Good evening and welcome to the April 16, 2025 meeting of the middle school building committee. Uh this meeting is being held uh hybrid both in person and online.
Um so uh tonight uh we uh call to order and then we go on to public comments. Is there anybody here who would like to address the board? Seeing none, I would move to approval of the minutes from March 12th, 2025. I
would entertain a motion at this time. Motion to approve. Second. There's a motion. Is there a second? Is there any further discussion? Seeing none, I will call for a roll call vote. Marty, yes. Josh, yes. Chris, abstain.
Uh, going around. Lynn, yes. Uh, David, you're online. David, yes. Anybody else there? Okay. Armond. Yes. Uh, it motion
passes. Uh, moving on to correspondence. We do not have any. Moving on to new business. Um, we'll go with a caller's update. All right. Great. Thank you very much. Uh, so we'll just start with the overall
schedule. um once this is up and running. So, while that's being pulled up, so as everyone knows, we're in the schematic design phase right now. Um we have a schematic design submission
that's going to the MSBA um on May 1st. That is our deadline for the submission. And then following that submission, there's going to be a review by the MSBA. And then we'll have a um FAS meeting. Um, I'm sorry. We'll
have a um a board meeting on June 18th. Originally was June 25th, but we received an email from the MSBA just the other day saying they want to do it a week sooner. So, it's going to be on June 18th. And that'll be with um kind of the
same groups we've had in the past with design team, the OPM, and um folks from the district as well. Um any questions on where we are with schedule at this point? No. Um, the only question I had scheduled was we got the email from the
MSBA. They were changing the dates, but that's just making it earlier in June, right? Yeah, that's the June 18th date that we're going to be Yeah, it's a it's a week sooner than the original date. Okay. Yeah. So, I I did receive a phone call from the MSBA. They're looking for some documents a little bit earlier to try and review some of these documents
ahead of time just because they have a shorter review window. Okay. Um so so um we going to get hit under new business 5D on the vote yes of the board. Um keeping that in mind just going to have
an open discussion about um we have a vote planned for April 29th. Um but I think we as a board should probably have a conversation around would it be wise to vote maybe next week instead give it a week for the numbers and but let's talk about that when we get to that part
of the agenda. I just want to let you know that's coming up. Great. So, I think next on our agenda was to just give an update on the CM at risk. Yep. So, we sent out the RFQ, which is request for qualifications. Um, and we
received eight submissions um this past Friday. Chad, I think they came in. Uh, this past Friday. And so those submissions are are up here. So we they're Walsh Brothers, Shamit, Whiting Turner Contracting, Bound Brothers, Fontaine, Conigley, uh DOC, which is
Daniel Oonnell's uh and Bar and Bar. And so that's that's a very good turnout for firms that are looking at this project and they're all, you know, reputable, you know, great firms that are all qualified to do this project. So, uh the process is um the subcommittee is going
to begin reviewing these um qualifications and from there we do a um a short list selection and once we short list them we're going to send out an RFP which is a request for proposal and we'll also schedule interviews and typically schedule-wise
what we're going to do is we're going to talk about when we can actually get together as a group and um meet to discuss the qualifications and then the time frame between sending out an RFP and interviews is typically around 3 weeks. Um, so that's going to be our
time frame. Once we nail down these dates with our smaller group, um, I'll work with Chad and make sure that all that information gets um, sent out to all the different contractors. What's our target date on full committee vote? Um, so we we have time. So essentially
it's we just need We have time. Just what's the target date? Yeah. So we're looking at Let me see if I have it in here. And I'll my question around that is in looking at them there's some really good responses
in some of them especially around community engagement and getting the vote out and supporting the vote and having one stood out to me like extra well in that area of this is
what we've already done with other districts in regards to helping them get the vote out. Mhm. So for me it's like the earlier we bring them on potentially to help us with that along with Kers and JWA it can't hurt, right? Especially if
they're a local based firm. I think speaks even more. But I sure don't want to prejudice anything out there. I'm just saying I read a that really one really stuck out to me. There was two or three that all address that that issue. Yeah. Yeah. So, my thought is um
probably the the June um building committee meeting, we'd be ready to have a recommendation. Okay. That's I mean that gives us, you know, yeah, time to bring somebody on and then if you if if the committee decides to bring somebody in before the
vote for that um outreach piece, that gives us time to to get them on board. Okay, perfect. Any other questions on that for? And so the next slide is and then there's a scoring sheet that we're going to be going through and so we put
this together. This can be modified. Um I wait for Mart's slides here. Sorry folks. No, you're okay. This is an example. These are ones that I put together just for now again by the committee. If there's something more specific we want to ask, um we can certainly change some of these or add a
question or or so on. But basically what we're looking at is uh what strategies do you bring to to the precon to ensure the GMP meets the budget? Uh strategies during the precon to set up the construction process to meet the project schedule. Strategies during the precon to set up the complex owner occupied
building construction scope and make sure it goes smooth as possible. What are some specific project risk challenges uh that you see? Um referencing strategies utilized on other similar projects. And then we want to talk about their phasing and logistics.
Um their team experience with construction on occupied schools. And then uh we want to talk about their experience with the geothermal uh system experience. Uh advantages and challenges that they've seen. And then um their closeout process with the with the
district. Um so that this is an example of what we'll want to get from these um qualifications and then uh through the interviews as well. [Applause] Any questions on
Yeah. timeline for going through this qualification review process? Yeah. So, we we're going to we're going to set up dates, but um we probably have um a couple weeks to look through that and then um short list, send out the RFP. Um and then it's three weeks from there
before we want to have interviews. Okay. So, a couple weeks to get the short list. Yep. Okay. Sounds good. Any questions? Um, who can you remind me who's on that subcommittee?
It's me, Dave, uh, and Chris. Okay. Just making sure I'm not Do you want to be on it? Okay. Just making sure you're on it as well. Did you decide? What's that?
Okay. I don't need an answer. right now. But I'm just curious those you were saying that the the the evaluation categories and comments here are these are examples or and the committee will get together and decide. Yes. Yes. Yes. But these are
something I put together just I thought were you know high level questions but if we want to get more specific on any topic we certainly can. All right. Uh moving on to new business. Uh B, cost estimate reconciliation overview. I'm going to guess this is our
friends from JWA. Sure. And Adam and Alan. Yeah, you can start off as necessary. But um we had a really successful cost estimate reconciliation on April 7th. Um a few folks from the committee were able to join which was great. Um but basically a day spent with
the estimators. Um and it's kind of interesting coming with the summary table is really by the end of many hours of discussion they just swapped numbers. Um so for the PSR again that was just estimated on a per square foot cost from
similar projects in the state. Um we were just relying on one cost estimator at the time that was the designer cost estimator PMNC. Um and so once we submitted all of our um schematic design documentation to them, they came back with numbers. Um PMNC
came in at about 120 million and AM Fogerty came in at about 119 million. Um so great that they were already pretty close together. Um and then during the reconciliation again a lot of discussion on um you know what they were carrying
for site and quantity of windows and um you know all of the details which was really helpful. But they came to PMNC went down to 119 and amogy went up to 120. What's a little bit uh interesting here is that so for the MSBA submission
is the quote unquote reconciled number um that we submit with Collier. So again at PSR we are at 116.8 just kind of taking a round number from that estimate. Here you'll notice that the reconciled number is actually less than the two numbers coming from the
estimators and that's because there was a lot of discussion about tariffs during the reconciliation and it was interesting to see uh how the estimators themselves felt about it. They kind of had different opinions on whether they could even place a number on tariffs when so
much is unknown at this point. And as we've seen since the 7th, uh, it's changed quite considerably since then. So, um, they both included, uh, you know, a tariff allowance, quote unquote, for a million dollars in their cost
estimates. Um, and in working with Collers, we decided it made a lot more sense to put that million dollars in contingency and take it out of the construction costs. So that's why that 118 number is uh is lower than the than
the average of the two construction cost estimates. Down in blue we have the project cost over time. So green is construction costs, blue is project costs. And so again at PSR we had a rough multiplier that we were applying to the construction cost to get from the
116.8 to what we thought would be a project cost of around 151.8 8 um for all all the project costs including fees and soft costs and furniture. Um after the reconciliation um that's come in at
151529 question on the um the tariffs putting that into the uh contingency. Yeah. Is that based on 10% roughly? It was based on Yeah. Yeah. So what they were looking at, they were looking at, you know,
currently right now what the tariff on steel is. So 25% increase on steel, um, you know, anything coming from, you know, overseas and so our windows are coming overseas and that type of stuff. So there we're getting a rough estimate on what those tariffs would consider and then kind of, you know, bumping it up to
a million dollars based on just other miscellaneous costs. Okay. I just ask I I don't know how much our materials I I go with that but it seems a million dollars seems low to me. No, we as we asked that same question during
that reconciliation meeting and it was I guess eye opening for me that what they did was said like he was just talking about x% of the job needs this much steel. We know how much this steel costs and then based upon most of the
steel's going to they said Canada I think was in the in the meeting based upon what the tariffs are in Canada and what the cost is today even if we added in the x% tariff that we're expecting that would take care of I think it was like 429 or 5 right right about 400 to
500,000 and then the rest was baking in for the intangibles of the rest of the project so it was a pretty at least half of it seemed to me to be pretty spot on about, you know, how they were estimating and the the less of just like, hey, we're going to
just add 10% to the the whole thing. No. Yeah, I get that. I was just like I was thinking of the windows. I know if we want to do the center school windows, it's 300 grand or something. If if those were all got a 10% tariff, that's 30 grand right there. And if it is 10%, which I know they're not doing, but that
that would only be $10 million worth of materials, which doesn't seem to make sense to me, but uh I you know, I I'm just layman. So I I I trust that they have fig thought about this more than I have. Yeah. They said every project that's what you know lately that's the question they're they're asked and
that's how they're factoring. Okay. Well and that was their other answer too is like MSBA for now that's what everybody else is putting in as a placeholder right like it wasn't like we are the only ones putting that placeholder. It seems to be a pretty acrosstheboard placeholder for now. And it's also a chicken and egg issue. Like you could
you could aim higher and pad yourself even more, but to what degree are you um you then have to go explain to the community that that you're asking to bond for this money that you actually don't have any verifiable evidence that you're going to need. So, and that can
politically make it challenging for you as well. So you want to do something but you want to be careful to not overstate what is a really quickly shifting terrain you know and we still have a year of design to continually revisit a lot of these
issues. So even that question of German windows it's not like what we have in this estimate is what we're actually going to be working with. We still have a lot of room for revision of our thinking. Okay. Hopefully things will stabilize. Right. Canada and Mexico are protected.
Canada and Mexico are protected though. We have an agreement with them, right? Trade agreement that's kind of unchanging with them right now. So, we actually just had a similar presentation from someone who for my company and they said we should carry about three a quarter 3/4 of a percent. So, this number is like 0.84. So, a little higher
than that. So, seems pretty consistent with the data that my company was given on Monday this week. So, Adam, what about like escalation? What are you hearing from escalation? We've got it coming up in just a second. Um, so, uh, just broad brush strokes.
Um, construction costs increase approximately 2 million and project or construction costs increased 2 million whereas project costs decreased 300,000. Um, and so looking at why construction costs increased, um, and I'm skipping ahead to the kind of the bullet in blue,
is that we were actually surprised that they didn't increase more with the amount that we put into the project. Um, a big change was the decision to proceed with construction manager at risk, which comes with a with a premium. Um, a turf field was added since PSR. Uh, left turn
lane off Williams and off-site sidewalk improvements were added. Um and then of course the the SD costs are now based on the documents instead of comparable projects. Um so it was interesting to hear from the cost customers that they did feel that the bidding environment
has improved since we submitted the PSR submission. Um and so some of the numbers that they were quoting had actually come down and that's the first time in a number of years that they've seen that. Um, and then on the project cost side, uh, really we were going with
a very rough multiplier at BSR with 1.3. Um, and I think, uh, Adam has passed out the spreadsheet that's called the 311. It's an incredibly complicated spreadsheet that the MSBA uses to figure out, uh, reimbursement rates. Um, but
plugging in all those numbers, then you're actually able to generate that um, true project cost. And so that's why that uh number has actually come down a little bit. Uh a little bit on the discussion. Can we go back for a second? Yeah, of
course. So I think the real for me and just my personal view I'm looking at the why did costs increase and one was I think we need to be as a committee able to explain where those increase came from. I mean, they're there, but I think
we need to say, you know, the construction manager at risk, sure, was a premium, but we did it to save costs on the project going forward. We did it to engage somebody earlier so we could submit the bid packages as soon as the the vote goes through, make sure we're
all able to articulate what that that premium is getting us because it's not just a premium. Like the turf field's not just a premium. the turf field is it's one field at the school now. If we don't you can't rotate that field. It's
going to be mud after you spend $800,000 to put grass and then you're not going to be able you're not going to have a field. You're just going to have dirt and that would just be $800,000 wasted. So it's And then the other thing is we've had a lot of people come to us about traffic, right? And their concerns
about traffic. The school plan in itself probably takes care of 90% of that flow by adding the long snake, but we've listened to the public and we have a plan to further alleviate the traffic on William Street as well above and beyond what may be
needed uh in the plan. And then uh you know plus the sidewalk improvement. So I just want to make sure like if you know if somebody wants to push back on me say Armen no. But I I just think we all just need to be able to say these are the reasons why those things were chosen and
we still came in below the PSR, right, Marty? And I I spot on 100% and I'd add to it that, you know, the turf field, it really is can be seen as almost an investment in the other fields that exist in town. You know, to the extent that a turf field can take the pressure
off some of the existing grass fields, it it it's a it's a it's a critical investment, I think. And then as I understand the construction manager at risk process, and tell me if I'm I'm not framing this correctly, is that it has the potential to have a construction
process that's more responsive to the neighborhood issues that we've heard about basically. Oh, absolutely. Yeah. So, a CM at risk is definitely more involved in the process. You know, they'll they'll come to the committee meetings with us. they'll have representatives from whatever contractor
we go with where, you know, typically, you know, if you do a hard bid, you don't get that service. Um, they'll be willing to come on early like we talked about earlier and help with that community outreach. Um, there was just a lot more involvement from, uh, CMO at market
any further. And those questions came up last week that we got from people in the crowd, too. So I think that's good. Yeah. So I just wanted to cover briefly a little bit on what um some decisions
made during the reconciliation. Um again most of it was on expectations on material costs um comparing quantities. Um we did have our consultants join the team. So you know we had a se a section on mechanical electrical plumbing and then a section on the site section on
structural. Um so helpful to get their input. At the end of the day, we did decide to make a few uh value engineering efforts. Um we had an exterior bench allowance um that we cut by 30%, we had a planting allowance that
we cut by 20%. Um and we had a what seemed to us to be a fairly expensive line item for bike shelter. Um and so we cut those three uh to help bring down the site cost in particular. Again, that's a portion of the project that
will be borne um by the by the district and the town, not um you know, the MSBA will only contribute so much. So, it uh it's helpful to look at um site aspects in particular when you're going through a VE process. Um on the flip side, we
did look at um you know, we have kind of a a an extra thick uh membrane roof with a slightly longer uh roof warranty as well. Um and so we you know asked the cost estimators about that price difference um but decided that that was
not worth uh electing for for value engineering. Um we looked at the cost of epoxy terrarazzo versus porcelain ceramic tile that's in a lot of the common spaces on the first floor even going into the cafeteria. That one was pretty interesting because um we have a
fairly substantial amount of Toraso and they said once you get that square footage then the dollars per square foot actually come down considerably and so it wasn't that much of a savings to go to the porcelain ceramic tile and certainly an uh improvement in long-term
maintenance. Um and so again that was elected to uh to keep that into the project. um airsource heat pump um in lie of geothermal. We wanted to get those costs to look at um the the payback over time and we'll go through that actually in a little bit after we
go through uh our MSBA schematic design submission. And then we also looked at a few different window types. I think we gave the estimators three different window types. um and getting those prices back again. We saw that the difference in in in cost was not uh
substantial enough to warrant u making a change there. And remember when we talked with the energy modeling when we looked at the difference in quality, you had operational cost differences. So it wasn't worth taking the lesser insulating or quality window and having
greater maintenance or energy loss. So it it kind of bore out that study. Well, so and I can say from those conversations we're having it, we kept going back to maintenance and long-term maintenance of the the issue. So like
the 80 mil membrane versus 60 mil, which I know nothing about except for what they were talking to us on the call, but when you're talking a 30-year warranty versus a 40-year warranty or 20 versus 30, 20 versus 30, sorry. Um, from a
maintenance perspective, we're not going to have to have somebody, you know, keep going up there to fix it like we do with some of our shorter term roofs. So, it made more sense to bag better material on that up front on the airsource heat pumps. Again, maintenance the long-term,
this isn't a go in and fix it in 10 years issue. This is like, okay, a pump may go out in the future, but if one pump goes out, you still have the other pump or the way I understand it is the other pump takes over. It doesn't shut down the entire system. So you're not your building isn't down. There's maybe a specific room that is down, but you
can still function the the rest of the building. And then on the value engineering like the planning allowance, like we we were like, let's go back to maintenance. We want this as low maintenance as possible. So these
non shade or screening features are not as important to us as making sure we have screening features for the the the surrounding neighborhood to to have versus the no perennials. Um so this was
it was a pretty interesting full day of conversation on Monday which led to a very shorter than expected Tuesday which was fun which is great. It was good that I mean the fact that they came in so close together, the fact that we had as much time as we did because we were
organized to have good conversations just kept it all moving. I wanted to address the lead point comment there on the bike shelter because it seems like a lot of money on the bike shelters. So, um the district does have a lot of people riding their bikes here to get one of our many lead point requirements.
You know, we have a a sort of flexible system. One of our goals was to get an extra point um based on how many students were riding bikes, but that required that half of the bike racks be covered and that half was a large number
because of the number of estimated bike riders. So that ended up being a sign and we had three different locations. We had three different shelters and they were quite high quality all just for one lead point. So that seemed like an awful lot of money. we have other ways of
achieving our lead requirements separate from that. So, it's not a big deal that we chose to go away from that. It just didn't seem like where the district's priorities were um in terms of spending money on the project. So, that's why that happened. On the plantings, I wanted to just say also that that's one
that we often look at because plantings occur late in the game and if we have contingency at the end, it's also possible to be bring back plantings. Not that we are in any way short of plantings. We often start sort of the the number is usually pretty healthy, but it's also a number you can easily
recover um later on because there there's often that opportunity at the end. So site tends to be the one that we look to first for a lot of these kinds of conversations when we have meet. And I think a really important thing to point out about the bike shelters is
we're not trying to discourage kids from riding to school. We are trying to encourage them to get cars off of the roads in in town. What it came down to is we're still having the same amount of bike racks. Correct. Correct. They're just not covered. So basically somebody
their bike won't get wet during the rain, but most kids aren't going to ride their bike in the rain. So that was the the thing there. So there will still be ample number of bike racks to encourage children to ride their bikes to school. This is not this does not change that
whatsoever. Uh we just wanted to show the cover pages of the estimates and um we have PMNC's on the left and AM Fogerties on the right and you can see they kind of divide things out a little bit differently. Um but they you know are trying to itemize out. So the new school
is you know that's 50 pages of information condensed into that line item. um site work, demolition. Um there's a design and pricing contingency included in this cost estimate and that's them acknowledging that we're in
schematic design, but there's a lot of details that have yet to be worked out. As we develop those details, they'll be able to put cost to those details and then that design and pricing contingency percentage will get reduced each time we go through this process. Um Chris,
you're asking about escalation and so that's for up to the bid what they expect in fall of 2026. Uh one carried 6.38% and the other carried 6.5. How does that line up compared to what with what you guys are seeing? Yeah, we're
doing like 5% a year, so it's close. Yeah. A little light, but it's close. Yeah. Um and then you can kind of see below the line uh general conditions, insurance, bonds, builder's risk, CM contingency, CM fees. So again, those
are all things that will get wrapped into the construction costs, but that that final number at the bottom is the one that you'll kind of expect to see uh for all the construction costs included. So again on PMC's uh it was 118 before
the million dollars in tariffs and over on the other side it was $119 million uh before the million dollars in tariffs. Um you'll see at the bottom there amogy did start um we did carry a few alternates um and I think Marty on
the next page is the reconciled version of that. Yeah. So three, we kept it pretty simple, but um these were numbers that we just wanted to uh have the cost estimators price out so that we could get this information back to you all. Um
and so, you know, an an interesting uh process in that we know that the district's considering potentially having PV on the roof in the future, maybe as part of the project. Right now, it is not included in the project costs, but um if we were to add a 500 kilowatt
uh PV system to the roof, the estimators were thinking that will come in about 1.6 million. Um we thought it would be interesting just to keep track of the cost for those off-site traffic improvements just so we can put a number to that. That's coming in at
1.48. And then also just to understand the difference between a turf field versus a sad field. And like you said, Armen, maybe not a very successful sod field, but uh that savings would be 816,000. Any questions on those? In the total project costs that
we're going to see later, um the infrastructure for the PV roof is included. Is that correct? Yeah, it's a code requirement that we have a PV ready roof. Uh we've gone a little bit above and beyond the percentage that's required, but yeah, so both structurally
and in terms of future uh closet space for all of the um electrical equipment and then the conduits running between the two is all included. Go ahead. Um, it might be too early for this, but do we have any idea what the
um, building use, electrical use would be and what that 500KW system represents? I was afraid you were going to ask that. So, I was trying to scroll back in my notes here to see if I we should we can have them take that number because I'm afraid I would make a mistake. I do have some general
electrical use information in that energy report that we um, sent around. Um, but I think to be sure that we're actually getting how how a 500 kilowatt system actually provides and meets that because of how that energy is is stored
and supplied. I'd want to have them answer. Um, but in that report you'll you'll see the total um energy use of the proposed system um is 1 million
535,544 kilowatt. Um that's yeah so it's it's we do have the data um and we can ask them to give us a little bit more information. So the question you're really trying to get at is how close would we be to net zero if we you know it would certainly offset a
significant amount of the electrical use whether it's going to achieve net zero on its own with just the roof. I bet it's going to fall short based on other projects that we've looked at. um you know, but it probably it would certainly help, you know, your your annual um
operating costs significantly and we can give give a little bit more accurate information um if we give this number to Ellen and have them crunch that for us. So that'll take care of it. Thanks. I think um the other thing on that one, right, is
that the code requires us to put the infrastructure in place. The anticipation is that we're going to be receiving credits back from Eversource from the geothermal project that could be used by the future select board to then put the panels on it. So, it would
pay the rebates from Eversource from the project would then go towards the panels if the select board at that time chose to do so. Yeah, I was actually thinking that, you know, this we're already spending a lot of money here. Scary to do that and add that on. Um, but if we
we've talked about this with other places in town, DPW or if we have future site um down by the meadows, but if we could do a bulk buy, the more you buy at one time, the better. So, that might be something to to think about down the road.
Okay, is that the end of the reconciliation? Nope. One more. Three. It's okay. So, this is a my attempt at a summary of that very complicated spreadsheet um which really kind of can be grouped into these uh kind of
separate line items. So, again the construction budget of about 118.8 million um soft costs that we say that's the OPM architect engineering CM um all of our fees included FFN
um and miscellaneous project costs. So that includes, you know, moving expenses, etc., etc. Um, comes to about 21.5 million. And then there's contingencies, which on the 311 are kind of at the bottom of that spreadsheet. Um, it's on the second page. Owners and
construction that comes into about 11.1. So that's how we get to the total project budget of 151.5. Um down there we have also included and this is just an estimate and I need to say that again and again because we have yet to meet with MSBA.
So what makes this spreadsheet so complicated is that we're also including what square footage from each category the MSBA is not participating in and then they claw back a little bit of our fee based off of that square footage and the OPM fee and it feeds into this very
complicated. So that's why it's really hard to tell folks what the project cost is going to be until you go through this process. But right now that MSBA maximum total grant is 55.9 million. Um leaving the anticipated district share of
95.5 million. So then the question goes to Ian. Yes. So you know my question right here. Yes. Your question is what is the impact to residents? what is the town going to uh what is the local share of funding?
So, if we assume $151 million total project costs and um we've been talking today, Adam and I, Adam shared with myself that we have seen in the past with the projects that they've worked on or they've seen between 95 and 100%
reimbursement rate from the MSBA. So, that puts us in a good position going starting off. Now, I'd like to note that the actual reimbursement, the MSBA reimbursement rate is based on the hard costs. The soft costs are excluded from
this calculation. So, really, it's somewhere between call it 30 to 35% 36% as an actual. So if we look at the local share of funding, if in this example we used the maximum total grant of a of the
100% so the 55 million, we'd be looking at a local share of about 95.5 million. Now I spoke to you I spoke to you before um there's a couple of caveats here. One, the interest rate that's a big that's a big part of our number. So, I
looked at some comparable bond offerings in the past month with similar terms and had ratings of either double A plus, which is what we have as a current rating, or AAA as they are the most comparable. There were three bond offerings that were the closest. Uh,
unfortunately, there were none that were doing 30 years, but each of the three were doing 25 years. And they had a total interest cost on an average basis of about 3.64. 64%. So, as a step below, Long Meadow is at double A+. I thought that a 4%
interest rate would be reasonable. At a 4% interest rate at a $95.5 million local share on a 30-year term, we would be looking at about 5.4 million as an annual debt service, which would be
about a $180 on a tax rate. And at a average single home valuation of about $52,000, that's about somewhere in the range of $900. Now, granted, this is a range because we could get less in
reimbursement. So, this could push us closer to the $1,000 per home impact in the tax bill. And we also are subject to a lot of factors here. We don't know what the interest cost is going to be. We could borrow at 40 years. Um, if the
Municipal Empower Act passes without modification, school districts are allowed to um, borrow at a 40-year term, that would push down our annual debt service, which would lower the total tax bill that residents face. These are all different factors that play into this.
So, at the current moment, you know, that can be a rough guess of where we would be. That's awesome. That's good work. Thanks. Anybody have a question? Yeah, Josh. I unfortunately decided to learn about the bond market this year. Uh with
rising yields, um how does that affect like a 30-year municipal bond? So, that's a great question. Um because uh Congress is currently looking at removing the tax exempt status of municipal bonds. It could cause interest
rates on municipal bonds to rise significantly, which would affect our borrowing costs. So in the near term, you know, depending on many different factors. One, if the project goes forward, and two, when we
go out for bond. I'm already in discussions with our financial advisor, so she's aware that this is coming down the pipeline. So we're looking at what this would be in terms of time frame because that's the most important thing right now is when we go out for borrowing. But to answer your question,
we could see interest rates rise in the coming in the coming years. So that is something to consider. Nine. I was just was curious um at what point would this information feel solid enough to add to say the FAQ
on our website or start so this is something Lyn and I was talking about where we would like to build a a website link that a resident would be able to put in their tax bill and effectively see what their impact would be on their
own individual level. This is something that we're starting to build out and this will take some time, but hopefully this will give residents a much better picture of where their impact will be versus a gen a general answer. Fantastic. Thank you. That sounds great. Then we can incorporate that right into
that page. Perfect. Minimally, you'd want to wait until the the MSBA you had an agreement with the MSBA on what the what the grant? We want the go-ahhead from the MSPA from the SD submar before we
then the date to get of that meeting of the MSBA board meeting is the 18th. 18th I think we would know before then Marty we're going to have some com but I don't know how much
before then. Gotcha. Okay. So yeah, my only other question would be is I mean we this has been a long time, right? The planning for this and I know one of the things we had talked about was there was debt exclusions that were being paid off along the way that made sort of the time
to do that. Do you have any insight into that? Like as we go to the public to make sure they understand that that we knew that there was going to be a cost to building the school, but we also knew that it was going to be offset by other projects coming off the rolls. Sure. So,
I can't speak to the specific numbers about what's coming off the rolls, but with prior planning, it was determined that between fiscal year 26 and fiscal year 27, there was enough debt falling off of our um debt service that this
would be the perfect time for us to go out for a large borrowing. And that is still the case. Yes. So, when you say the numbers before of of roughly $900, etc., Would that be including that debt having come off and
lowering people's original tax bill? Yes. And then this would still bring it up approximately 900. Okay. A range of between 900,000 depending on home value. Any other point? That's that's the net. Can I go back to that question? In other
words, that that's that the if if no borrowing came off the rolls, it would be up. This would cause I I did not calculate if it would be not taken
off the debt roll. I did it based on the fact of where we would be in 27 with the the debt service falling off. Gotcha. Okay. Any other questions? That's it for kind of the money side.
Are you okay on the money side? Okay. Are we moving on to the submission or are you still on this? Yeah, moving on to the submission. Be great. Um, so, uh, next slide, Marty. This is our table of contents for our schematic design binder
going in. I will not go through each of these line items for you, but um the big ones are that we're submitting uh at the number one there uh a submitt to the department of elementary and secondary education des um and that's really
focused on our special education um summary and um allocation of spaces and again that square footage is not really handled by the MSBA but it's more handled by DESIE um I think you know we should be fine shape, but that's just an
extra little layer to it. Um, the MSBA wants to make sure that they have DESI's approval before that MSBA board approval. Um, and then in the rest of the binder is really kind of what we've been filling you in on since we've started the project. So, um, everything
from room data sheets, which will include, you know, rough outlines of what we have for furniture in each room to our lead scorecard, as Dory was mentioning, and, you know, a number of points that we're going for. Um we'll have uh narratives from all of
our consultants in there for the um structural systems and plumbing and mechanical systems. Um we'll have some outline specifications that start going into you know kind of the level of products that we're expecting in the school. Um our schematic design drawings
will be included. Um, and then tonight we wanted to go into a little bit more detail on the life cycle cost analysis which will be part of the submission and we have some preliminary data back from our traffic engineer. Um, and we'll have his full report in time for this
submission, but we wanted to get you um, you know, kind of some early information back from him uh, as soon as we could. So, I'll pick up here just to talk a little bit about that. So remember Greg came and spoke about the energy modeling that we were doing. Um and that was
important because it allowed us to go into the cost reconciliation with specifications and alternative specifications for things like windows for things like our insulation package. Um so we first worked with the energy modeler to try and optimize u for
performance so that we get the best performance but also we wanted to understand the cost impact and and as I said uh the window study really did not um u merit reducing the the quality based on the outcome and the cost. Um and we did find that we could reduce the
uh insulation under the slab and that was a savings to the project. So we did did make that change to the project. All of that's incorporated in the specifications. the the estimate rep represents the specifications that we determined were appropriate to the project. What Greg said he was waiting
on is to get the information from the cost estimators as to the cost of the alternative system, the air source heat pump system, and get the final cost on the ground source heat pump system. So they did a lot of modeling work to try and also optimize the building's heating and cooling load so they could reduce
the number of bore holes and that did happen between PSR and and SD and that um then allowed us to get a better number on the geothermal system cost. Um and then based on the package they provided we got a a revised number on the air source heat pump system. So,
Greg's modeling continued and uh we we had you all uh get a copy of the 75page report on all of that and I know nobody's going to want to dig in, but if you I know a few people are super interested, so I wanted you to have that. Um, but what it all boils down to is really this information is a
comparison between the two systems. And it is what we stated but with more specific detail that you're essentially the the important thing to note is the initial cost of the um uh geothermal heat pump system is $80,000 more than an
air source heat pump system. That's a lot less we than we initially thought it would be in terms of the difference partly because we optimize the geothermal. Um uh so that's not a huge difference but it's a difference. But when you look at the payback of that over a 30-year cycle, when you add
together um uh the lower um annual maintenance cost, the lower replacement costs of parts um even factoring in inflation and then the operational cost because you're actually uh it's a more energyefficient system, you end up with
a 30-year payback and a difference of value between the two systems of over $2 million. So $80,000 upfront, $2 million at the end of 30 years is definitely the right way to go. And you know, Greg was sure it was going to be that way, but we actually had to go through a lot of work
to get all the detail in. Um, and he worked closely actually with utility to track their um information in terms of projected um uh uh electricity costs and made sure that was factored into both um systems as well. So um some reassurance
here that that was a good choice that we we made and we'll stick with and as um Armen was saying part of why we wanted to go for that system is because mass save incentivize it heavily. We get much larger bonus at the end of the project for having gone with geothermal. Um and
again our energy modeling has us on track for um below 25. It's actually at about 20 EUI energy use intensity per square foot. that also comes with um a bonus at the end of the project if we are able to achieve that and then can
demonstrate um successful building testing at that level as well. Sorry, worth noting that the end of project incentives, the end of project credits that we potentially could receive were not factored into what Ian
was describing earlier. Correct. So correct to the extent that we're we can secure those end of project credits it would reduce the obligation of the town at the end of the project. Correct. Great. So
uh Dory went out of her comfort zone to talk about energy and I'll go out of my comfort zone and talk about traffic. Um, uh, Greg unfortunately couldn't be here tonight and I'll do the best I can, but um, and again, these are preliminary findings. Uh, the full report will of course be included in the, uh, in the SD
binder, but um, they collected data both in April of 2024 and March of 2025. Um, did some field visits also in March of 2025. Um, they're predict the the way that they do their report, they're predicting out to 2028 for the horizon year. um
looking at both the opening year, but that also applies they're they're looking at growth in traffic throughout the town till 2028. So when they're the results are not just representative of the school changing, but also just of what is anticipated for additional
traffic uh within Long Meadow in general. Um they adjusted traffic volumes upwards uh to account for uh Glen Brookke walkers. Um, so it's not just taking the trips to Glenbrook and applying those to
Williams, but actually increasing that load a little bit. Um, and then also, uh, increased it pretty substantially for, uh, inclement weather days. Next page, Marty. So, um, in their report, uh, they start with number four,
but I'll start with number one. So, uh, they looked at specific intersections. um they gather data for basically almost all of the major intersections that you see on this map. Um at Williams and Laurel um that does degrade a level of
service during weekday morning peak. Um overall throughout the day it still operates at a level of service D which means a stable traffic flow. um at Bliss and Walworth and Oakwood and Oakwood um
it degrades from a level of service E which is its current level um to an F at peak hours. And we asked Greg about that a little bit before he had to jump to another meeting. He said that was actually mostly cars coming from um the
roads to the north. So Oakwood um folks trying to turn out onto Bliss. And he again said a lot of that had to do with just the anticipated traffic increases in Long Meadow in general. Um Bliss Road
uh at Blockland uh Burbank. Oh, similar condition there. Um degrading from a D to an E. And um and same thing that it was mostly coming from the uh the Burbank side up on the north there. Um, and that was helpful to understand that
from a D to an E represents an increase in a delay of 5 to 11 seconds. So, uh, not huge, but uh, substantive. Um, and then the big news was that all of the other intersections within the study uh, continue to operate at the same level of
service that they have today. all other intersections that were studied and that they cast a pretty wide net on that. Exactly. Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. And the the reclassifications that
you're describing to go from E to F or from D to E. That's under the that's when in 2028 if we were to open a new middle school. That's a projected change in classification of
those intersections. Right. Exactly. Next slide has a little bit more about the site itself. Um and basically their recommendations which was the part that we were uh quite you know interested in hearing about. So on the east drive um
they're recommending providing a single entering lane. um and a dedicated left and right turn lane um exiting. Uh and so that yeah, interesting to hear um in terms of that was kind of how we
thought that that uh eastern driveway would be formatted, but um interesting to get that that feedback. On the west driveway, it's just providing access to the loading dock and serving as a secondary exit for bus and passenger car traffic. So, no uh no car entry uh at
that point. Um they did confirm that we have drop off areas for approximately 120 vehicles and that should more than accommodate the expected queuing that they're seeing at both pickup and and drop off. Um and so with all of those,
you know, so we've got so for that study I saw before, it was like 30 peak and 25 peak at both schools. like 55 cars would be peak if those if that traffic was and even if we added another 30% were still well below the 120. Yes.
Okay. Exactly. Um and so what's interesting is that there are not any queuing concerns uh at Williams with the fact that we have those driveways with those options and that amount of queuing that can go on
site. But he did uh recommend and thinks think that it's warranted. It will ease uh eastbound traffic. Um and so they are recommending that we include that left turn lane on Williams and uh that was uh accommodated in the uh the cost
estimates. Um the other thing that was accommodated in the cost estimates was number five which was interesting was to uh they're recommending a sidewalk on the south side of Williams between Ridge and Heather and that they recommend a crosswalk and a beacon um across
Williams at that Heather Street intersection. Um so there is a a sidewalk on the south side of Williams um all the way to Ridge now coming from um the high school. Um, and so they're just recommending extending it that far and then crossing Williams at that
point. That left turn lane, how many cars could queue in that left turn lane? That's a good question, Marty. I think when they first had that kind of early schematic, I think it was four or five. Any questions on the traffic side of
things? Great. So, the rest of the presentation is really just uh the pretty pictures that we brought with us to the um community meeting that we had at Williams um which was a super successful event. I thought great. We
had kind of tables spread around and um folks could kind of go to whichever table drew their attention. Uh it was a nice way of dissipating some of the uh negative comments but also making sure that we could address people's questions
and comments and um we had some of our consultants there and a lot of the building committee was there and it was yeah that was great. Actually did have a question if we could step back on the traffic. Yeah. Yeah. What are we anticipating that the next slide is actually better for my
question. I got some questions on Woolworth. What are we anticipating because right now you know people queue there or just drop off their kids and we have heard about that a bit. Um, but is the
anticipation that one people can drive through and come all the way across and join in the queue there if that's exactly and I think they're in the traffic modeling it sounds like they're kind of expecting those loads to say the same as they are now that folks coming
from the north are going to Williams now and so most of the added traffic burden is on the Williams side of the site. Um, but that is very helpful to have that access from Wworth as well. Um, eight on the left there. That's is
that staff parking? I think that's what you've said before. No, far well visitor and staff. Visitor and some staff. And then the majority of staff would be on the the right side. Okay. Of the Great. Which is north. We've rotated it. If
cars did come in through Wworth and join the drop off lane, they would have to exit through Williams or is there a way to cycle back and exit through Wworth again? That's a great question. Are we really trying to set this up to discourage exiting through they could still rotate through
after you know if they parking because they're also anticipating some amount of student drop off here. So it's both this area and this area. And so if you came in from Wworth and dropped off here, you could circle back out where So cars coming in from Williams will follow that
line just for a minute. Yep. Come down and cycle around. So they'd need to get back into the car. They'd need to get back into the line in order to do that. And so what would be where they're both meeting at that back part, right? Yep. How does that how do we anticipate that
working? It's a great question. I mean, I think we'll get there in terms of, you know, is there a stop sign on which side? Both sides. Um, is it like running just naturally when you go into LHS, there's like a courtesy of like you just switch off and on as you don't. Yeah, at
that point you you are running one way in though. So, you know, you you have two lanes and it's it's a wide area. So, it it would be worse if there was a two-way traffic there. And could it turn into like us actually saying like right turn only out of the loop like where they have forcing them to Williams like
depending on what that looks like, right? We could always change that if we had to. Yeah. And that happens a lot, right? A lot of projects around once you're actually physically living it you switch things around. This is one way. The benefit is that there's a lot of
different loops that you can do. And so I think as Adam said, yeah, it's often there's a lot more options than we had. see how it goes. There's a lot of options and there's a lot of separation. So, that's the important part, right? Buses are separate, parking separate. It's not all just in one. Cars that are
exiting the campus uh onto Williams, are they only able to exit via the east driveway or would they be able to exit? They'd have to they'd have to drive down that bus lane
or through the parking lot. So, I I think the answer is no to that. They're only exiting I think they probably could exit the west, but I think it would be discouraged. And so is that with some amount of speed bumps through the parking area or something like that, but I I would imagine that it's really just
those people parking in the staff and visitor parking in front that are exiting on the west side of the site and buses. Again, it's like some of these things as Adam was saying, you you'll find you may explore and you know decide
that it flows better for everybody going right right to be flown that way and everybody left going the other way just to reduce backup or it's it's a little you know some of these things are are going to I wonder if to to create the
flexibility you described to permit potential cars to exit from the east driveway and the west driveway in Williams. Do you create a loop so that they can in fact go down that bus lane as well?
Right now that's that would not be a natural turn. We're saying everybody has to go right on Williams right now, right? That was I thought so. Yeah. Nobody can go left on Williams. Nobody's going No, they have a left coming out. I thought you said it
was only right only. There's a right and a left turn lane. So that'll be three lanes wide coming into the school. into the school. One to come in and two to come out. Okay. No, go ahead. Um, so how will it work if
cars are It's probably easier if I point this out. If cars are queued up here and someone wants to pull into this lot or bus wants to get in, it's going to jam up traffic. Time of flow matters too. So that's one
of the things that we've been talking to the district a little bit about is looking at when the bus is arriving and when the cars are arriving and when that flow happens. And um you know on previous projects we've in DD done a little bit more study of the on-site um
timing systems and flow and and made further adjustments based on scheduling because that is and where you're dropping off where students are getting out, how long you expect uh it to take to empty the buses and empty cars so that you can kind of play out some of
that. Um, but yeah, I think that's kind of why I I can envision the possibility that you actually want to stream your right turn that way so that you actually have that relief for the left turn in. And the other variables who can park in
that Yeah. in that southern lot, right? That would influence who's trying to get in there at various times. I mean, the design, I think, for me gives us a lot of options we don't have today. Yeah. Right. Like we can get in like we can
get into loops and no left-hand turns and no right hand turns and adjust like the design I think is great because it gives us those options that there aren't today, right? Like I had to drive my truck on the curb and the the grass last week to get to the the thing because all
the people were parked there for for lacrosse practice. Uh but and the there is some some programming discussions that really kind of have to happen internally um about this that we've we've we've broached but there'll be
more I think once it's a real project. Uh hold on. There's a lot of this Nicole had her hand up a long time before that Nicole and you're next. Thank you. I was just curious. So the the loops that are near the field, etc. that like curve
that runs closest to the field and where the building is, are those wide enough for cars to pass each other so that as we settle in and our administrative team is able to get a feel for what things look like at the end of the day because I know at the end of the day it feels
like that's when things really start to bunch up. When someone is ready to pick up a child who it turns out is not ready to leave yet. Um, will they have room to come up with some systems that allow for people to be pulled over in one place while waiting while other cars go around? There's room for two cars. Okay,
that was my question about the bus loop. Um, is it wide enough potentially for two lanes there? Like I like where the high school in front of the pool has the uh like the dip in where it feels like that's where people wait. Yeah, you can see I would hope that there is no passing. Like I don't want passing. I
don't super want that, but also I'm thinking you might get stuck there otherwise if somebody's pulled in there and blocking the line and waiting for their child like we're all in one little Well,
I think it tends to be a little less. So you have multiple you have two lanes flowing this way that way at the number six and a pulloff lane. Okay. And then on the other, it's one way going along eight, right? And room for a for for a
parked car. So you have both. Okay. Yeah. So the intent is to keep people moving. How does that part exist when there's a an old building there? Oh, that's very temporary. But so the building is coming down, but yeah, that's a that's a that's going to be
part of our our challenge there. This is the final plan. sequentially. So, I imagine this will be kind of a temporary parking lot with a modified version of that. Okay. I know it's a temporary, but Okay. Yeah. Okay.
That's why we're getting a CM. They'll answer that. Good question, Josh. The little like white path that goes to is that Blockland? Yes. So, I know we've talked about that a lot. is that we want that to be okay for bikers and walkers,
but I think the complaint was about everybody that parks on Blockland and makes their kids go over there, right? Right. Do we have a plan for what that looks like or do we just hope that we'll have LPD kind of that would be and it wouldn't be LPD. It would be the town traffic committee that
would decide whether to close off a street or put signs there, right? Um, no, it was the select board that would ultimately decide. Um, Yeah, I just know that that's been something that people are talking about.
So, I just I think everybody wants them to walk and bike. I think they worry about how many cars just go just idle on that street the entire time waiting for their kids. Well, I think important part of that path though is that's an important path for kids coming from the high school to use the middle school.
Yeah, for sure. I think that that'll be an education thing I think down the road for parents and stuff. Yeah. And if and also if it becomes known that you can pull into Williams, do this big loop, get out of
there pretty quick, then maybe that generation of parents won't have to won't be as concerned about going down Woodside or parking down there. Maybe they'll know it's quick. It's not a big deal. There's plenty of place to to queue if you need to. So I think that that's what I envision at least. We
don't want it to become the parking lot up there and then Diane, right? I mean the the loop that we have here is probably longer than the loop at the high school, I'd say. Oh yeah. And so I
mean right now we have there's no way you can do 120 cars high school, right? And I guess you know at center school you you you're on a main road and we barely have a um a drop off lane at Wolf
Swamp. there's no real adequate drop off lane. Um the high school has far more students and a shorter drop off lane. So I I think we're going to be well positioned and I think it does give us the flexibility that that we're going to need. And you know, no doubt there will
be some adjustments and some learning that happens early on that you know, we're still we still make adjustments to live lines and pick up and drop off at all of our schools based on changing conditions. David, do you have a question or a
comment or something? I do. It's not traffic related. So, if uh the traffic conversation wants to continue, I can hold my question. No, I just saw your hand. Sorry if I missed it earlier. No, no. So, um just so uh going back to the financials and the impact for for
residents. Um my question is whether or not we have already or if we're developing costs to uh to compare our operating costs now. So, utility costs, basic maintenance costs on annual basis compared to what they will be or should be after we consolidate these two
schools and we have a much more efficient school to raise that point to offset the the financial impact. We also have a financial benefit. We should have a financial benefit. I would say it's something that's in development. I don't think we have a
firm grasp on it yet, but it's something that we're certainly aware of and should show once the project is complete that there are significant cost savings in terms of both maintenance and utilities. Yeah. developing within this team, not
just on the town side. We we have the data assessment of our current utility costs and the efficiency of systems compared to our future state. We have the data for costs to operate both schools right now. Um in terms of
efficiency of what's in place, I don't I don't know. Nick might have that but um and we could side by side compare it for what you have already kind of been pulling that data. So we're just Tom and I were just talking about that and the district is providing you know three
years of running operating uh utility costs. So we can certainly help on that because that's what the energy models helping to project. So we have that comparison. I think you're thinking about other forms of maintenance that are hard for us to put our heads around.
So I think that's where the district and the the town would want to look at other costs that they anticipate associated with as we talked earlier about you know site maintenance. Yeah. Um and the consolidation to one site how that improves you know kind of uh uh
expenditures and management. Those are issues that you would have the information on. Yeah. And I I would also want to make sure we were showing the true cost of what it will be to operate the system because I don't want anyone going into this thinking
it's going to be a massive cost savings overall because um these systems are generally more expensive like staff-wise and um building management systems which I don't know that we have in the two older
schools right now to a degree. Yeah. So there will be some increase in cost but overall energy efficiency is going to greatly improve. So it it's I don't know maybe I'm thinking of it too maybe I'm throwing too much into it but I wouldn't
want people to go into this thinking it's overall a huge savings. Generally when a newer piece of equipment breaks it's more expensive to put it back together than an older piece of equipment breaks unless it's under warranty of course. What you typically see is is the these
two buildings are at the end of their useful life. So there's a lot of basic wear and tear that's such that you have a lot of care and maintenance that you're always having to do. So that kind of goes away, but you have more sophisticated systems and greater capability than you have in the older
schools. So you have it that you don't have. you have um cooling, you know, so there's there's associated um maintenance with these new systems that are providing healthier building, more teachable environments. So, it's a it's it's it's definitely not an apple to
apple comparison. And that's part of what you're trying to point out. Any further questions on that slide? Yeah. So these are slides. So was that was that a yes? Your your point I assume your your
point I assume is that you think that this is information that needs to be part of presentation to the community as the community is wrapping assessing our due diligence with my my I mean I will point it's a question that we got during the uh session right today. It's a
question that we should be able to answer ourselves. I think we also when you enough time to to make the assessment, right? And then and there's also a reminder for us it's easy to forget all the conversation we had about the the obsolescence of the existing buildings and their systems and
the lack of certain systems in place like fire protection, you know, a lot of things like that that oh, they're way back there and but for a lot of residents that's information they may not have. We have to remember there's also the cost of having done if you did nothing, what would that cost be? So it's another piece of the puzzle
together with these questions about what's ongoing costs going forward. So and we have that information. We just have to present it well. I think as part of your point is to be sure that that doesn't get forgotten. Yeah. And I I I'm glad you brought us back to that
because at some point as you get into systems and opex on new systems and whatever else is going on, you you don't lose sight, but it's like like you said, it gets further in the background of number one for Glen Brook is safety.
Like right there, there's no there's no way to control the envelope of the build the building from bad influencers. um they're like one door. Like now we're talking about upgrading with the the
safety and security and you know the the atrium being able to see the person and see outside and the windows. Um um so safety and updating you know like you said fire systems all that just don't that can't get lost in in
this as well as as you know things that we need you know from the I just rely back on the from an opex perspective like on the high school we saved a lot more money like I'm going to say ratewise on electricity
but when we went to the high school we added things we didn't have at the old building, right? We added a ton of computers. We added a ton of electronics. We added, you know, Elmos and I mean, I'm probably dating myself now saying Elmo, but I don't know if they still use them or not. But, you
know, um, you know, all the other things, owls and drain a lot of power, right? So, your cost to produce that or to use it might be less. You're just using more of it. So it's not like some
kind of panacea of cost savings that's going to happen just because you go efficient. That makes sense or so I don't want to give people false hope just don't want to keep saying that uh you know it may not look good as
maybe a reason why we don't do it. So I I've heard Yeah, I've heard it said a couple different ways that there will be more energy consumption that's understood, but I I think and I would like to see a comparison of operating costs now versus big one, right? And so
I actually was just looking at that again. So the on the on the energy and operating costs just in terms of operating the building um electricity and uh the comparison to the gas electricity now it is a net improvement and I wouldn't have said that on
projects in the past but part of what's changed is the stretch codes changed so it's a much higher bar um and the energy modeling went into much greater depth of detail so that we feel confident in that information whereas in the past I'd say
what you were you were in a different position with the high school. The other thing that's changed is there's a lot more stringency in the code around how energy is used, how electricity is used. A lot more uh requirement for management of timing on systems, occupancy controls, um even the outlets are
actually controlled in a way that they weren't, which kind of creates some headaches to be honest, but it's all to the purpose of being sure that you actually are achieving a more um efficient and less costly building. So it it it is an improvement. Um it's not
like millions of dollars of difference here, you know, but on an annual basis, it looks like, you know, you know, 2010 to $20,000 difference between the two, which adds up over over time. And two schools with adequate cooling systems
now that don't exist, right? I hear you, David. I really do. I just don't think it's apples to apples in the the opex experience. But I mean, and that's okay. Yeah. But but put the data out there. Yeah. Yeah.
Great. Well, I was just showing these as a summary of what was presented on the 10th, just in case folks weren't there. But then also to me, this is kind of like the meat of really what's in that schematic design binder, right? Is all of the background thought that's gone into uh what what's seen here. So, uh,
new perspectives from the front of the school and yeah, Mark, you can keep kind of just flying through this. This was I mean, I will say that that table that had that picture, people were were really digging it. Was great. It was great. We got lots of good feedback on the materials. We had some touch and
feel, see the brick and we had offers of people to help come pick out curtains. Um yeah, a helpful diagram just to help folks orient themselves to the buildings in a little bit more detail on some of the classroom plans. Um the floor plans that you are all very
familiar with. Uh we were able to do some interior perspectives which were fun just you know very early stages starting to develop uh gym, auditorium, cafeteria and the commons in in one of the classroom
wings. This was at the uh table with the materials too. Uh exterior elevations which are a little hard to kind of grasp but that's what all of these will show up in the construction documents but they'll just get uglier. Uh so there'll be lots of notes and it'll be black and
white but um and then the geothermal table was also uh popular spot popular I want to go back to to last week um and thank you for what you guys did last week you know working with us
to organize that. I could not have thought of a better way to put the ideas forward without getting lost in people and sitting in rows just expressing their opinions as
opposed to being able to engage in healthy dialogue with with the public. And so I would like to thank all of you JWA and Gallers and all you know everybody else involved for for participating and helping because I think it advanced even the even people
who may not be of the same opinion on what needs to be done and how it needs to be done. I thought were very respectful with the exception of one interaction that that I'm aware of and uh and this kudos to everybody for doing that. Yeah, I'll tell you, you find in
this work that people come in assuming that they will never be heard. And by by that meeting, I felt like people did genuinely feel like we were we were responding. And maybe not everyone gets everything they they want in that conversation, but they definitely seemed much warmer to it and and interested.
And for our team, we brought a lot of our team down and that was partly because you see a lot of us, but you're not aware of how many people are actually working in the background. And for them it was wonderful also to have that interaction with members of the community um to really understand the um
the generally the significance of this obviously you know so every decision we make we want people to know that it's it's your community and your school and I think that conversation took a turn point in that night from I don't agree with you but or we may not have agreed
in the beginning but now how do we work together to make it the best school that we can. I I I I was very very pleased with some of the interactions I had with people who early on were, you know, very vocal about it and now like, okay, well,
how do we make it this design look better? How do we choose this color or, you know, explain to me how the traffic works and I just thought 99.9% of the people there were very receptive to that. You guys put together really great
materials, too. It was really helpful to see Yeah. the all of the pictures, all the images, the material the materials were really popular for people to be able to come over and actually feel the different possible options, look at colors. Those were it was really helpful. So, thank you for your whole
team for putting that together. All right, any further questions on the submission? Okay. So, next part of our agenda is the vote approval of the submission. So, the submission is due to MSBA on May 1st or
by part of it part of it is actually going to be due next week. So, Oh, okay. They've asked for some advanced materials. So, we're we're already Do you need a vote on the advanced materials? No. No. No. Okay. It would just be the full It's just helping them. So,
um I'm I'll start this off just so we can start discussion as a board here. Um so, it says vote and approval. We have a meeting on the 29th to that was our original to vote. Um so, I'm just putting it out there. I think there's
three ways we can go. If there are no further questions and people wanted to vote tonight, we do have motions that are available to to uh act on. two um give a week and schedule a meeting
for next week, maybe Thursdayish. Then we can do hybrid so we can be remote and take that vote then which gives us that week to respond to the week reduction from the MSBA towards
the June meeting that they are talking about or we just keep the 29th and and vote on the 29th. U so I'll open the floor for thoughts or discussion. What would be the benefit to next
Thursday instead of Tuesday the 29th? Does that because they've moved their meeting forward from the 25th to the 17th? Is that why we would need to potentially move ours forward from the 29th to what is that the 24th?
I my opening wasn't geared towards that. We had to. It was just more I was just curious if they reduce their schedule. I mean, is there a reason to wait two weeks to vote on? Yeah, the submission date isn't changing. It's still May 1st. Okay. It's
just the MSBA, the board meeting, which is in June. They're moving it forward. But the submission is May 1st whether we vote tonight or we vote another night. Okay. And I'm happy to keep it the 28th. I'm just giving people options as to and
seeing if we I sorry I mean we uh we said the possibility of a vote tonight and I guess with that in mind is there any further discussion that we're expecting to have between now and the 29th that support a different
outcome. I I'll give my personal thought. I I for me I don't think anything changes between now and the 29th. I'm ready to vote. I'm ready to submit. Um we've been working very collaboratively on this. I just didn't
want to not give people the option of being able to say will a week give me time to look even more into this and maybe come back with a question before the vote because Dory and everybody would be here for that if there was any further questions. But for the public to
understand, one, we had the forum last week which talked about most of the stuff we were talking about tonight. Two, um, you know, we've had the cost estimating back and forth. The PSR versus where we are tonight really
hasn't changed from what we told the public initially um, from from all those things. And then everybody on this board, just so the public knows, has had the package since the weekend to review and be prepared for tonight. So my expectation that
everybody came tonight, was prepared for for this meeting. Um, so I me personally, Josh, I I would be fine with taking a vote tonight. Myself personally, I just don't want to do anything unilaterally. I want to make sure. Yeah, I I had a question very
similar to Dave. Yeah. Um I you know we've it is from our perspective we've been sitting with this stuff for years now and uh and the initial estimates were pretty close and I I l when I looked at this I said this all makes a
lot of sense came in there no surprises uh so I'm I'm ready to go can I make a motion uh continue? Oh yeah, make your motion because then we can discuss. We can discuss. Okay, I would entertain a motion. Um, I move to approve the
schematic design package and authorize Collier's project leaders as owner's project manager to submit to the Massachusetts School Building Authority on behalf of the district. There is a motion. Is there a second? A second. Motion and second. Open for discussion. Seeing none, I'll call for a
vote. Is a roll call. Uh, Marty, yes. Nicole, yes. Josh, yes. Chris, yes. Lyn, yes. David, yes. Armen, yes. I would entertain any other motions.
Yep. Um, I move to approve the total project budget form 3011 for the Long Middle School project as presented to be included in the schematic design submission. There is a motion. Is there a second? I'll second. Motion and seconded. Is there any further discussion?
Seeing none, I would call for a vote. Marty, yes. Nicole, yes. Josh, yes. Chris, yes. Lynn, yes. David, yes. Armen, yes. Motion passes. And then there's probably something for you to sign, right?
Is there anything for Lynn to sign or There was a signature line at the bottom of the 311 for the superintendent and town manager. I I don't know if that Yeah, we don't necessarily need that right. We'll make sure you get a copy before the submission. We'll we'll get significantly.
Okay. Uh moving on to next uh point of business tonight is the consideration of recommendation for special town meeting and election for middle school building project funding. Lynn or Josh who's I am. Okay. Um so looked at a bunch of
dates um and also heard from Adam um just about what the preference would be. Uh also compared it to some other things that are going on including holidays, school professional development days um and a a fall town meeting date. and it
looked to be uh the best schedule was a special town meeting on September 9th and a ballot vote election on September 30th. Uh it gives enough time in between for a potential um referendum or recall
of uh whatever happens at town meet. if something were to happen at a town meeting that someone did want to um petition to recall that gives 5 days for that and time for ballots to be printed um for an election. So that that was what I was
suggesting. We can definitely talk about other options. I'm happy to go through other options that I considered and got feedback from the school um from from Marty and and Diane, but also from our town moderator to make sure that she didn't have a conflict because that
would uh not help. Um but ultimately we ended on um September 9th and September 30th. And if um this group ends up deciding that they support that, I I would ask that we make a take a vote,
make a recommendation to the select board. Uh the select board meets on May 5th and I would be bringing this to them that discuss and hopefully set those dates so that we could start making sure that the public's aware. I make a motion that the uh school
building committee recommend to the select board uh a special town meeting on Tuesday, September 9th and the town election on Tuesday, September 30th for the purpose of approving the
project scope and budget and the debt exclusion associated with it. Motion. Is there a second? Second. Motion and a second. I'll open for discussion. L I I got a question. So if we set the warrant for the election, set the
ballot, I mean, is there and it it fails for uh God forbid at the town meeting, is there still time to not have the election or have we already we have will we have to have ordered our ballots and gotten
everything in place by then? Um, we can wait and order ballots after town meeting. There would be time for that. Uh, my understanding is you the votes while they tie the project together, they're not tied together. Meaning we
could have done the election first and then the town meeting vote. So, what I'm not clear on is if one fails, what does that do to the second one? So I can get clarity on that. It's it's really just a logistics question because I and I I think I definitely
agree that this is the order to do it. I know you and I talked about it a while back. I think this is I think having the town meeting before the election is definitely strategically I think it it makes more sense. I'm just I don't want us to have an
election for an override when there's nothing to bond. Um, and we wouldn't go forward with it, but it it'd be a waste of money even just getting it getting ready to go, right? I'll find out what the mechanism
is to cancel an election. Okay. Yeah. Hopefully, we don't have to worry about it, but I just But it's good to know what what it is. Yep. So, my only question would be I guess Josh or Lynn. This
is I feel funny making a recommendation to you on the select board like this is what we would like to do but you guys can disregard it. Like I I don't want it to sound like it's a edict from the school building committee and we are looking to work with you to find what
the best dates are. We get recommendations all the time. Okay. Yeah. But I I as opposed to is there you know just know that I think the committee I think that the pulse of the committee is if these dates don't work for the select board we're open to
working with the select board to whatever those dates are. No. Yeah. I I the select board will do it at once anyway. So yeah, I I I wouldn't worry about it. And my only other concern about these dates and this is
the only concern I have at I think it's you know great that we're moving forward given the summer and going into September 9th. Does that give us enough time to mount an effective campaign between the June 18th meeting and the
September 9th vote? Can I I Yeah, go ahead. Sorry. I'm not going to answer that one, but I do I want to put Adam on the spot for a second. Can you explain why the September dates were preferable and what it means for our project overall? Yeah.
So the way we were playing that is with the CM at risk you can have early packages which means that you can start you know some site work early maybe some early foundations especially with the geothermal BV can get in there uh so you can start those you know correct me if I'm wrong but around you know 90%
documents we can get in there and start some of this work. So if we're able to get in there the summer before school starts and you can set up maybe some temporary roadways for construction entrances. You can set up your construction fence. You can do kind of all that stuff. So when school actually
starts, this is all in place versus starting school and then having a contractor come in right behind you and then trying to do all this while school is in session. Understanding that construction is going to be happening the entire time anyways. But this gives us a little bit of a head start to get in there and set up our roadways and and
separations between construction and um students, parents, kids, everybody. So that September date gets us in the the summer of 26 26 in terms of starting potential of some kind. I will say that
Adam always gives an answer that has to do with construction. But I would give you a different answer which is that once once the project is approved, the design team can start on their scope of design work. And the more advanced the documents are, right, when you get to
that point of any construction, the better. So it if it means a couple months of difference in time for us and the work what we're doing with the district and actually detailing the design that makes the significant difference as subtle but it matters
which factors into our planned hope for opening in fall of 2028 instead of having to worry about right being pushed back into mid school year. Yeah. I think on your other question, um there is there's certainly something to be said for that that it's hard it's harder to
organize over the summer. It's harder to get the word out, get people in a room, but you know, there's still other other ways to get out. But also, everyone's just getting back into town or and school's just starting. Going to have a lot of parents who have maybe never even been in the middle school walk in say,
"Oh, maybe we should get one of those." Um so I people, it's a good time to engage people, too. they're also uh you know look looking out for emails from Marty and things like that. So I I see what you're saying, but
I I see the opposite like you're saying too like you know like I know last week of August my wife is totally like engaged in what's coming up in the next week for school and like that school mom like turns back on right away and you know so engaged. I would
say that the June even though the MSBA board meeting is an important milestone. I would not say that you need to hesitate to communicate with the community about this before that. I mean that's you'll know the final numbers that'll be resolved before that board
meeting. So it's definitely important to do a push before the end of the school year to get information out. So yeah, people I think that was part of the reason we did the April engagement event really is because we just, you know, looking ahead to a potential vote in the
in September 25. So we we we will have to continue that work through the end of this school year and into the summer. I mean, we Yeah. And also increase our our online presence over the summer as well so that folks can continue to be informed
wherever they might be. Right. Any other discussion on the recommendation motion? Seeing none, I'll call for a vote. Marty, yes. Nicole, yes. Josh, yes. Chris, yes. Lynn, yes. David,
yes. Armen, yes. Okay, next steps meetings. So, we're not going to need the meeting on the 29th, so we'll take that off the calendar. Um, is there anything else from a next
steps collars or JWA or I don't think so. Um, we'll we'll be in touch with the district as we wrap up our docs preparing to put the package. We've got the meeting coming up on the next meeting scheduled for the our
normal meeting in May. Yep. And so we'll meet just discuss what that agenda might look like, right? What would you expect? What would you expect? We would have feedback on the submission or anything else. Uh we may not have feedback by from the MSBA, but you know, we can get an update. You know, if there was any
preliminary comments by then, we can certainly provide those. Um but then we can discuss what the schedule will look like from that point on. Okay. Good. All right. Uh then I would entertain the ultimate motion.
Rejourn. Is there a second? Second. Motion is seconded. Any discussion? Seeing none. Lynn, yes. Marty, yes. Nicole, yes. Josh, yes. Chris, yes. David, yes. Armed, yes. We are ajourned. Thanks everybody. This is great. Thank you all.
Thanks everybody. Thank you.