So, the time is now 3:32 on Tuesday, October 28th, 2025. I'd like to open the board of selectment meeting. Uh joining us today is our town administrator Bob Fennessy, our assistant Pam McSherry. Uh do we have the other folks online there Bob as well?
>> Yes, everybody's on. Yeah. Okay. >> All right. So we have we have um selectman Tom Pratt, selectman Bill Smith, myself the chair, selectman Jonathan Celig. Uh and we have a very somewhat short agenda today. Um just two
items to discuss. And first I will start with uh uh I guess item A uh which is >> before you do uh do you want me to read the statement of uh being on on >> Zoom zoom and chapter >> oh you know yeah why don't you read
that'd be great Bob thank you >> okay so this meeting has been posted in accordance with the provisions of mass general law chapter 38 section 20B and pursuant to chapter 3A section 20F notice is being made that this meeting is being recorded ed and will be posted
on area 58 community access channel. The board chair reasonably anticipates the following matters will be discussed and are voted on at this meeting and agenda items may be taken out of the order for time management considerations.
>> Thank you Bob for that. Appreciate it. >> Uh and now let's jump down to A. We're going to review and approve an iceless skating rink contract with Funtown Entertainment LLC for the Holidays and Halifax event to be located in the Holmes Public Library parking lot. Uh
again, I can't see who's here in the meeting. Do you guys know if Kim Campbell is here? >> She's not here. I know. >> Okay. I can I can Yeah, I can summarize it. Or Bob, if you want to summarize it. I think most folks in Halifax now know uh about holidays in Halifax. It is a
tradition spanning 30 plus years and this year the committee wants to try something different. They're going to use a synthetic ice rink. I'm very excited about it. For those that uh want to know about it, it's similar to if you've ever gone to Jordan's Furniture
during their holiday celebration, uh they have a a synthetic ice rink. So, it'll be in that vein. And I'll be honest, the reason we're having this meeting today uh is because this item didn't get on the agenda for our last meeting. And I don't like to make a
habit out of having meetings kind of out of the norm like this and and during the middle of the day because I do like to have folks have the opportunity to get there and to make it available. But uh in the essence of time, we had to lock down this vendor. So that's essentially why we're having this meeting today. Um
I have looked over the contract. It makes sense to me. Is there anybody else from the uh board that would like to comment on the contract? >> No, I'm good. The insurance provisions are covered for me, which is always my biggest concern. So, uh good here.
>> Okay. >> All right. And uh Bill, I don't know if you heard me. Is you're good with the contract as well? >> Yes, I am. >> Awesome. Thank you. All right. If that's the case, I'll entertain a motion to approve the contract with Funtown
Entertainment LLC for the synthetic rink for holidays in Halifax. >> And so the town of the >> Yes. >> Uh yeah. So that so it sounded like Tom was the moved it and Bill was the
second. >> Okay. And then we'll have to do a roll call vote because this is an online meeting. Uh, I'll ask Bill. >> Yes. >> Tom, >> yes. >> And myself as a yes. Passes unanimously.
Three to zero. >> All right. Well, >> and do we have to authorize Bob to sign the contract? >> Yes. >> Yes. Yeah. Good call. Good call. I'll entertain a motion to make Bob Fantasy uh the signing authority for said contract. >> So moved. >> Second.
>> All right. We'll do a roll call vote. Bill Smith. >> Yes. Tom Pratt. >> Yes. >> Myself as a yes. That motion passes 300. >> Okay. Now we will move down uh to B on
our agenda. Uh and we have a visitor today. His name is Michael Carroll. He is with Collins Engineering and he is going to update us uh the status of the senior center building project and discuss um discussion of project designer selection process pursuant to
Massachusetts procurement regulations. That is a mouthful Mike. Um just to give a little bit of background on this. Uh whenever you have a large project like a town has here like we're having with the senior center uh the town brings in an
OPM and Odor's project manager to oversee the the operation. Um and Mike and his company Collars uh were the the uh winners in that. So Mike's essentially the eyes and ears of the town of Halifax keeping an eye on this
project. Um and I hope I have a nice little introduction segue for you Mike. I don't want to steal too much of your thunder, but uh I'll I'll give you the floor here, Mike, and you can kind of fill us in on how things are going. >> Absolutely. Thank you, Jonathan. I appreciate the the introduction and uh
just like you said, we're here to basically represent the owner's interest. Uh, one of the reasons why the state has has actually required this is because you have a designer who while they might be doing work for the owner might not always have their their
ideas or their preferences perfectly in line with the design with the owner. For example, they might be interested in winning awards, which is great if you can do it and stay within budget, if you will, things of that nature. Same with the contractor. the contractor is here to to build a project for you, but they're not always uh their their goals
are not always in alignment with you. So, we're independent from both of those parties. We're here to pro help provide oversight, help provide expertise. Uh to that point, we're talking a little bit about designer selection today. So, um through the mass public procurement
office, um they have requirements to do designer selection. It's actually um managed under chapter 30B typically. Uh and we're also talking chapter uh 7C today which is is specific to the the requirements of that. Um and basically
with the designer with the with the designer requirements that we're doing here is we submitted an RFQ back in September and we solicited uh uh RFQ request for qualification. So,
it's it's a little different than an RFP or request for bid in that you're not receiving a a number at that time. We're actually receiving qualification. So, designer selection is qualificationbased. So, in other words, um we want to find a, you know, there's
a lot of great designers out there, a lot of really good designers, but we want to find the best designer that's going to best fit with not only our project, but maybe our demographics, our our people, and really going to deliver us the project that we really need. and and so that's that's the first priority here is to find somebody who's the most
qualified and in order to do that we put out the RFQ um that RFQ we got very uh good responses on it we got nine different submissions on that um when I met with the building committee last week I mentioned I don't know that I've
ever gotten nine design team submitting on any project I've ever done uh usually we're happy if we get four five six somewhere in that range so nine was actually very encouraging that um a lot of people looked at it. Um one of the things I will mention in the in the RFQ,
we we did identify the general scope of the project, the the timeline of the project and the budget on the project. And the fact that we have nine nine different companies that were interested in it means that I think we had a general like a a consensus that we we had the right scope and budget for for
this project. Um, so we we did do an evaluation of those RFQS and we presented that to the building committee last week. Uh, from that meeting, they recommended a short list of four and what we're intending to do is have a uh
interview process uh on Thursday of this week. Um, it is open to the public. Anybody is welcome to come down and and and sit through that. Uh we have basically one-hour interviews with each of the four preferred uh vendors if you will the four the four best of the nine
that we we you know that the committee reviewed. Um after that meeting we after those interviews we will have a meeting at which time I if the committee so desires we will rank them again one two three four at that point and enter into
potential potentially enter into negotiations with the lowest preferred vendor. Uh the negotiations are are going to be relatively short I would believe on this process because we have provided the contract um and all four vendors took no exceptions to our
contract. We have provided a a not to exceed value on the overall cost. So we don't expect anybody to come in over that value. Certainly negotiate to see if we can get maybe get it a little bit under that value. But it's a general uh rule of thumb of where we're at. So, I
know I just said a lot, but uh I I certainly want to give you an opportunity to ask questions. Uh I can continue on if needed, but certainly open open the floor here. >> All right. I think it's exciting, Mike, and I and I want to give you kudos and your props. I think um since you've been
brought along on this project, uh I feel really good about our position as a town with this going forward. Um and it's exciting. I mean, we've been waiting generations for this for this Council on Aging building. So, um, with your eyes and ears kind of keeping things on the
track and with our building and and, um, municipal building and and school committee, I think I I think we're heading in a good direction. I I I don't really have any follow-up questions. I didn't know if the board had anything they'd like to to bring up.
>> Yeah, I had two things quickly. This is Tom. Um, one, I thought I was on mute. I had to bring my my son to the ba my daughter to the bathroom. So, if you heard any of that, I apologize. Um uh number I'm home daddy daycare on Tuesday afternoons. Um on uh and just Mike just thank you for everything
you've done. Um just a clarification the meeting time and place on Thursday. Should we be be interested? >> So it's here in the select boardroom and the first interview starts at 11:00 and then we have a 15minute break. The next one starts at 12:15 or 15. So, it's
basically 11 and then 12:15 and then 1:30 and then 2:45 followed by a a a select uh sorry um a building committee meeting at 4 I think 4:00 2:45 yeah 4:00
uh for the discussion so it really 11 to 5 say 11 to 4:30 somewhere in that range >> this Thursday >> this Thursday that's correct >> okay all right thank you very much >> and if I may is brought fantasy. Um there was some questions and concerns at
the select board meeting about whether they can take two of the finalists and then decide or is it the building committee that does the the final decision on which one to negotiate with.
So we have done a little bit of review on this and I believe that the building committee I'm going to say is technically like a subcommittee or an appointed committee from the select board is my understanding and they their their duties are to manage these projects. So um
>> while so I guess the short answer is I believe that the school building committee as a permanent building committee is is the entity that would vote on this. Uh that being said, I don't see any harm if we brought this forward to the select board for them to understand where we're at as
a as an acknowledgement of what the school of the building committee did. But typically, they're going to rank them one through four. And this is where we come back to the mass procurement. The procurement laws are pretty specific. But they again, they don't want us to necessarily
give it to just the low guy because they're the low guy. they want us to give it to the best qualified guy and negotiate with that person. So that's really the the the way that that the statute is written and again I'm not a lawyer but the way the statute is written is that we're supposed to rank
them which we have already have 1 through 4 interview and and the statute actually says you can do an interview you can have a a written proposal which we've already kind of done or you can have a design competition and and I've never had anybody do a design competition or do a second written uh
it's always in in an interview. Now, if the committee after the first round of interviews felt they needed a second round of interviews, you could, but I think you would have to do all four again. We wouldn't just be taking the four down to two, say, and um but ultimately after the interviews, we
rerank them one through four and then you negotiate with the lowest, you know, the most qualified vendor, if you will. The the good news is if we can't come to an agreement with that one, we have the option to go to the second. If we couldn't come to an agreement with them, we could go to the third and and then the fourth year. So
the provisions don't lock you in that you have to go with that lowest guy no matter what the value is. You know, they they have to be willing to sign your contract and and within your terms as well. >> Clearly select would would vote on the
on the contract itself to sign the contract. >> Typically they don't have to. Typically, it it's the the contract I think we reviewed with with the with the uh I think through your office, Bob, prior to it going into the RFQ and it was it was
accepted. Again, having everybody review it and support it is always a good thing. U but typically I I think the the the the board the the school building committee has the authority to to select the vendor, if you will. Nobody on that
board actually has the authority to sign. Typically, it's the town administrator that has the authority to sign on behalf of the town or here's the select boards >> unless they authorize. Yeah. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. That was that was my question that
they had any authority to sign any contracts. >> Yeah. So, no. typically and and this is I I'll say kind of the general rule of thumb that I've you know I work with many districts on multiple municipal buildings, school buildings, things of that nature. And even on a school
building where it might be a school department that appoints the building committee in that case the town administrator is still typically the the assigning authority. So um basically it's going to be the building committee making a recommendation for Bob to enter
into that you know to execute that contract. based off of, you know, this value in in in these terms. Um, and if there's some sort of action that the select board would want to take, I I I think a ratification or support of that would certainly be a good thing. If
there's any sort of need to to authorize Bob to sign, then um I would we would ask for that to be able to be done. >> And can you hear me, guys? >> Yes, sir. Okay. And and the more I was thinking of this after our meeting, uh we discussed
this briefly at our last meeting uh about signing authority and and bringing candidates. Um and I think for me what it boils down to is uh we we appointed these guys to do this job. I mean this is one of the biggest um one of the
biggest charges of being on that committee is handling this process. So much like we put folks on Concom, you know, to make decisions on Concom or we put folks on ZBA to make ZBA decisions, I think that's kind of why they're
there. Um, and again, obviously, you know, we as selectmen have have appointing authority. So, that's kind of how we can steer that that committee. But, uh, I do think it's kind of in their realm to to make their recommendations, you know, to to listen
to all the the presentations, make an educated recommendation. There are folks in the industry that are on that board that have, you know, much more experience than I have. Um, so I it just to me it makes sense for them to for us as a board to lean on that committee for
their insights and their um experiences, you know, to listen to all of those presentations and to to put a rank list together for us to take a look at. >> Just a quick followup. Um, this is Tom. Um, so you uh, Mike, you said that um,
you ranked them, you know, one through four in descending order and if one doesn't take the deal, then two. Is there any is there anything uh binding the town where we're having four people in on Thursday to get all the way down to number four or is this a situation
where if we kind of have you know one and two are preferred we can stop. So >> if it gets to the point, >> the way it works is you you negotiate with number one, you get to a point where either you agree >> or you agree to not agree and then your
negotiation with number one is over then you go to number two. So once you once you stop. >> Okay. And so if if in the if in the mind of the building and school committee and yourself and everybody else who's ranking these people, we get to number two and there's a there's a dramatic drop off before we get to three. And
obviously I don't know who's who the players are. Do we have are we under any obligation to continue to number three or can we put it back out at that point if we don't come to to agreement with number one and number two as an example >> you always have the option to reject all and and and cancel the project reject
all and go back out to you know out to bid obviously I'm not saying you should cancel a project but it's always you know it's always like you you have that option with with the way the with the way the RFQ is written with with the way mass procurement is written so uh you're never committed until you've signed the contract
And I will say too, this is my first goaround with uh the construction of a municipal building as a selectman. I the meeting is open to the public. So I I do plan on joining for the meeting just to just to do a heavy dose of listening and watching and uh to try to educate myself
as as this is my first goaround. So I'm looking forward to Thursday and to to seeing what all four candidates are bringing to the table. I I have a another question. >> Yes, sir. >> Now, out of the four candidates, if one
of them is not chosen, can they appeal to the state that they weren't wasn't a fair selection process? >> So, typically I I I would I I I would never say no that they can't, but the the appeal would be pretty difficult
because I I think um If somebody was rejected, like we said, hey, you're not qualified to even be on the list or you didn't make a your submission was incorrectly submit, like, hey, you you know, it had to be in by 2:00 and it came in at 3:00
on that day. They might try to appeal in that situation. Um, I I will be honest with you, I I think we had nine strong candidates and and honestly, it wasn't an easy decision to to get down to four. Um, I would say uh any one of the four
can certainly do this project and and probably do a very good job in doing the project. So like we're you know I think to to Tom Tom your question earlier we're not worried that you know we have two really good ones and maybe two really bad ones. We have four really good candidates. So like we're we're
choosing from four great candidates. Like you know that that's where I'm going to say you know I'll go I'll go as far as to say that. So, like we're we're we're we're choosing from from the best of the best, which is is a a great position to be in. >> All right. Any do we have any other
questions uh at all for for Mike or uh Mike? Again, this was very informative, especially with uh a board of selectmen that again all three of us are going through this process for the first time. You've been fantastic. uh you've you've explained things very uh easily
understood and easy to grasp. Uh I feel really confident with you kind of as the point man and kind of leading our our municipal building and school committee through this process. Um and again I'm I'm really really excited to get this ball rolling because I think it's going
to be uh a feather in the cap for the town of Halifax. I'm really excited. >> Excellent. I I look forward to it as well. I'm uh excited to get the designer on board and and let us see where we can get to. >> Excellent. Any other any other questions
for Mike before we let him go? >> No, I'm good. >> I'm good. >> Awesome. >> Okay. Well, on that note, um I guess if there anything else for the board to bring up before we before we adjourn. >> Not on my end. No. >> No.
>> Okay. >> Okay. Uh that being said, I will entertain a motion to adjurnn. >> So moved. >> Second. >> I have a motion and a second to adjurnn. We needed uh Bill Smith.
>> Yes. >> Tom Pratt. >> Yes. >> Myself, Jonathan Celig is a yes. Uh the board of selectment meeting is concluded at 3:54 p.m. Thank you guys for your time. >> Thank you all. >> Thanks, guys. See you later.
>> Bye bye.