meeting is being broadcast live by Cha Tele Media and is being recorded for later viewing by the public um and with that we will move directly to approval of meeting minutes from April 9th 2025
um has everybody had a chance to review the minutes Do we have any um corrections comments or otherwise Hearing none I'd entertain a vote to approve the meeting minutes of April 9 2025 make a motion to approve the minutes of our meeting on April 9th 2025
can I get a second Second um by Tim uh all in favor I opposed that's unanimous 100 thank you everybody okay um the next on the agenda
is introduction to left field um our new OPM that uh we're bringing on board to um work with us on the Parker Middle School project and with that um I would turn it over to Westfield to kind of um do some uh introductions and say hello
to the group that uh maybe you haven't met some of them yet and so on so uh please David go ahead thank you Patrick um David Sanden um the project director for this project um been with Left Field since 2016 and uh excited to be here and
uh as we go through the presentation I'll uh elaborate a little bit about uh my background i'm Dave Chanaldo um senior project manager i have been also working at left field for the last six years and I will be the point of contact
uh for this project brian Johnson um I've been in construction for 25 years left field for the last six and you will see me mainly during construction i will be the on-site project manager okay thanks i'm not sure pat do you want
to go around and have us introduce yourself Yeah why don't we go around here for the people that are here We have 10 of us out of 13 tonight so um we'll go ahead and Tim if you want to start I'll go around from there tim Powderley tim is with um Tim is building committee yeah he's the chair of the
permanent building committee we'll see you guys later too uh Matt Schwitzer uh facilities manager uh I know most of these gentlemen because we had a successful project on at the high school in the kitchen so
looking forward to another one oh excellent jim Clansancy chair of the finance committee christine Clancy DPW director dennis King chair of the school committee patrick Maloney um select board and um
I've worked uh in the past on MSBA projects here in town and uh was actually chair of the uh permanent building committee for a long time before Tim took over so that's it uh Jay Lang superintendent of schools Joanna Johnson Collins the
director of business and finance for the schools john Souza town finance director Chancellor Town Manager Paul Cohen all right thank you i'll turn it right over to you David excellent all right so uh for tonight
our slide deck is about 40 slides uh it's broken into two presentations the first component of the presentation is um actually a condensed version of our left field interview slide deck um and uh when I present it
I'll probably slow it down um compared to the the the pace that we presented it during our interview because we're on a a time schedule um and then from there we'll um have a slide about the MSBA
process um the RFS process for the design and selection panel uh we have a slide on the budget and then um I it'd be wonderful if we could uh um materialize the meetings for the rest of
the year um so we'll uh with that said we'll get going um David uh just be mindful of uh the mic keeping the microphone close to you and and speaking loud enough to uh Okay come over the air yep thank you thank you
and the slide deck is the same on both TVs so whichever one's easier for you to look at yeah I I'll probably look down because then my voice That's fair yeah cuz um All right so um
Left Field was established in 2007 uh by Jim Rogers i go way back with Jim Rogers many years prior uh I met Jim Rogers he was an OPM and I was a construction manager and uh from there
um that's when I after that project was completed when we uh worked together um we collectively worked together for an OPM firm and then he left that firm started his own and then I ended up leaving that firm many years later and teamed up with Jim back in
2016 uh the the firm has grown tremendously from 2007 uh it says 49 on the slide deck but probably up to 50 today uh we have a lot of MSBA experience uh I have been working with
the MSBA since their inception which um they came into their existence in 2004 and their first projects under their governance started in 2005 uh so I've been working with them ever since uh we have a lot of
experience with design bid build as well as CMR and we can talk about those two options in future meetings uh we have offices you know Boston Providence Rockland Worcester Manchester you'll see though that this team we're we're local
um and you'll see that on a slide deck um most of our work is within the K to2 market and MSBA work that's kind of the meat and potatoes of our firm um we have a lot of employee retention and uh we're
very very excited to be here as far as um the composition of this team uh unfortunately Jim Rogers could not make it here tonight um again I'm the project director i uh is I'm trained and
educated as an architect u played the role of an architect for years i then joke in the industry i went to the dock side i became a construction manager did that for many years um as I said in 2003 2004 I transitioned to the OPM world and
uh I've been there ever since and then uh Hi why don't you say a little bit about your background Uh I have a bachelor's degree in civil engineering and master's degree in business administration and in total I have u 17 18 years of experience in construction
and uh project management industry um I have managed multiple um public projects including MSBA school projects in Massachusetts uh yeah brian anything you wanted to add or I
know you when you kind of elaborated when you first introduced yourself like both on the CM side as well as the GCCM side as well as like the high-end residential side and then found the OPM side six years ago and really just been doing MSBA projects since thank you um
so Brian Dacon to the far left uh he's somewhat of a a backs stop for Hamdi and I um you may not you know you may see him you may see him on emails um again he's there for our backs stop uh Dan Mcweeny um you will probably not
physically ever see him at one of these meetings but he will be extremely instrumental he is going to manage the propay 100% um he his job is to make sure you get reimbursement every month on a timely manner um so with certain individuals
you know he he'll be uh very much a common thread so um you'll see him a lot uh electronically and by email uh Jay Faxton unfortunately could not make it here tonight uh we found out about this a couple hours ago um he was pulled into
a pressurization test at a Waltham High School project that's happening tonight uh he offered to call in i I said no worries he can physically come here at uh some other point uh he has worked with I think a few of you um you may
know Jay and uh he's a tremendous problem solver uh with uh HVAC equipment and I'll elaborate a little bit more about him after we also have Josh Brewster uh he's new to left field last couple of years uh he actually used to
work for uh Sterling Movers uh out of Chelmsford so he he knows somewhat the the Chelmsford group um but he's uh going to be our move uh specialty uh manager and then we have Adele Stan Sans who's a former superintendent and um
she's here to help Jay and help the project in any way she can uh there's going to be a lot of meetings if there's a meeting that Jay can't attend and it's obviously you know uh delivery of education related um she's more than welcome to
participate uh so while we have offices um throughout Massachusetts and one in Manchester New Hampshire what's important is that this team is is fairly local um you know Brian Johnson is the furthest away 45 miles but within the construction industry that is still kind
of average um Hamdi probably lives 15 minutes away um lucky one yeah he's the lucky one um and you know Jason Hil I'm in North Andover uh Brian Dacon as the back stop is in River but you know we
don't have uh individuals from the Southshore the Birkshars the Cape that are driving up you know we are you know this team is local um these are all of not all of our projects i went through our project list
and um I sorted it by town um public K12 this is what we came up with um so these are all projects that uh we have been involved in uh some of us here at this table some of us you know other left field employees the items that are
shaded are MSBA projects and to the far right um the Bill Rick column I have to say Hamdi has been involved in every single Bill Ricker project that's listed on this screen so you demoed the bin school that was my
elementary school we're replacing it with a wonderful park um so as part of our interview we had to uh answer a few questions and one of them was about project approach um you know define what makes a a successful project so when I put this slide
together I I kind of thought well the the most important uh element of a successful project is to make sure it becomes a project that it can pass the ballot box and I think the uh the secret ingredient there is to to know your audience and and what will pass at the
ballot box um and then we you know kind of our mantra is cost-effective educationally appropriate um that's what we want to deliver um and then you know we want to deliver a facility that uh meets the educational
needs and vision uh I know this sounds crazy but a building that does not leak uh functions correctly is energy efficient but also realistic with upfront capital cost too there's a little bit of a balance there uh and easy to operate and maintain and that's
where Jay's going to come in uh the other secret ingredient that I've learned over the years is to have discipline discipline with schedule with budget and that leads into item E which uh at times it's helpful when you know every successful project has someone at
the table saying no not all the time but being able to say no at times keeps a project disciplined uh and how do we do this We're hands-on we roll up our sleeves um you know we like to be involved in everything uh while we're not the
decision makers you know we want to make sure that the the decision makers around the table you know they know the pros and the cons of um whatever we're going to be talking about sometimes we are the unpopular individuals in the room because we will say "How much does that cost upfront and how long is the
payback?" Uh so again you know we like to ask um the sometimes the uncomfortable questions uh but we want to make sure that the committee is well informed before they they say yes or no to something um and again I I I feel that wise
decisions develop into a successful project so this is a sampling of uh some middle schools um so obviously Hamdi and I are doing Tingsboro down the street um almost done yeah they're going to be uh moving furniture in in the next couple
of months um it's going to be what I call a smooth landing and uh the project will be complete complete by the end of this calendar year but they will be um you know moving in for this um September and uh if anyone here at this committee
you know wants to take a tour um you know we can set that up and uh you know you can just kind of uh view that as a as an option uh as just another middle school uh Pickering and Galvin Middle School um to to be frank They're not our
projects so I I can't really speak to them but again it's just a sampling of uh left field projects that uh we have done or are ongoing uh for elementary schools Brown Elementary Brian Johnson and I were both
involved in that uh Florence Roach uh again Brian Johnson and I uh were involved in that that's a couple towns over and Brian that was completed last last September thank you and I think we're probably planting some trees and that's it final sign off and
10-month walkthrough for the MEP and we're out all right so um project came in you know on time under budget um and uh you know just a successful project and then uh Woodland Elementary um again to be frank I'm not involved in
that project um you'll see that again I'm I'm showing projects but we're not you know we we have teams all over the place and try to keep the teams where they're not traveling far distances uh Bara Memorial
High School you know just a a um beautiful school i every time I drive by it I I I say to myself that is going to be one of the schools where at you know at the end of my career when I'm retired and someone says you know what is your monument school It's probably going to
be that one i don't know if I'm going to do another one of those um in my career if that had to get built today probably could not be afforded it just the timing just you know was it was a different timing in the industry
um BMC uh BMC Dery High School i just know that was a juggernaut of a school down in Fall River as well as uh Waltham which uh is being pressurized uh tonight so those is just uh some large school projects that we have done so we've done
small medium large the whole gamut uh we've also done addition renovations um this is what choose it uh this is not one of my projects but uh we could have substituted Salem High School um I did that renovation
um back in 2005 678 it was four years of a renovation in fact that was the first CMR project approved by the state and under the governance of the MSBA uh so we we've we've done it done it all and
then uh this slide we wanted to throw in hamdi has experience with um uh TV studios there was a major TV studio program component with the uh Bill Ricker BAT TV access um facility we call
it the how school even though it's not a how I mean it's the original how school uh so this uh is something that Hamdi can bring to the table as well um for Jay um he is a lifelong uh MEP uh
contractor installer there's not a piece of equipment he has not installed replaced or commissioned he's seen it all uh he's very val valuable because today everything is going VRF electric um again I'm not advocating against it
or for it i'm just making a comment it it it is going electric some of these systems are very finicky and uh Jay comes in and during commissioning it's really fine-tuning because along the way he's looking at the installation and a lot of times um these systems if they're
not installed exactly the way they need to be um they just won't work properly um so he brings a lot to the table uh he'll be involved in the early design uh looking at what systems will be looked upon uh he'll be involved in as the
design progresses through um during construction and then uh commissioning and then post occupancy uh we were very instrumental with uh Bara Memorial High School on uh actually getting the facilities director that they hired
full-time and a lot of times you know we will get a phone call 6 months later a year later saying something's just not right jay goes out and um you know troubleshoots it so um he's someone that will stay with the project even when the
project is done uh move management um it's what we do also um you know so that that kind of comes with hiring us when the time comes uh we talked about let me see a
communication strategy we'd start with a listening tour uh we routinely meet with town leadership committees boards uh it takes a village to build a project it takes a village to get a project approved as well we want to make sure that you know all facets of the community are behind this project uh we
will develop a website um or we will continue with using the district website but um you know however it ends up we'll be involved in a project website uh we indicated that sometime uh there might be an opportunity to have a ballot committee
uh which is separate from this committee um but that's to uh to be determined uh we'll develop an overall communication plan and um we'll you know discuss in upcoming meetings kind of the roles of the committee and um how to uh develop a
what I would say a very streamlined operation for the committee uh these are just an example of a flyer we did for Tingsboro save the date as well as one that was a postcard mailer for the actual um town
meeting this is an example of a website that we developed for Wakefield and now Hamdi is going to talk actually about your project so I'll give you that clicker this one Yep
okay um so we looked at all the information available on the project website uh in the RF uh Q document um and then we attended the walk through and uh visited the existing Parker Middle School and then put this
feasibility uh schedule together so it starts with the OPM contract execution um so which will happen uh after the May 12th uh MSBA OPM panel u uh approval
meeting and then uh right after that we will uh start the designer selection process uh tonight David also will explain a little bit about that process and um the there will be some individuals from this committee uh who
will represent the town at the MBA uh designer selection panel so that is little bit different than the OPM selection but we'll we'll get to that um after the we anticipate like at the end
of the summer or early uh fall uh the designer uh will come on board and then they will uh start uh to the preliminary design uh program so during this uh PDP
phase uh all the design options uh will be studied everything will be on the table uh including renovation addition option uh code upgrade option a new construction option and at the end of this phase uh the committee will uh
short list uh probably three four options out of seven eight uh and then we will be moving forward with those shortlisted options uh to the PSR project uh schematic report phase uh and
at the end of the PSR only one option will be selected and the SD schematic design phase will move forward with those selected option and uh during the
SD phase um all the drawings things uh all the specifications scope budget everything will be uh set and the SD report uh will be submitted to the MSBA sometime um end of
2027 uh and then MSBA will review the SD report and invite the town to the uh MSBA board meeting in uh February 2027 and uh after their approval at that
board meeting uh they will prepare the project scope and budget agreement and send it to the town and hopefully the project will be presented at the uh April 2027 town meeting and approved then uh
the project funding agreement can be executed with the MSBA so we have less than 24 months maybe uh 20 months uh to complete all the phases and get the
project approved at the uh town meeting and uh we will also try to improve the schedule but also we can't control um MSBA board meeting for example we will submit the project to the MSBA but it
will be in the queue uh Hopefully we will not wait uh long one thing that's important here is um the red diamonds those are MSBA um dates that can't be moved and the MSBA board
meets every two months and you need to submit a package to the MSBA 6 weeks before they are meeting and uh if you miss it you know you miss it so like if you miss one day you're really missing
two months uh so you know it it's this is where discipline comes into play um and uh like the first report is a preliminary design report that's a staff review it's not an MSBA review so that's a little fluid we have it mapped out
that it'll be delivered the end of this calendar year could be delivered a little bit earlier could be done a little bit late but it it's not tied to a MSBA board meeting so the deadline kind of can move a little bit yeah if if the MSBA were not in the equation we
could do it much faster but there are also some checks and balances so and just a reminder this is uh being recorded i didn't say anything bad you love the MSP uh we explained the timeline between now
and 2027 uh town meeting and then as soon as the project uh is approved at the town meeting we will uh start to the uh design development phase uh the design
will be further developed the construction documents uh will be prepared uh during this phase and we are hoping that uh in spring of 2028 the construction uh will start uh and it
will be completed um spring summer 2030 but this schedule is also based on the new construction option uh sometimes renovation takes little bit longer uh because you need to also move the
students from one location to the other um but hopefully uh for the 20 30 2031 school year the new uh building will be ready uh we also looked at the site
alternatives um the town uh at this we know two two options for now there might be uh other available uh sites for the project but we will look at those uh during during the project uh during
the initial phase um for now we looked at the Parker school site uh the buildable area is approximately 6.5 acres uh there are some challenges uh on this side like wetlands
uh stream uh running beneath the existing school uh and the river bed buffer uh area this is like approximately 200 ft uh buffer area um also we need to keep the parking lots uh
operational during the uh construction so that's why it it leaves us only 6.5 acres um so for the option three this is I think very challenging uh because uh
we don't have that many buildable area but for option one and two like grade 56 and grade 46 uh sorry yes correct grade 56 and grade 46 i think this is playable
on this existing site just to provide some context if anyone has visited Barika Memorial High School um that those two fields parking lots and the school now granted the school is four stories on certain parts of it um but
that we're able to fit on I think it was like 6.25 acres so so just to give you some context um you know not that we'd recommend a four-story middle school um but just to provide some context
uh the the site also has uh its challenges uh it's a uh town water resources uh protection area and uh I think the conservation storm water permitting will be more stringent uh to
a site uh without this designation uh but also the other side the high school ballfield site uh has the same uh designation and uh uh has has the similar u challenges uh but this is a
bigger site can accommodate all design options all enrollments uh but site is not the only criteria but I think the biggest trigger here is uh this site would most likely trigger Meepa and uh our colleague Brian Dacon our back stop
he's dealing with some Meeper challenges right now with his River High School project um so you know we we just want to we started as part of the interview we started looking at the pros and cons with the different sites so more more to come as we uh roll up our sleeves and
get uh take a deeper dive i'll talk about the money yes uh so as part of the interview we we just we kind of say we we like to somewhat rip the band-aid off and and sometimes that might not help us in interview but we like to come in honest
um you know Tingsboro is going back x amount of years you know four years ago um $112,000 square ft $629 a square foot um and this is data that's taken right off the MSBA's website so
um you know we're four years ago uh three and a half four years ago i can't get an exact date um but you know but 20 22 spring the project was approved uh so we did a kind of back and napkin
analysis for the different grade configurations different square footages obviously you know the 930 the 1390 the 1885 uh we did not do an analysis for renovation addition because that can get
complicated um and it's all over the map um so we just wanted to provide some an order of magnitude i mean we're we're putting$850,8.40 and 830 uh as cost per square foot um you know decisions relate
to what the cost per square foot is going to be as well as square footage um you know we popped in the student count into the MSBA's template it spits out what the MSBA
uh template says as far as what the square footage would be but um I think I've done one school I think it was the Florence Roach Elementary School where the only increase of the square footage was with special ed which is common uh
but most of the time there's certain program elements that is important to the district the delivery of education there and uh you go beyond the MSBA's square footage template so um I mean the biggest driver of cost is square footage
um so there's always a a balance of uh meeting the program and and um you know the end cost and and just uh I want to add one thing like for this project uh for example example tele media so it's
not eligible so correct it's an addition uh to the uh middle school project so definitely we will be over the square footage uh yeah the the MSBA will let you build it they'll just say we're not participating in the you know it's not
it's not eligible and also MSBA doesn't participate uh in auditorium so for the middle school projects that's correct yeah uh yeah if you want to build an auditorium it will be also additional square footage yeah cafeterium
uh so we'll jump into uh the other portion of the slide deck so I think Hamdi this was your slide yeah uh just uh briefly to go over all the uh MSBA process it starts with eligibility
period uh which you already completed and then module 2 is forming the project team uh we are halfway through as soon as uh the MSBA uh approves us uh we will also start the designer procurement
process and then the physibility study will start and it will uh continue with the schematic design phase and uh hopefully the project will be uh approved and the funding will be secured
uh at the uh spring 2027 town meeting then module six the detailed uh design phase will start and then uh module six and seven it will also overlap if the
committee prefers uh to move forward with the CM at risk procurement uh type uh but if not all the drawings and everything will be finalized and then the construction will start uh we'll
we'll explain that later uh at another uh committee meeting but uh after the module 7 is completed uh there will be also project close out warranty period and MSBA financial auditing period
uh there is one more module module 9 but that's uh after the project is complete it's between the uh owner and the MSBA just uh to get survey uh from the owner uh about the project
and this is a repeat um that you know Hamdi walked us all through um and it it kind of leads into the next couple of slides um from a graphic standpoint um so you know this is the the whole
timeline on a uh you know if the project was to go new construction hypothetically and then we wanted to break it down to okay this is just the feasibility schematic design this is just from here where we are now to get
to an approved project that is approved by the MSBA and town meeting um so um you know you can see where you are um the design of procurement is going to happen late summer um hopefully by
September we have a designer on board we'll put a preliminary design program together submit that uh towards the end of this calendar year and then in late spring the preferred schematic design is submitted and it's at that point where you have you're submitting to the MSBA
this is the solution we want to then carry forward in a robust schematic design and then this again very same graphic somewhat but we wanted to utilize this to to just explain that um
at the certain minimum requirements with the MSBA even if you don't want to do a code upgrade you have to do a code upgrade study so that's a requirement code upgrade and then you have to do a study of an ad rena and you have to do a
study option of new and because we have three different enrollment options at a minimum for the preliminary design deliverable at the end of this calendar year you're going to have seven you could have more they could be uh for the
enrollment of 9:30 they could be ad rena one ad rena 2 but at a minimum there's going to be seven um when you submit the preliminary design program from past experience looking at uh projects that had different enrollments which is
somewhat the norm now uh I would highly recommend that by the end of this calendar year when we're submitting the PDP to the MSBA that when we submit it we will then say and we're moving
forward with this enrollment option so that's what's shown i know the laser pointer won't work but the preferred schematic report at that point we will continue to study a code upgrade because you have to it's MSBA policy and then we would continue studying and add Renault
for enrollment A i'm not saying what A is but it's you know going to be one of the enrollment options and then it would also we would study a new for enrollment A when we submit the preferred schematic report to the MSBA we'll submit those
three options at a minimum and then say we are moving forward with hypothetically new and then we would do a robust schematic design study of that uh new construction option of enrollment
A whatever that enrollment is so I just wanted to graphically show how you look at multiple options then you hone it down and then you finally get one preferred solution um Hamdi has put together a schedule that I know no one can read
um but um we just wanted to show that you know this is an entire project schedule there's hundreds and hundreds of line items and tasks and deliverables um there's things that we're going to do that we probably won't even bring to this
committee because there's so many things that have to be done um but but we track everything uh cuz as as you you know even submitting the MSBA's OPM package they look at everything and if there's one little typo so there's a lot to track um so this is about
90% you know ready for prime time but we wanted to just show that you know we've already started developing it and and working on it but we're going to we'd like to take a big schedule and bring it into something that's more manageable so
this is an excerpt of the schedule that Hami put together that is just where we are now and getting an architect on board so as you can see the RFS will be issued to the MSBA on or about May 15th we cannot issue the RFS
until uh the MSBA approves us which would happen on the 12th and then the day after 2 days later they send an approval letter and then we sign the cont well the district signs the contract and the contract is sent to the MSBA then the MSBA will accept the
RFS so on the agenda tonight we were asking if we could have this committee designate a point person to be the point person for the RFS process and the reason why is because it's very
important to get an architect on board as soon as possible and you can see that there's quite the trajectory to do that it it it takes there's a lot of steps uh we want to be working on the RFS now so as soon as our contract is submitted to
the MSBA the following day on or about May 15th we give the MSBA the RFS by their policy protocol they have 10 days to review it and give it back to us there has been times where they'll give it to us and say "Hey here are our edits
you need to resolve this with the district and you need to get it back to us in four days if you don't get it back to us in 4 days you might not get into the designer selection panel queue so um
the ability to be nimble is is very helpful um and I would ask if you know if they could be someone who is designated then if when we meet with that person that person can reach out to other committee members as long as you
don't reach out and you then constitute a quorum so that's been my experience and advice to this committee and and we can um talk about that further uh so we're anticipating um the DSP panel
meeting for July 29th or August 12th and if we don't get into the queue on the 29th it'll be August 12th and then the other dates um so it it there's quite the runway to get a designer on board so
they they meet uh two times a month right Correct yep every two weeks every two weeks yes uh some of it from experience um it it's not a big deal to get into the queue and other times because the designer selection panel can
only handle and I'm not criticizing the MSBA but they only can handle a certain amount of designer reviews at a meeting so you somewhat you go in line so sometimes it's lucky and you get into the queue and other times you can have
everything done and you just have to wait um so the MSBA designer selection process this slide deck or data used to be twice as long and I've decided to condense it so the items that are not
bold I I don't have a slide deck for um because I I I I think um the it it's easy to understand so the RFS overview it's a standard MSBA request for services process with a standard contract that is
utilized um you can make edits to the IFS but you can't we'll say bleed all over it um edits that you can make is obviously background data uh specific project goals scope of services schedule milestones
um sometimes we may push the limit and then the MSBA will say "No you're adding too much of stuff." Um but we'll we'll cross that bridge when we get to it um the designer selection piano composition um this is important to note
so it's composed or comprised of 13 members they're appointed by the executive director of the MSBA with varying areas of expertise and then there's three members that make up the district it is a member designated by the school committee um the
superintendent and then the CEO of the city or town which I would feel is is Paul um so for this we know it's going to be Jay and Paul and then it would be uh an individual designated by the school committee uh Dennis since you know you're on the school committee and
on this building committee again I my opinion would be you'd be the the candidate um so uh we I it'd be wonderful if we can get that uh memorialized and we can talk about that after the slide deck but
no matter how this is sliced and who attends from the MSBA side or doesn't attend um you need a minimum of nine members to constitute a quorum and as you can see it would be six members and
then three members and so um the meetings are open to the public and uh as Hamdi said they're typically held every two weeks uh so the selection criteria is pretty standard you have to be a
designer as defined by Mass General Law MCPPL certified uh you have to contract with MBEWBE percentages hamdi has reached out to uh the S the um supplier diversity office and is that that's in
the progress to get the uh percentage uh percentages that we need uh they have to have the experience performance they look at workload qualifications uh financials and then location like they now now when I say location this is
interesting we are working with an architectural firm that is based in Connecticut in Tingsboro and um they have they they commute like we have never had to beg for them to come to a meeting uh they have a Boston office but
but um a lot of the staff involved in the project actually works out of the Connecticut office um so um they they can make it work um but but the MSBA does look at geography and what's shaded in um gray
is important so when the proposals are received um I'm happy to share them with the committee um but I would share them and qualified as it's embargoed and not to email and debate and talk about them
because the you know the MSBA it's very strict there's no ranking or pre-ranking of the applicants all of the ranking has to happen at the designer selection panel meeting okay so I'm happy to share the uh proposals with the committee uh
the three members will will get their own packet from the MSBA um but again I I'd ask that there's no email correspondence and and so forth okay uh the selection process so the DSP
uh may request interviews um I think once in my career they did not request an interview um so they they they what they'll do is uh they'll review the proposals um at meeting one and then they'll do a ranking so if they get 12
proposals they will most likely do a ranking and and narrow it down to three maybe four and then those three will then come back two weeks later and do an interview okay um and uh in the event of ties the
chairperson determines how the tiebreaker is going to happen and it does happen and it's online meeting Zoom correct it's a Zoom yep so there's multiple meetings with the designer selection panel two yes yep
sometimes I've been involved in three where they have shortlisted four firms to do interviews and they would do two interviews at one meeting and then another two at the following meeting that's happened once in my career
typically I think they try to narrow down the interviews to three firms so you'll start off with you know 10 firms applied hypothetically um they would do their scoring and ranking and if there's kind of a
grouping of of three they pick three but sometimes they look at the grouping and they say "Well we have to invite the fourth one because you know they were one point off." I mean so it sometimes depends on how the scoring um plays out
you have a first meeting to actually kind of wean down to three yep and then there might be nine or 10 members of the panel there that day yep they decide to hold interviews with those three or four firms two weeks later correct it may be
a different composition could be the group it's just whoever happens to show up that day yeah but I'd have to say uh the MSBA designer selection panel members they're they're pretty consistent it's the same Okay individuals that that
participate play that out the second time you meet you actually interview the groups yep and then do you actually deliberate or do you have to make a decision that day No you you deliberate and make a decision that day the same day same day same meeting
so everyone's already been like vetted ahead of time like there's no you don't have to do reference checks or anything like that we do it on behalf of them yes so so um the proposals will be um you will receive the proposals
um and before you even attend the first designer selection panel meeting uh we will do reference checks on behalf um there might be some committee members that might want to do reference checks and then we have to put together a um
deliverable or package there's a package that we deliver on behalf of the project of the reference checks there's a chart of all of the uh designers consultants that we have to put together so there's a lot of homework that is done but some
of that's done up front it is yes yep and is um do the three people from the town um have a vote in the in Yes yes they do and they will um at the start of deliberation they will start with you
okay yeah um to get your comments out on the table first and we can talk more about the process um as we you know get there uh the award of the contract so uh
the applicant jumps in if they the designer selection panel says you will you know the ranking ends up being ABC architects and you don't want to work with ABC architects you don't have to there is a vehicle um to say we just
don't want to work with them in my career I've never um seen it happen it probably has happened but I can't tell you what the outcome is um but in in reading the process with the MSBA you
know you can say you know I know they came up as the highest ranked we just don't want to work with them you have to put it in a letter form with the reasons why and you send it to the DSP and honestly I don't know if you do the process again or or like I said it's
it's never happened and um I don't know of it happening but it probably has i just can't give you an example and then there's links here if you want to find out more information because there's pages and pages and pages of the designer selection process
i just wanted to kind of give you a condensed version um we put together a budget i know you can't read it as well but um every month we will provide a um a monthly report and uh you'll have this
budget as a PDF so you can see it um this will expand uh we track everything i'd have to say uh as a as a team as a company we're we're pretty type A with the budget we want to track everything uh we periodically will do an audit with
um the town just to make sure there's not an invoice that might have uh been paid for out of the account and it didn't come through us which means it's not on our budget we didn't know about it it happens every once in a while and then for a sample invoice log
all invoices will come through us uh we'll vet the invoices make sure they're in order they're good to pay we put them on a log we bring it to this committee this committee approves all invoices uh outside of this meeting we will have a
meeting with the district and um the town um we'll understand who's paying the bills and and we'll have a kind of a budget prop uh invoice meeting on how we do it um you know we have it down to a
science it works well um but you know again we're we're open to other um requests that the town or the district may have um but like I said we've been doing this for years and uh we have it down to a science
um I one thing on the invoice log uh if this committee wouldn't detain it um it sometimes happens uh when we map out when we're going to meet it might be the summer months could be July and it might be do we really need to meet and it's
like well we're just meeting to approve invoices um and then sometimes it happens around the holidays uh and then once the project gets into construction it is really important to pay invoices every month because we're dealing with
Mass General Law payment challenges um for us or the architect no one's going out of business because we're you know 60 days out for an invoice but uh what we've done on other committees is that if for some reason we're not meeting or
we show up and there's not a quorum which has happened once or twice uh there would be one person who would be designated to approve invoices and then obviously that invoice log is still going to get presented to the committee the following month um so just something
if the committee would like to entertain that we've done it on other projects and then uh future committee meetings um May 12th MSBA approval May 15th or thereabouts we'll submit the RFS to the
MSBA uh we are anticipating DSP meetings on the 29th or the 12th but you know it may not happen January 29th the first meeting may be on the 12th and then the next meeting would be the 26th but um wondering if we could iron
out when we could meet you know right now once a month uh once we get going we may have uh the request to meet more than once a month um but you know Thursdays work well for Hamdi and I uh I
understand that i think there's um um select board meetings on Monday and then there's school committee meetings on Tuesday and Wednesday there's other meetings so um you know I would offer you know could we do the third Thursday
of every month if that works We'd like to kind of put it on a calendar and give it to everyone so it it's out there jim you guys meet on Thursday we meet Thursdays yeah finance committee um but that's during September October or
during March uh Feb March and April so there is some flexibility in other months it's just those months there'll be probably a conflicting finance committee meeting one of those nights anybody else have anything on Thursday
The only for me it's just if we actually just pick a night and kind of stick with it it's just easier for um scheduling so um like a Thursdays are fine you know I could do a Wednesday if we had to monday Mondays and Tuesdays are bad just because the select board and school committee but
um I don't have a problem now through whenever for Thursdays that works for me i don't know why do I Anybody else have a problem with Thursday Okay so third Thursday of every month
six o'clock here sounds fine yeah and as we did for this meeting I can make like a Zoom link available um in the event that someone needs to join remotely um they certainly could even like as we get into the summer months if
someone's away or something like that if they want to join remotely we can do a link the only thing is I just remember Juneth Junth is the Oh yeah was the third Thursday oh yeah that is the third one yeah so do I do second Thursday Yeah
i mean again we could do it on We can do it on the 12th too so so we'll do June 12th okay may 15th will be the next one then yes and then I'm going to circle July
17th and then August 21 september 18th October 16th November 13th and December 18th and November 20th
oh sorry november 20th thank you um and can you um can you send that to like me and and I'll I'll get it out to the whole committee so that everybody has uh because we are missing three members tonight so true yeah we we um we'll we'll submit it we have a format that we
do and uh we'll indicate that uh you know meetings are subject to change and so forth but at least people can map it out okay um so that's it for tonight uh I know it
was a a long long presentation apologies um but I want to go back to kind of my Excuse me my agenda to-do list um any thoughts or appetite from the committee on
recommending a or assigning an individual to be a point person for the RFS process What does the point person do Um we so we will put together a draft RFS and bring it back um we will forward it
around um get comments get thoughts and um it it's really just if the MSBA comes back and there's a certain edit um that is very minor in nature uh I just want to be able to review it with someone and
get a thumbs up and say we can accept that edit and move forward if it's an edit where I feel we need a committee meeting then we will call a committee meeting but I'm trying to uh avoid having a committee meeting and something
very formal on something that might be very simple to resolve did you say that um that person needs to attend the DSP meeting Um uh the the point person doesn't have to be one of those three but I would recommend it would be
beneficial if it is okay so so you think that point person should be from from past experience it from past experience it's typically the superintendent okay
sorry Jay thank you for volunteering Jay no I if I'm on it I don't mind but I would involve people anyway if there was a Yeah I mean I'm I'm familiar with a lot of the architectural firms that are likely going to apply so um I mean I I'
I'd pony up to do it but if it makes sense that you know that that person be one of the three members this is only to answer like just a quick question if something comes up document Exactly it's really it's for kind of finalizing the RFS okay um you know we will Well you
probably need all the school information I assume and the the um a lot of the stuff that was in the statement of interest correct and the OPM pro yeah we will redline a uh RFS we will share it with the committee um if you have any
questions you can email us Hamdi and I we can uh you know answer them but it's really when when the MSBA gives back their redline version and says just hypothetically you have 4 days to get
this back to us to stay in the queue i I want to be able to um you know call up Jay and Jay says "All right set up a Zoom i'm going to call Pat i'm going to call Paul we're going to do a Zoom and I'm going to say there are these are the edits i don't see any issue with that
thumbs up we can get it back to the MSBA and not miss the queue." So that's really the intent it's not We have four days and we have to post a meeting and have a meeting when I respectfully feel it it doesn't deserve a committee
meeting okay I move we elect Jay go ahead J i was going to say I'm okay what was that Just as an example I know a few of us were on email but the OPM package got kicked back for a couple of final edits before it goes in Friday and they were minor it was like the the font
had to be changed to Times New Roman 12 u there were all kinds of just funky little things that came up there was honestly nothing substantive so if it's something like that that's going to come up quickly you can just say yes go ahead and do it and we could just email out the group to say like what we approved yes and I don't think it would be
substantive but if it does we could always bring it back to the group so I'm okay with that if that okay great um and then you know as far as the assignment of design and selection panel members I mean just by Do we want to finish that vote So the Oh I'm sorry no no no i
don't want a problem with our minutes no no no i I was I was actually kidding uh that was that was kind of a joke uh yeah but but I'm happy you should have it on the You should have on the record on the record does someone have any problem Someone's going to think it's you all right so I move that we um have Jay
um fulfill that role second um we have a second and uh all in favor I I that's unanimous 10-0 and then the next item is assignment of the design of selection piano composition i mean obviously by uh MSBA
policy it's uh it's Paul it's Jay and then the third person would be someone uh designated by the school committee i I believe the school committee's meeting next week school committee could make that designation and it would be Dennis so so yeah we can we can go ahead I
think tonight and just say that Dennis would Yeah sub subject subject to the formal approval we'll put on agenda yeah that we probably should vote too because they're always hung up on these votes i'll I'll I'll move that we we appoint
Dennis as the designer uh uh RFS uh third member subject to final approval by the school committee a second from Matt all in favor I that's 10 Z as well all right uh and then the last item that
I have which you know it's it's you know we don't we don't even have to make a motion on it because it's really not applicable but um just for invoice purposes if the committee wants to designate um someone to approve invoices
if we don't have a quorum or for some reason the committee in the summer may wish we don't want to meet that would be me i fig that would be me yeah yeah i sign all the invoices in school yeah your your colleague down the
street does the same yeah exactly so is it who made that motion Okay i'll entertain a motion to appoint Paul as the person that approves invoices throughout the feasibility study process so moved yeah i I mean again it's only if we don't have a quorum or at least we have it on the
record yeah yeah uh and and what Hamdi will do and what we've done in the past uh down the street for Colin Lzelle is um you know we'll put the invoice together the package we'll send it to the committee and we'll say if you have any comments you know please let us know
within you know 24 hours and if we don't hear anything then you know so you know at least the committee has the opportunity so we have a motion by Jim and a second by John um any other questions or comments Seeing none uh all
in favor I and that's unanimous 10 again so that is um that's all I have great does anybody else have anything else this evening Just I guess as Paul
so if we did a meeting in spring of 2027 we would then have to do a vote with that exclusion when I I I think No no i think it would be it'd probably be within a couple weeks after the town vote because you if you Yeah that's why I wanted to know how it would
affect the highline you you Yeah so you pro you're probably going to have an April election like the first Tuesday in April and you're probably going to have the dev exclusion vote the first or second Tuesday in May okay which is fine because you want the town meeting to weigh in you don't want Right and you won't have time either based on the MSBA
schedule to you can't you you need ample time to get that information out for that vote that you can't squeeze it in to the April town election which is be a special election with just one one item okay yeah one item yeah one ballot yeah
okay okay thank you very much David thank you and uh we don't have any public comment this evening because we don't have anybody in the audience so um at this point uh if there's nothing else I would uh entertain a motion to adjurnn make a
motion to adjurnn second we have a motion and a second all in favor I opposed unanimous 10 great thanks everybody