the the at the time we were looking at this there were several going in in Texas and it looked like there
were some in California. Margaret who went off the call but she had a list because she was calling to see whether and then she did find this branch that was saying yes we're we're able to do it in the northeast and here's um and this
alert by the way came to us because the group the team that's doing our playground equipment was visiting Easton they're this and they said you should go see it it's it's being torn up it's it's failing um there's a problem with the product so we got an alert because of
the DNA team's sub sub person on playground equipment. So I I just wanted to give you make sure people had that information. So we we're not likely we we do not have to make a vote today. We meet again in a month. So I'm making a list of everybody's questions that we
want to have the do design team get back to us on so we can make a decision um a month from now. Um and and what we can also do is gather concom had information beyond just the Tory piece on PIP. We
can make sure that that gets into a packet as well, you know, on on that. So the issue is a unit a unitary surface that covers up the the the base that allows as you said wheelchair. It also um Allison I remember you saying I don't
don't want any more broken bones. you know that the issue is you know that that it doesn't pack down so much that when someone falls on it they break something that you know that we want it to be that have that resilience to it
not just on day one but a month later you know or or six months later. So those were the the concerns that got us originally to a choice of PIP or cine because we didn't have any other uniform binder kinds of things that that anyone
told us about. Anyway, that's just the background on how we got to cine. No, followup then. Yeah. Um just in my very preliminary Googling um of the unitary options
eliminating artificial grass um and eliminating cork that leaves um rubber pip and perforated rubber mats. Are any either of those?
Um, I mean, I know when we talked about turf, there were turf options that were not that didn't have certain PAS elements. Is there PIP that's not made with recycled rubber tire? It's all
recycled rubber tire. Yeah. And and turf to play on doesn't have the resilience to fall. I know. I know. No. So, so yeah, I'll let Bob, but I think you know I'm I will I'm doing questions. So, the question is
there is there other options? I saw um connected large thick rubber mats in a eur a European playground, but they put them just under the play equipment that you could fall off of, you know, and and surrounding it was in a a grassy area of a playground, but
they were put under the swings, under any climbing equipment, under the seesaws, um and under uh yeah, seesaws, swings, and climbing equipment. And they were they were when I say, you know, like this thick with a connector with some space between them so water would
they wouldn't get wet. They wouldn't have puddles on them. So Bob and then we've got Tim to to ask, you know, what are our other choices? And I think we're asking a month from now, can we have some choices before us? And Margaret, I was
speaking for you on the background research you did on Cork on where else where else it's being installed. you know, do we just give up on it because right now we don't have a reliable parent company or installer that we know for sure. So, I'll let you come back to
that, but Bob's hand is up. Um, so I'm I'm saying that we don't have to decide anything today. We just have to get every question on the table so that we can make a decision a month from now. Bob, just a very quick comment on PATHs. U my
understanding is that whether we're talking about artificial turf or crumb rubber or other types of things, the PAS doesn't originate within the product itself. It originates in the machining and the manufacturing process. Um and so
it's it's the rubber doesn't have PAS in it. It's the process of manufacturing the rubber and possibly and I'm clearly no expert in manufacturing rubber tiles or other types of of um surfacing may also unknown to me but may also have uh
contaminants that are introduced as part of the manufacturing process. So I'm not seeing any hands up. Tim, maybe just show quickly that one slide you showed um this week when I asked what would a hybrid look like. And I'm not saying I think PIP is viable just
but just what it might look like and whether Concom would care that we've taken some of it out. Um if if that's okay with everyone. And then I do have I have a great It will take me one second to pull it up, but I will. And what I'll do is um
I'll type up because I have messy handwriting right now, but I'll type up the list of questions and share it with everyone to see whether I missed anything on information that we would like to have by the next meeting. Um unless I hear any any other bright ideas
right now. And Margaret, the question that was asked, Deb asked, should we explore more on CE? Is it working well in other places? Do do we do we have another history? And I know you went deeply into Philadelphia to find out it wasn't all
CE on what was underneath it and then and then where else it was around the country. I mean we did a fair amount of work on cork to come up with Eastston Deb as a place. So Margaret I don't know. I mean that was a I mean I I will just add you know I
think what I found in my research is that they've done this is very extensively used in Texas but it's a whole different climate zone and the issue with cork keen is that it
has proved to be um it gets much more brittle in cold weather. So it's hard to see that situation as applicable to this one. Um there was an installation in Philadelphia which I feel I felt at the
time that I was sold uh I was sold a bum steer because it was initially presented to me by one of the many cine reps who has disappeared over the course of this conversation
as being a perfect example only to discover that they ran into the same issue in Philadelphia. They had they had specified all of the um playground equipment which had fall
heights that were based on the assumption that they use the um the rubberized surfacing. So when they decided to switch to Corken, they the the
already procured equipment, uh, playground equipment didn't work. So the solution that the installer came up with was to put the rubber down and then put a little bit of cork on top of it. So it looks when you go online, it's like, oh, wow, look at
this fabulous installation. Um, but in fact they I would say they cheated and I would say they set themselves up for failure because they are likely to get delamination because they're putting two products on top of each other were never designed to
be done that it was these products were never designed to be used that way. So that was to me that was kind of the end of you know talking to the cork reps because I think that they really just they as Bob has experienced. It's it's a revolving door with these
folks. They haven't got their act together and I I have not learned since of any other installations. People are watching and they're interested. Um, I give the folks in Easton, the design team, a lot of credit because they were willing to go out on a limb about this
and I respect I respect Daniscoco for putting, you know, and the landscape architect on our team for putting their foot down and saying, you know, we aren't willing to absorb liability for this.
So, that's all I have to add. And this this is the rough sketch that I mentioned that Tim uh came up with when he saw Bob's memo had the word hybrid in it. So Tim, you can explain what brown is and what blue is.
So blue is the port and place rubber. Brown is the wood chips wood fiber depending on the product that is selected. Um and this is certainly a viable approach. Um you'll find if you uh survey schools in Massachusetts, this is actually used not infrequently.
Usually it's used as a cost control measure uh which being much less expensive than the board in place and this is a way to get the accessibility to the play equipment um and all of that without covering the
whole surface. Um you know the question remains if the concern with port and place rubber is uh the leeching of any offging or uh contaminants if using 50% of it less addresses those concerns and that's not
for us to make. But um all of the approaches um that involve engineered wood fiber um and board inplace rubber be it all wood fiber a hybrid system or all board in place are certainly viable and it's just a matter of weighing the
pros and cons and uh the committee making the decision what they want to do. Thank you. Thank you Tim. And this will also go in the packet just so people can remember the visual. So, um, taking that
down, um, my con, uh, as chair, I said potential vote. We're not taking any vote today. Um, I think people should be prepared to make a decision a month from now. And so, I will get my notes. Um, Angelica laid out a series of questions
as did Allison. Um, we're also asking what do we have any other options on the accessibility side? You know, think broadly. Um and uh Deb then questioned whether we're rejecting cine outright as not viable.
So that's still on the table, Deb, on that question as well. Um so I'm not ruling it. I don't think we should rule anything out, but I just it's a short list of questions and I guess it's some combination of Bob, Daniscoco, Margaret
getting back to us with a followup. What else? Um we know and just in terms of public input there was um quite a bit of public input which had us move away from PIP you know um this is not the
community itself unless we know someone who has installed another substance in a playground and had it work for accessibility. This is we're faced with I think a difficult choice because um if we move away from one that we've seen in
other places in town works for for falls for all of those concerns but does have the heat thing. So your question Angelica is do we know it doesn't get as hot if the color is right? Do we know that about PIP? And I think that's a a great question. So, I think we may be
faced with options we don't like, but we still have to make a decision. So, so that's a month from now. Um, Bruce, Angelica, and Deb all have their hands up. So, that's where I'm I'm that's my conclusion so
far. Bruce, um, I'd like to ask Bob and Margaret whether we we as a committee can expect any additional information about Cine between now and the next meeting or as I
suspect has that research uh been fully executed and reported upon. I'm gonna defer to Bob because Bob is really leading the process at this point. I know that one question that was asked um I don't expect we will have any
additional information on which is information regarding the other failed locations. Um, what I shared was what I was told by the sales manager for Amaran uh on Monday, which was telling uh a
gentleman who used to work in the PIP business that now works in in the cork business to acknowledge this isn't the only problem they have as a manufacturer, supplier. I don't think they're going to give us a list of their bad projects, but I think it was telling
that they were willing to in a informal conversation, honest conversation, you know, let me know that this gentleman's name Chris Hansen, you know, that that they're dealing with this elsewhere. Um, so I I'd love to be able to answer that question, but I suspect I will not be
able to answer it. Um, in terms of temperatures, yeah, could somebody get a temperature gun and run around to some sites that are in dex in direct sunlight and measure temperatures? That that, you know, that's doable. That's an exercise. I
don't necessarily know what we compare that to because, you know, we short of driving back to East again to put a temperature gun on their facility and saying, "Okay, this is how this compares." Um, so I'll say, you know, we can try to
collect additional information, but I'm not certain we'll be able to answer all the questions. Just like there's I don't think a perfect solution or solution that everybody's going to like. I think there's a lot of information we're would love to have, but we won't ultimately have. I'm I'm only asking because it
seems to me that uh the that it's a pretty clear uh decision about Cine that it's that it's it's not something that this town can uh commit to. And I really was asking whether there's any likelihood that we would get information
that would cause us to make a different decision by next month. I'm not really advocating that we make the decision now, but I I am observing that we probably could if we wanted to and make a make as good a decision today
as we would make uh a month from today. Okay. So that so that's the question on quen is will we have anything and and and I'll pose this as a question so we don't have to will we have anything more so we have what we have on quen right now. Um Angelica Deb and Allison
thanks Kathy. Um I just wanted to make very clear the accessibility issue because I don't think it's fully getting through and I appreciate Kathy what you've said about what a challenging decision it is a challenging decision with in terms of accessibility on the one hand the poor in place makes it
accessible on the other hand what I have experienced and I am also hearing from special education teachers it also raises accessibility issues at the same time so it's not just an issue of the toxicity it's the issue of the heat being a concern for students with
disability who have sensory concerns. So, just to clarify, students with wheelchairs may be able to get through, but students who have sensory concerns and may be taking off their shoes or walking with their hands on the surface will encounter a super hot surface. I
myself have taken my children and I find that that that gets super super hot. So again to contextualize my question it was can we find that there are any design options that mitigate so that we can take an informed decision to solve this problem and just to recall in the
past we had also discussed about umbrellas or some kind of shade from above I don't know if that's still part of the design but something from above that can cover that surface even if while the surface remains pipped because we want it accessible if there's something to mitigate how hot it gets
whether it's the color or some kind of shade umbrella or something. So I would love to see that in the design considered the various things not just I I love information but also what design solutions we have to increase the accessibility of the playground.
Okay. So just in in response, I'll make sure for next time people can see the amount of umbrellas we already have and and that question then could be added to um could more um and a question we don't even know if if hybrid is viable in
terms of we can get through concom. So Deb and then Allison and we we don't know what we don't right know know what the full range of choices are. Deb so I have three requests. One is that we
have a public meeting before the vote where the public has an opportunity to weigh in on whatever information we have. The second is for closure on core keen. I understand there's not much expectation to get a list of either
successful and or failed projects from the parent company, but I think being able to say that in public is worthwhile. So, I I I respect the fact, Bob, that you don't think they're going to get back to you
in in either way, but perhaps reaching out to the parent company in Europe and getting a list of installations in the US would allow us to have some answer to that question. Um, and then the last is I think you need to
get on the conservation committee um, docket because we might it does not look like we have anything except potentially poured in place rubber and that doesn't sound like that's going
to fly from either an accessibility point of view or from a um, environmental point of view. Thank you, Alison. I just want to go back to Tim's uh design and I've been trying to imagine
what does that look like um because I keep wanting to see my children who have accessibility needs being able to play tag, being able to be fully in the game. and the design that Tim brought up, which I think he's trying to try to
create um a nice compromise there. I think it just makes it so that there's a still a limit to how much somebody can be involved. Remember, nothing can help a child who can't go upstairs, right? So, like and and I guess we can talk
about the types of structures we have that can incorporate ramps as much as possible so that we can have as much accessibility to fun to structures as possible. Maybe um there are um I remember I was talking about with coverings and how expensive they are. I
curious about the types of structures that might integrate coverings with them. Maybe not separate, but they're part of the play structure. Um I I just I'm I'm not feeling uh great about the compromise, even though I really appreciate him taking the time to do
that. So, thank you, Tim. But it we just have an opportunity to create a space where I think kids can be fully involved. And if we're going to put the the if you're asking me in that final vote, if I have to choose between children being able to play fully together versus the environment, I'm
just going to say I'm really wanting children to be able to play fully with each other because that's what um I really want them to be able to experience for the first time. So um I just I'd like us not to forget that that's the that's really important. Um, and if somebody has to sit out and be
all by themselves in order for the environment to be protected, I just want us to that just it feels awful to me because we have that now. And I just think we can do better and we struggle with maintaining wood chips. I just want to be clear, wood chips takes a lot of maintenance. Um, and I just want like
we're just putting more on our on our staff to try to maintain something that, you know, as Bob said, if it's done like the very first day, it it it has a higher accessibility rating, but it's not going to we put more pressure on our
maintenance staff if we have to keep adding and grooming and grooming to try to maintain accessibility. So, thank you. Now, um, so what I'm hoping that we'll do next time, Allison, is both come back, uh, Tim just
resurrect our old pictures to also show the other play spaces we have because we have some cement cement areas which aren't the fall one on what we have. Um, and I would like everyone to know on terms of public input, there was no public input at Concom except against
PIP. no one was speaking out on these other issues, you know, on on children and playing and falls that it was not presented. It came out of the blue. Um and that wasn't well represented in another meeting too. So this this
concern about the children um was not presented and then we came up with cork as something that seemed to be the win-win. Um so uh so for the next meeting I can post it as definitely a two-hour meeting um so that we can
revisit the playground and how it's organized and uh decide to what extent we have a choice we can live with um and so that the design team has a way of moving forward. I mean, we have some
time. Bob Bob said, you know, procurement wise, except for CE, these are all on the procurement list. So, once we're we we can procure it. Installmentwise, Tim, it the surface has to be installed by when? Um,
the construction schedule has the playground and surface installed in April of 26. So, April is our this is when it would happen in 2026. So, it's not like we can ruminate on this and hope we lived in a
different world or we lived 10 years from now where where new options have been developed for us to choose from. And and just so um when Bruce said about deep pockets, um we've we we've picked two whether it's quine or pit, both of
those are the most expensive of the options. If there's something else that's protective, it's going to be less, you know, partial. It'll be less expensive. so budgetwise, but we we don't we won't have a school project to replace it if it fails. You know, we
won't have that money again. Um so we need to at least get something in my mind that like the school, we want a school that's going to last for a really long time. We would like this to last. Um so, so that's for the next meeting. Um, so I think we have a great list and
uh good issues and and so the 15th I will post I think I've opened in these I've been posting them for longer than we've been going but they've been halfhour meetings because we've had not much to discuss. So Cassenya um is is that is that satisfactory? I'm not
trying to cut it off but I don't think we can go much further now without additional information. So no vote today. um uh revisit this next week and we'll probably next month and we'll probably make this first um
with construction update. So, is everyone comfortable with that? I'm not I'm seeing nodded heads. So, in which case we're turning to invoices and then we do have a public we do have public comment and we have at least three people in the public. So, I want
to make sure we allow the up to three minutes for that comment. So, invoices. Um, Connor. Yep. So, hopefully you can see the invoice package presentation starting with the executive summary.
Hopefully you can hear me. Okay. Can I just get confirmation that you can see my screen? You can hear me. Okay, I'm here. Perfect. Great. All right. Starting off with the executive summary. Top left as always, we have our road map ahead. We have invoiceed previously in green, our
current invoice package in black, our unbuild portion of contracts in yellow, and our white brick road here, which is our currently uncommitted portion of the budget down here. Invoice previously, uh, 24
million, current invoice package, $4,94,594. And we'll get to the current invoice package in a minute. um percent invoiced overall the project budget is 30%. 70% uh remaining
and our total project budget is here. Scrolling down to our cash flow. Once again, this yellow line here shows us the month we're currently in. And this green bar is our current invoice package. It's the biggest so far and that's because we have a lot more trades
involved. Now, as always, green is the actual monthly invoice package amounts. Our blue is our projection, our road map ahead. And again, this big blue line at the end here just holds our contingency. So, if I keep on going
down to the invoice package summary, I'll zoom in a little bit. Go. We have six invoices this month. One from Answer Esenture, two from Deniscoco, one from CTA, and two from Alli testing, third party testing
agency. So the first one from Answer is for $49,682.50. It's 2% of our contract overall, bringing us up to 46% complete with 54% remaining. For DNiscoco, we have two invoices. The first is that 65,000 that we see uh
every month for construction contract administration services. The second one is a subconsultant invoice for geothermal consulting for $24,640. It's 1% of their contractor overall bring them up to uh 78%. I know 76 + 1
78 there's a little rounding uh going on there. Um but it is 78% complete 22% remaining. CTA Construction uh one invoice for $4,757,86019 6% of their contract overall bring them
up to 27% complete and 73% remaining of their contract. Allied Testing two invoices uh this month, one for $3,490.78 and one for $3,921. 2% of their contract overall. 19%
complete, 81% remaining. So, unless there's any questions on the summary, we'll start going through the invoices. Conor, I I have a question. Uh if you could scroll back up to the first uh diagram, the the basically the overview.
Um I'm looking at the uh the contingency bar which is uh always been very high and because it contains that 8 million uh or so that was um we gained because of the uh the bid process and so forth. It's not easy for me to see uh whether
that's been drawn down at all. Um and and given that we're now almost 30% into the contract, it might be appropriate to ask um have we had any change orders and how much of the contingency u has been committed uh at this stage uh
of the contract. Are we um how good how well set are we um appropo the way in which it was originally said? Is this project moving well from that point of view? Or have we got uh a large number of change orders
that we can't actually see because the the initial height of that damn thing is so high that we wouldn't necessarily notice uh um u contingency expenses. Um so firstly there have been
yes there are some change orders. we've presented on a few um to dates. We can speak to one or two more today. Having said that, there's been two significant things
and everything else has been, you know, one of them was the schedule matter that we all addressed and spoke deeply about as a result of a big protest in the fall, right? setting up allowances for
uh winter conditions which is a complete done deal at this point. Um and setting up an allowance for acceleration or overtime work uh which is maybe quarter or a third in uh that allowance. So th
those matters were significant upfront and uh stable. There's one uh change um that's recent around the borderline above which we'll speak
to in a minute. Um thank for everything else it has been remarkably little which speaks very highly to the quality of the design. And and Bruce, I think when Connor gets
to that page, we saw those two big change orders, the overtime and the winter condition one. And when we went into the contract, we knew that would be there. So I think I think we can get, you know, add those up to the other pieces. So Bob, do you
want to speak to the I'm not surprised by the answer, but I wanted to know where we were. Certainly. If if you'd like, I can reinforce what Casseni has said is that other than these two items that the quantity and the magnitude of the small
number of change orders um have been remarkably small to date. Job's not done yet, so I'm not going to put that money in the bank yet, but it's there have been no significant change order issues that have come up. The waterline issue, I'll be honest, it's an it's a it's an
item that I flagged when I got involved in the project. One of the many hats I've worn over the years in addition to designing many miles of water mane is and also as a water superintendent in Eastlon Meadow. Um I flagged that we were retaining the existing asbestous
cement or transite pipe water mane that comes into the project site that loops through the project site. Um, transite material was used for 20 or 30 years in the water industry and then it went away because it wasn't a very good
product. It had lots of issues related it particularly at this at at a location like this where you have high groundwater and poor soils. It over time will get soft and punky and is can at the same time the exterior gets
soft and punky but the inside gets very brittle and it is very easy to have it blow up catastrophically uh vibrations near it working near it working over the top of it etc. So, I I quite honestly was concerned that we're going to retain
that water mane and maybe it made its way through construction, but a year or two later it might fail. It's almost 70 years old now. It's already past the end of its useful life. So, you know, we discussed it with the design team. I discussed it with the town manager, discussed it with DPW, and we all agreed
that it was the right thing to do was to replace it as part of this project. And I I don't remember the exact number, Cassenia. Uh it's 200,000 and change I believe. I but it's that and you know the initial change are the two big ones in this job today. But I it I was the
guy that brought it up and you know I'm certainly willing to explain and and you know defend that recommendation that I made to the town manager. Hey, Connor, I think you could go on and go through as quickly as possible because we're we're holding people on.
Um that'd be great. Yeah, no problem. I will do it quickly. And um just to Bruce's comment about noticing um the contingency. We do have the original uh cash flow projection here which goes a little uh higher than
the current bar and that is in part due to the um change orders we already executed. also um a placeholder uh forecast for you know the playground surfacing and also we distribute a
little bit of the contingency throughout the project as uh to facilitate our cash flow pro projections. Um but so we do have a little bit of a visual of that. So, scrolling through the invoices,
first up, the answer invoice for $49,682 $2.50. And scrolling through the backup, we do not have any subconsultant invoices this month or answer. Moving down to Denisco's
invoice for July services contract administration services 65,000 and their subconsultant invoice for geothermal consulting services 24,640
and there's subconsc [Music] if you could just please repeat that. I didn't quite catch it. Maybe not. So down to CTA's requisition certified for the amount of
4,757,860.19. Moving down to the summary, uh column E is our this period work in place work completed and column F stored materials. And then our total for each
line being build this month is in column G completing the storeed dates. So this month they are billing for a few change orders. A couple to uh change order two which is uh the acceleration and winter conditions. At this point
it's just acceleration being build. a change order three which was for the partial overrun of the winter conditions um allowance of change order two um that's not what's being here build here. The second part of that we presented on
that was um the brick type quantity change. Uh and so they're billing for a portion of that here. And then change order 4, which they're billing for a portion of that waterline work that um has begun and that Bob was just talking
about. So that's change orders or any questions on the wreck that are CTA's requisition? I can keep going. Moving [Music]
down to Alliad's first invoice for $3,490.78. Got some uh reinforcing steel inspections, concrete field tests, um and structural steel inspections, and then a surface flatness testing of the
slabs or a slab. And then the second Allied invoice for $3,921 and some more um concrete tests, structural steel inspections, uh some field density
tests, compaction tests, and masonry inspections. Unless there's any questions on those. Uh, that concludes our invoice presentation. As always, we have pre-reviewed these invoices and recommend them for your approval. Um, I make a motion that we approve the
invoices as presented. Is there a second? Second, and is there any discussion? I once again I want to thank you all for this type of presentation. I find it very useful and um to the extent the
committee would find it useful. I will get this put into the packet so you can look at it after the fact and Bruce if you looked at that contingency table that we went through quickly. I think it answers your question you can total them up you know earlier ones and current
ones so we can see it. So, I am putting this to a vote. Again, just going across my screen as I see people. Um, Kathy is a yes. Mike Gallo, yes. Bruce, yes. Simone,
yes. Uh, Jennifer, Jennifer, you have to speak up so we can hear you. Yes. Sorry. That's okay. Tammy, yes. Deb, yes. Ellison,
yes. Alicia, yes. And Angelica, yes. It's unanimous with three absent. So, is there any other comments or
suggestions? And Deb, I did see that you just sent me an email. I mean, if anyone wants to send me any emails on your followup so I can put it into this memo. So, I see your hand is up. The next step is it will be public comments. So
um I encourage you to send me emails um about any questions, concerns and to for the agenda especially for the next meeting. I'm not seeing any hands up. So we are now o Yes. Yeah. I just had a quick question. A
member of the public asked me and and I thought I'd ask this group. Has any of the elementary school building project funds been um involved with the the traffic studies or any of the reconfiguration of the roads around the
schools? I just No, I can answer that. No. So, the initial there was a traffic consultant and the that the school money so far has all been internal. So the uh how is the
flow of the buses and the cars going and then the school money uh put that temporary blinking light out there when when as construction started. But the outside the area of the school was the
town said the town wanted to deal with that and you've seen what we've done so far which is not get very far. Um, Rupert did participate in a couple meetings and he and I put a memo in on some thoughts on it and the original
consultant to Danesco provided some thoughts on external but not very much. They weren't asked to do a survey. Um, so that was all part of the very initial dis discussion when we were looking at Wildwood versus at Fort River. So, uh,
the rest there's not been a lot of, uh, DPW used internal money for that, uh, the the the three traffic circle design, but that wasn't, um, that didn't come out of the school budget. Thank you.
Uh, so answer. Um, so I am not seeing any other hands up. We are now we're open for public comments and we have three members of the public and uh I will allowed to talk.
Maria, I think I have allowed you to talk. I hope so. Can you hear me? Yes, you're here. Okay. Maria Kapiki, South Ammerst. So, a number of things about the playground surface. Uh, number one, let's let's
just make sure that we're talking on the same page. Engineered wood fiber is not wood chips. They are two different surfaces that behave differently. Um, number two, PIP just is poured in place.
It could be rubber poured in place. It could be cork poured in place. And there is actually a bonded engineered wood fiber that is a unitary surface. So PIP talks about it being a unitary surface that is bonded by something usually a
urethane. But engineered wood fiber can be either loose felt or bonded. So that is another option that you need to look at. I think that what has been established, what what Bob has
established is that Eastston has had a pretty rough road of it from an installation point of view. It does not mean that this pro product itself is not good. It means that there have been issues with installation and with
communication. And I agree with Deb that what you need to do is to express to the parent company in Europe that we want to use your product but we've had we we're hearing these experiences and we want
you to guarantee we you know this is something that you can work on. There are successful installations in the US throughout the US and if they can install successfully cork in Texas I
think with their heat I think we can install it here. I'm sure that there are restrictions on any installation including rubber tip. Um so you know I'm I'm not persuaded there and you know you simply don't hear about the projects
that go off without a hitch. So I think you need to do more studying and keep an open mind about core keen. But I also want to talk about the fact that it was not just me. It was not just other
members of the public that had concerns about crumb rubber pip. It was also the board of health who said who advised not to use it. They met. They did their own research. They came to their conclusion. It was unanimous. The conservation
commission likewise did their own research and their concern, in case you have forgotten, this property is bordered by the Fort River and by a stream on the east and south borders.
And the problem is the crumb rubber. That stuff it once that is somewhere it is going to be sending things out into the environment and to the users and that includes volatile organic carbons. It includes carcinogens. It can it
includes heavy metals. So it's not a matter matter of is this a problematic thing. It's that it is and it's going to affect the people and the animals that use it and the waterways that are right
adjacent. And that's why the concom had such a problem with this and they Maria, you're over three minutes at this point. So, please wrap up. Okay. Yeah. All right. So, you really should
not use crumb rubber. If you're going to use something temporizing, then you should be using engineered wood fiber, bonded engineered wood fiber, something like that. But I really think that you should continue to pursue cork. But crumb rubber is the problem. And kids,
that is going to break down and kids are going to touch it. They're going to eat it. And you only have to look at the old track to see what that looks like when it breaks down, which it will. Every product has a lifetime and this is not a
product you want there. Once it's there, it's there forever. Thank you. The chemicals. Uh so, um I'm seeing there we're down to one other and I don't see a hand up. I
think everyone knows we also have an email from Maria um and as we did earlier on. So um I want to thank everyone for what I thought was a very good discussion. Um
I I can if people want I can uh gather together the the type of reports I did see the reports that the um board of health uh was looking at. Um, I actually gathered all of them. Um, so that's my
used to be health policy person wanting to read really long reports. Um, so it they were interesting. Um, is is what I would say about them. So I think what we've said is the the agenda for the next meeting, which we usually have just
a simple agenda, will be largely devoted to to this issue. Um, So that will be the agenda for the next meeting which everyone should have their calendar on their calendar and please do send me if there's something that you
leave this meeting and say I wish I knew more of. So um Bruce in the report that he flagged did talk about um engineered work with some kind of bonded surface but I don't know whether we know where that exists but it would be useful to
know where does it exist with a with a uniform. So we're looking for what choices do we have um so that we can give some instruction to what is actually at this point it's the town purchasing this not DNESCO um the
because we carved it out at the larger project. So is there anything further and if you didn't go on the site visit last time I mean the next site visit will I encourage you to do it. Um Tammy who's back can see the building probably
outside her window as it starts to rise from the ground. It's it's extremely exciting. We have an amazing one and I will repost I will get the I still have them but I will repost the pictures of all the outside play areas in terms of
the cement areas um that will have play surfaces on them in terms of ball play and the basketball courts. We have more than just grass on this site and we have a lot of grass um on this site. So, so thank you
everyone and if there are no objections um I will uh actually we're supposed to do a motion to adjurnn. So I'm making a motion to adjurnn if someone will second it and I'll just do a quick vote around um the thing. Is there a second of my motion?
Second, Deb. Yeah. So, um I'm just taking a vote on the motion to adjourn what she started to do on the council. So, Kathy say yes. Mike, yes. Bruce, y Simone, yes.
Tammy, yes. Deb, yes. Jennifer, yes. Allison, yes. Angelica, yes. And Alicia,
yes. We are adjourned at 2:12. So, we made it under two hours. Thank you all very much and enjoy the rest of your summer.