uh good afternoon everyone Today is the uh April 11th meeting of the elementary school building committee And seeing that we have a quorum I'm going to call the meeting to order And first make sure all the members of the committee can
hear and be heard because we're conducting this virtually And I'll just call out names as I see them on the screen Bruce I'm here and can be I can hear you Jonathan hello Paul present
Melissa here Simone here Elicia here and Allison I see your screen is on Allison but um so far I didn't hear
Oh yeah There's Allison So we'll we'll wait to see We I won't we can start the meeting and just have Allison Hello I'm here Okay Hi Alison Thank you And I I know Angelica emailed me that
she isn't coming today so I maybe we'll have a few others join us later Um so the meeting is now called to order and Cassena I'm turning it over to you for an update an overall update on construction The agenda is the update on
the school building an update on playground invoices and public comments And that's the order of the agenda as well So you're on Cassenya And um Connor can you also ask for permission to
present and um put up the slides of the photos Okay Um it says multiple I think we've given sharing Okay So while those slides are coming up um the update on the construction
process is that we're doing great like really really good Um we are finally out of the winter We're finally out of the ground The foundations of the building are complete and we are raising steel So
somebody driving by the site now actually has something cool to look at Um and so do we Um Connor thank you for for pulling that up Uh we do see um gray blocks over the screen where people's
faces are I assume on your screen I don't know why Zoom does that Yeah that's looking better All right Connor So why don't you go ahead and flip through the pictures um slowly and we'll show everybody where we are So the first picture is a reminder of
what we showed you last time which we thought was very exciting but some of you thought was less so I don't know why Uh we're not too offended Um and uh continuing on this is another view of that same excite exciting status we had last month
And now for comparison You see something coming up in the background Let's move move forward There we go That's our building starting to get built Um we have had steel deliveries coming throughout the
weeks Um they've been they've had to take a few and Connor you can keep scrolling forward slowly Um they've had to take some days off especially Saturdays uh because of the rain but for the most part they've been able to be
very productive and efficient um and work with the weather and around the weather and keep the progress moving Um does anyone have any questions as we move along for these This um there's not been any delay with
our steel We managed to get in without the customs issues that were possible last week So far so good Okay That picture on the left is the construction that's ongoing of a mockup of the exterior facade It's not a mockup that's
going to give us necessarily a perfect picture of the attractive qualities of in the right colors It is a mockup of it being put together to make sure that all the ways that the building is going to
come together is tested and worked out for constructibility on a small scale before we release those methods to proceed um all over the building um as that gets constructed Other things that
are going on on site and preparing to go forward soon is that the geothermal well grid has been laid out and um the permits uh associated with that installation Uh the permit applications have been submitted um and everything
appears to be on track for that We are expecting that installation to start midway through May Um and there are some plans to get that done as efficiently as possible possibly with as many as four rigs being
able to go at the same time Uh if it proves to be efficient Um the process of getting product data and shop drawings submitted reviewed and approved for all the rest of the materials and systems in
the building is flying along DNiscoco continues to do truly without joking the fastest and most efficient job of this that I have ever seen So like major major major thank you to our design team
on that Um the contractors are all working collaboratively and um so far so good What questions can I answer I'm looking for I'll look for hands on the screen or if you see them Gena as
well Okay Well while we wait for hands you know you leave me space to talk I'll talk Um I I I'll say that I had a particularly awesome week out there last week because I got the pleasure of being interviewed by the fifth graders in Fort
River for their school newspaper And I have to tell you they asked the smartest questions Um and probably some of the toughest you know like are you going to be done on time Are you going to be done on time That I've gotten from anyone
professionally So they are fantastic and really an incredible group of kids So Bruce I see your handouts up and and I just I neglected Michael to to make sure you could hear and be heard I missed your face on the screen because
Michael's with us as well Great Bruce Um I'm guessing that the reason there are so few questions is that it all seems to be um so clearly presented and also it's quite early It's exciting But my simple question is the uh concrete
slab that the mockup has been built on is that have a future life as some part of some permanent construction or is that simply something that will be uh torn up along with the mockup at the end of the day It's just a mud slab
uh that's deep enough to have to have proofing on it to tie into the air vapor barrier Excuse me So it will be torn up Thanks Rick Any other questions No And we and just so people
know after these presentations we have been posting them in the packet Um and to the extent possible our our Cassenya has been working to update some of the pictures on the website you know so as
something picturesque becomes available we will make it more accessible for people to see as Allison asked can we make sure people under know that the school is being constructed because it's it's hard to see from the street I mean you can you can get a bird's eye view of
it but without driving in Bruce I see your Bruce is your hand up again Uh yes Um uh it occurs to me to ask uh does this represent the steel that we're looking at in that right-hand photograph Does that represent say 15% of the total
structure assembled at this point Something like that more or less just so I can when I'm telling people where we are I can be accurate Rex do you recall what the percentage was um on the last wreck Well the the wreck was pretty much buried into
everything Tim one of Well I mean all the erection is detailing So what do you think Tim Sorry With within five you know 15 It might be 12 it might be 20 but I in the ballpark Uh which I think is as close as we're trying to get I
would say that's accurate Yeah I just want to have your your number is best with I'm just telling people where we are I do U-turns through the school every now and again so I can see what's going on and then I can come and talk to people and I will represent at the moment we
about 15% of the steel that's been erected and it's starting to look very interesting and this is the least interesting part not not that the part is uninteresting but uh the other end is more I see you put your hand up too
um so two things one Bruce when we get to the invoice presentation at the And one of the features of a cover sheet is it tells you what percent complete for the overall CTA contract we're currently allowing to be build as of the end of
March So it's a few days behind like 11 in particular but that'll give you a good um formal number to tie your communications to And the second point is also on communications Um we have begun work with the town's
communications officer um and we are providing these presentations these pictures or maybe at least one good picture from a presentation to her um at monthly at the ends of these meetings and she is uh posting something
on social media and the town's website uh we're providing brief updates on the project to go along with the picture So hopefully we're making the progress information more accessible to more people and those posts also refer to the
project website with a URL So I'm seeing no other questions So that's that's great to know and um uh the council meeting not the one next week but the week after I'll be able to report on some of this and knowing that Sam is putting out
postings we'll be able to refer to that That's terrific Thank you And Connor you can go ahead and take down the slides So the next agenda item and I think Bob Parent this is for you just a brief update
on wherever we are on the playground Thank you Um for those that may not recall uh the playground surfacing the core keen material that the town has agreed to install on the playground the town has agreed to procure that separately outside of the construction
contract that CTA is performing Uh so we're beginning that process myself working with Simone Um as we began that process at about the same time we also became aware of some concerns regarding a Corken playground that was installed
within the last year the the closest most closest significant project that Corkin has done in Easton Mass at Richard uh Richardson Olmstead School that there are some concerns regarding the performance of that playground that was installed installed less than a year
ago Uh Margaret actually went down there a couple of weeks ago took some photographs and confirmed in fact that there there are absolutely some performance problems Um since that time I've reached out to the facility director at the school to try to better
understand um his perspective He's new to the district He came on after the product was installed uh but has very quickly come up to speed I've also reached out to the president of Corkin's uh North American division Corkin the
company that actually produces the product is a company called Amarind So I reached out to Amaran Cork America and be begun some discussions to better understand what might be happening in Eastston I do know that they are going to be fully replacing that playground
surface with Corken that the manufacturer and the contractor has stepped up and replacing that during the April vacation And I'm going to make a point of get getting down there to take a look at it when the installation is ongoing But um he put a lot of questions
out to Corken at this point you know questions of what happened why is it happening how do we make certain it doesn't happen in our project you know what type of asurances extended warranties potentially bonded warranties things like that should we consider So
we're we're in the early phases of figuring out um how to best uh incorporate one the product and then protect the town at the same time And it's it's very early to say where we go from here I still have a
lot of questions that I I want to get answered before I'm in a position of making any type of a recommendation regarding moving forward with it at this point Uh knowing uh what has happened in Easton Are there any questions
on this news It's basically news as well as an update The only Bob do what on timing in terms of the installation of it When do we have to what would be the drop deadish time to to to contract it for it could
be installed when we need to have it installed I haven't worked that backwards completely yet We just got a schedule update from the contractor this last week but we have no more than a couple of months to figure this out uh because we very quickly get to the point where
you know the contractors relying on us being able to come in and put the product in after they've prepared this upgrade and that from what I hear and a lot of this is second or thirdand type of news So you can believe some of it and not believe some of it might have been part of the problem in Easton that
perhaps the contractor had prepared the subgrade material um for the playground installation and then it may have sat there for longer than it should have sat So we clearly need to be ready to move ahead once the contractor once CTA is ready for us to move ahead and and
absolutely that's a concern We can't let this issue hold up the hold up the project So I I will have a better answer for that once I dig into CTA schedule backwards And then the DNSCO team or Disco team the the uh Cassenya team Margaret team are working with you on
that in terms of timing Absolutely Yes Okay I'm not seeing any other hands up Um the next item on the agenda are is invoices unless there are any things that we didn't know about in the last 48 hours
that I don't know about because I just flew back from another country last night So I don't know of anything else It it doesn't look like it So I think we're at the invoice point in our
schedule Connor thanks Starting off with our executive summary as always and our road map ahead up here in the top left You can see once again our green portion here which is our invoice previously
our black box here which is our current invoice package Our yellow which is our current unbuilt portion of commitments and then our left uh remaining budget uncommitted right here in white So our
current invoice package is $2,719,544 That brings us up to that's 2.7% overall and that's 15% of the total project budget um invoice so far with 85% remaining Scrolling
down to our cash flow Reminder that this yellow line here shows us where we are right here in March invoice package Our green lines are our previous invoices Our blue lines are projections Unless there's any questions
about the cash flow I'll add a couple of things Connor Um so we're probably starting next um cycle we'll rebaseline the cash flow So as we really get into the construction of the building those
gray bars and lines come into sync with where we've been and where we are And then this will uh tell a good story going forward of are we a little bit behind Are we a little bit ahead Um so that's one thing Um a reminder that the
tall blue bar far out at the end of a project is just our graphical approach to showing um contingency um that's hanging out there cuz you know we don't want to assume that we'll be spending it in any
particular month or at all Um and then scrolling up to the top again um I'll bring your attention to the fact that the uncommitted value on the project right now is 11.2 million That is not all contingency some
of that money will be spoken for both to procure the playground surfacing that Bob was just speaking to but also uh to procure uh furniture fixtures equipment and technology for um inside the school Basically everything that if you picked
up the building and shook it upside down this is the stuff that would fall out fall out right So those procurements are ahead of us Um uh but still a pretty healthy place to be If there are no questions Connor um go
right ahead to the rest of the package I can't see hands so if there are any questions hopefully someone can keep an eye on the hands for me Yep Perfect Thank you U on to the invoice package transmitt We have eight invoices
this month quite a large package and we will go through all of them Uh starting off with the answer invoice uh for $77,517.99 This is 3% of answers contract overall and raises up to 38% complete with 62% of our contract
remaining We have Deniscoco's monthly invoice for $65,000 And as we mentioned previously this is the standard uh monthly amount we're going to see for quite some time
from Niscoco on their invoices as we move through construction And that's 1% of their contract overall bringing up to 74% complete 26% remaining on their contract Now down to this invoice right
here Hub International This is the uh builder's risk insurance policy and that is $119,173 and we'll we'll be scrolling through their invoice um as well So we'll answer any questions Y Let me just jump in and give a little context to the
Hub International Um so builder's risk insurance is the owner's property It's a special form of owner's property insurance carried on the portion of a new building but has already been in
place So as more gets put in place if something were to happen to damage the newly yours piece of a building this is the insurance that would kick in Um this value represents a substantial I mean
truly substantial um savings relative to the conservative amount carried in the budget and that savings that money will be very handy
um for you know to be reallocated to other uses or to become part of a general contingency and hopefully ultimate savings Thanks Thank you Connor So then moving on down we have a couple
invoices from Gaggle Arduchi this month And the first of which wreck number eight right here is to bill out the remainder of their contract It's about $5,900 And that's for um finishing up some billing for some erosion control
work and the rest of their SWIP inspections that they were doing um in the interim before CTA took over And then the second requisition right here requisition 9 is for $47,635.17 And that is billing out uh
the retainage we continue to hold on their contract And that bills out the last 2% of their contract bringing them up to 100% complete overall down to CTA's um requisition for March Requisition
number four it's for 2,386,890 uh66 That's 3% of their contract overall bringing them up to 8% build um so far 92% remaining their contract and we are continuing to hold an ever
accumulating amount of retainage So that means that um if we're saying that there are 8% completed by cash um it's actually more than 8% by um value that has been recognized as complete but of that value um
5% is retained This is a statutory um matter that allows us to do this So this is a a pocket of money that's going to build as the project progresses and it is there to incentivize each subcontractor and the general contractor
to finish strong at the end of a project um and to not run off once they perceived themselves to be done and get paid most of what they were going to get paid There's a substantial insurance in that way
See the retainage It is stacks up here on this far right column We can see the $296,700 here for CTA Um as previously mentioned for Gagarduchi their retainage would have stacked up here as well Um
and we let them we released some retainage uh as appropriate but we released the remaining balance uh right here as part of requisition 9 So it's showing $0 cuz they have completed um
their scope of work Moving down to Alli testing we have an invoice from them They've been doing uh test out their concrete tests uh soils tests and so their current invoice is for
$11,652.18 2% of their contract overall bringing up to 8% of their contract overall Have a note on that as well So um our uh clerk of the works who is out there representing the owner daily
continuously Lee Figgins um is a very very experienced um professional and he has been he is the one in charge of calling for testing and using judgment and collaboration with the design team
on what does and doesn't need to be tested how often needs to be tested This whole contract is a bit of an allowance um you know calculated at an assumed quantity of tests and types of tests So I think this um invoice which is through
the middle of March not through the end but it still shows a pretty great rate of success on keeping spending tight and frugal um they you know are were at 8%
paid um through two 3 weeks ago at which point we were already mostly done with concrete Most of testing happens in the ground um you know underneath to test um soil compaction concrete strength etc
There is more to go We're definitely not done but um it's a good indicator that um there may be a conservative amount of savings um eventually in this contract Much too soon to say but a really good
indicator so far Allied was out here for the early sight package as well So some of that billing from that 8% that's been completed so far comes from uh back in the early site package with Gagueri Moving on to our final invoice
here from Wayne J Griffin uh who supplied the pre-purchase electrical gear uh which was purchased to uh account for lead times and and prevent delays on the project uh invoice for $5,750 2% their contract overall We're
going to want to 14% complete And unless there's any questions on the transmitt we can move on to looking at the invoices and the backup We can always come back to it as well All right So moving down to the
answer invoice transmitt here There's two parts to this invoice The first part is answer/ensors labor in this top portion here the 76,000 and then a portion for our
subconsultant architect our net zero consultant for $1,152.99 Moving on to the backup This is the backup for our time Esentra's time And I will say that as expected the bulk
of our billing is nothing to do with Connor or I or Margaret and everything to do with the full-time on-site supervision provided by Lee Figgins He is out there at this point 10-hour days and most of the
Saturdays um still working out great And um this acceleration that's happening um during site work uh foundation work and uh steel erection is incredibly helpful
because you can get one subcontractor a very small number of subcontractors to get the building done faster basically the basic structure of a building done faster so that then many trades at once
can go to work at it um instead of trying to expedite the work at the very end when in order to do so you would have to um involve many more trades So being done with consideration and
responsibility and I just paused cuz we're now into the backup for architect's billing our net zero consultant here This is their cover page or transmitt And this is the backup for archite The backup for their current
billing at the bottom this section here 331 and then they also have a subconsultant of their own new frameworks who also had an invoice that goes under archite and then goes under us at
centure and then here we have Disco's monthly invoice as standard 65,000 000 Moving on down to CTA's uh requisition and the summary here of their billings Zoom on it Zoom in on it
a little bit All right period here Billings and stored materials here Dinage on the right This is Gagli Arduchi's wreck number eight for that
$5,900 billing out the remainder of their contract Some erosion controls there SWIP inspections and they didn't use all the uh SWIP inspections that we set the allowance up for So there was a credit
as well And SWIP inspections are um inspecting the along the perimeter of a site the erosion and runoff controls to do with essentially construction water not getting out beyond the site fence and um and into the environment
And then this is a good example of retainage here which will come relevant for CTAs f you know in the future You can see the retainers stacking up in this right hand column down to this $47,000 number here Then when we come to
requisition 9 that's the amount we're billing here So we're releasing the retainage And when we go down to the backup it's all zeros This period stored materials retainage all zeroed
out This is the Wayne J Griffin invoice and this is the vendor of preurchased electrical gear Some of that gear has been arriving in dribbles um as we discussed last time So this is another
progress billing um for some of that Moving down to the builder's risk insurance policy invoice from Hub International And then the Allied Testings invoice They list all their tests and the quantity of the tests here
the rates here The total amount stacks up All right Yep Okay Bruce's hand just went up Bruce Yes I I just Cassen you mentioned the uh the
the um insurance uh the builder's risk insurance that the builder covers to protect uh our accumulated investment on the site as the course of structure You said that uh this was substantially
um lower than had been budgeted Uh and it occurred to me um is there something special about that or is it just that you found a low bidder Is it is it is it more than just a low bidder It's a great
question Bruce Um we believe that the original feedback you know long before the project was even designed really that was received from the insurance agent that was consulted at the time was
just a very conservative number Um and we think that the elements that made that number more conservative than ultimately was necessary was there looking at the proximity of the wetlands
um and thinking about flood risk but not knowing because the building was not the design was not available for them to look at yet that um the design team was going to specify bringing the foundation
the floor of the building up by several feet as part of a early site package So it's I don't know how well it comes through in the photographs but when you stand up there on the top of the extremely well compacted and dry
platform you are a good deal higher than all the land around you and we are outside the flood boundaries on the um on the flood maps So I think those that assumption was conservative I I I would
rather them be wrong in this direction than the other direction Um but there were multiple quotes received for this coverage And um there's not anything substantially this quote is not a
substantial outlier It is the lowest but it's not a substantial outlier And Margaret your hand is up Thank you Cassido That's a a reassuring answer Yeah I just want to say that um one of the real challenges about um these
projects is that we have to establish values for all of the soft costs um as well as the construction costs You know this this value is established in the budget back before the public vote right So it was during the schematic design
period So it was a conservative number Um we knew it to be a conservative number but it's always better to have conservative numbers because if for some reason the number had come in over what we estimated the MSBA like everything
else would say you know we won't reimburse on that So um in fact I'm not saying I can't remember This may be one of the categories they don't reimburse on very much But at any rate it's it's partly about perception and it's partly about how long ago it was that we um
developed the numbers Thank you Margaret That's a great point And um I guess the other element of it was that we brought this insurance you know in in having closer discussions
um with the insurance the town's insurance agent about the right time to start this insurance Um it became evident that buying it at the start of the early site package work which is probably what
was assumed in the original quote was just not necessary because you don't have a building to protect yet You're just moving dirt around Um so I think the contraction of a duration also helped us Thank you very much
Good Any other questions um on what's been presented And Connor you can keep going then I'm not seeing any And I just want to note Deb Leonard has joined us Hi Deb I just want to make sure you can hear us and we can hear you Yes I can Thank you Okay great
So the allied invoice here was the the last invoice uh we had to go through So with that as always we have pre-reviewed these invoices and recommend them for your approval And Connor is that the full set of
invoices Yes this is the full set of invoices Yep Lishian then I think if there's no more discussion we'll have uh take motion to approve Margaret's hand is up Margaret is your hand up on the motion
No And Connor could you take down the screen now please So I make a motion that we approve the invoices as presented I'll second Jonathan seconds and I'll go around the room and hopefully not miss anyone this
time Um Bruce I approve Kathy yes Jonathan yes Michael approve Melissa yes Paul yes Deb I'm going to abstain just because I came in so late
Okay So there an abstain Allison yes Simone yes and Alicia Yes So it's unanim unanimous with one two three people missing and one
absention So thank you very much for as always an amazingly clear presentation of invoices So are there any other comments or questions before I open it up for public comments I'm seeing no No answer no
heads saying it So we are open for public comments and there are two people in the public If you either of you want to raise your hands we'll bring you in Uh Maria I think I have brought you in Yes you did Thank you Kathy Uh Maria
Kapiki South Ammerst Um once again um much gratitude to to the whole team Um Bob Parent thank you for your diligence and and trying to make sure that you know we still do the cork but we make sure we get it right That's awesome Um
and uh honestly the only other um oh uh this is probably more of a question for or a request for Paul and Melissa I had mentioned at the last meeting or the one before that possibly getting something up onto the town website which might be
more appropriate there or even at a town council meeting to talk about um how this is going to look on people's tax bills because that's coming up and we got taxes due in May Um so uh the the impact of the debt exclusion override I
think it would just be helpful Um so another request for that And finally Cassenia I don't know if you're aware but you know we got a DPW and a fire station that need building soon So you might want to keep that in mind Would
love to see your face there Um that's it Uh thank you so much team Good job Thank you for your comments I don't see any other hands up So with that I think we can adjourn the
meeting and Margaret I don't have my or Cassenya I don't have my calendar in front of me but we meet again in May on May and I race to see who scrolls our calendar the fastest Right I know I can
do that too Race you race you uh the 16th May 16th May 16th is the next meeting and everyone should um Connor a while ago put holds on people's calendar so the the Zoom invites come a
bit later but you should have that So May 16th and we'll be continuing to meet monthly and Margaret's hand just went up So I just want to comment that is UMass graduation that day and I will be at
UMass graduation but carry on good good day to have a Zoom meeting So so so that's great And and I know there has been discussion on the um the
ceremony on the site as and just there has my understanding there's not been a date pick yet but it's going to be in May late May Is that correct We are working toward a date um that is we have a date in mind which is May 23rd but we
are first before we issue and circulate the announcement we are verifying that um availability for the um attendees is there it's a little bit of a of a difficult date because it's the Friday
before the Memorial Day weekend but it's also happens to be when the actual completion of steel is just about ready to be done So definitely a thing to celebrate Okay that's great So you know Nick by
the time we meet if that's still the date it'll be only a week off from that date So we'll just inform everybody by email if there becomes a concrete date So you can put it on your calendar and that and and also I know we were thinking of how to get the various
school kids teachers what whatever level of ceremony or what that we would put together a really good group when we dug dirt which was the last time we did this We put our shovels in the dirt Well I know that the Fort River student school
p newspaper is absolutely going to be there So I I once again I just want to thank everyone in the design team for Cassenna keeps reporting on how quickly you're responding to whatever questions and turnaround Um the it's it's been
terrific So as was the experience of watching the building get designed So thank you all and um I guess I should be taking a motion to adjourn I make a motion to adjurnn Anyone second
it I see various people Okay I got a second from Michael I'll just go quickly around the room Bruce agreed Kathy yes Jonathan yes Michael yes Melissa yes
Paul yes Deb yes Allison yes Simone yes And Elicia yes It is unanimous We are adjourned and I look forward to seeing everyone from now