Let's call this meeting to order. My battery. Uh this is uh today is June 20 24th. This is a meeting of the school building committee pursuant to uh Governor Healey's uh approved legislation house bill 62 extending authorizations for all local boards,
commissions, committees to hold public meetings remotely or in the hybrid format. Extended timeline amendment section 38 of chapter 20 of the acts of 202121 mostly most recently amended by section 40 of chapter 2 of the acts of 2023 and
replacing the current expiration date of March 31st 2025 with June 30th 2027. Therefore, this meeting is being conducted via remote participation in order to ensure public access to deliberations. And if uh you would join me, we'll do the quick pledge of
allegiance. Pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation indivisibley and justice for all. Okay.
Thanks. All right. With that said, let me just uh throw out a little Well, let's do our introductions. We have uh Dr. Roy here. Yes. Hi. Uh, Dr. Fran Rory, incoming superintendent. Welcome. Welcome. Sharon
Pino, the recording secretary. Uh, Brian Neely, uh, vice president, Gail Associates, registered architect. Jeff Wade, school building committee. Evan Gendro, school committee leaders on the school building committee. I'm Shauna Tease on the select board. Jim
Hot, town administrator. David Cash, school building committee. Uh John Bernier, teacher and uh school build building committee member. Tony Vieira, school building committee member. Kimlet, uh Westport schools uh supervisor of facilities. Tony Toma, IT
director for the school system. And I'm Tony Vary, the chair of the committee. Sorry, Tom. No, he's done. And I'm Tony Vary, the chair of the school committee. And just some of us, many of us have been doing this for Tom.
way too long. Way too long. Um I was actually talking to my wife and I'm like, "When did the school open up?" And as soon as I start talking about the school, forget it. Um let's see. Avery was a junior. He's going to be a junior in college next year, four years. So
crazy. So anyway, with that said, uh I know we haven't, you know, it's the same old thing. behind the scenes. Tom and Jim been doing a lot of work. Phone calls, meeting with people, meeting with Brian,
talking to our architects, talking to the contractor, talking to this one, that one, meetings here at the school, trying to iron this out. Obviously, uh, you know, we're trying to button this up. As we know, Tom is going to be
leaving here very soon. So, that wisdom uh is going to be at least out of the building. We might have to call him a few times. Uh as we know, Jim may also be uh leaving here shortly. And again, that that wisdom and the
background with this project will be, you know, we'll be losing some of that. Uh so, it's uh I think it's imperative that we try to wrap this up. And like I said, behind the scenes, you know, these many meetings, conversations, emails, back and forth,
back and forth. And so today will be a recap of where we are. We have some outstanding invoices uh that we need to pay. So I'll I'll turn this over to Jim. All right. Thanks. So just starting let me get see if I can
get rid of this thing here. So just starting off with the budget. Um we had two appropriations. We had a free cash that we used for the feasibility study for $694,000. And then we had the borrowing authorization for the overall project of
96,844,000 for a total of 97,580,000. To date, we've expended 94,000 million 94 million. Too bad 94 million 960,000 leaving about 2.6 6 million of funding available that has been authorized but
unexpended. Um this varies slightly from what um our project manager has, but we're very close. We there may have just been a bill or two that uh got cross referenced, but we're we're very close. Um but out of that 2.6 million, uh we still have a balance with Agustinini
under his contract of about a million dollars. Um, so that leaves available for spending roughly about $1.6 million. There's two caveats to that. There's one a under Augusti's contract. Out of that
million, 628,000 is contingency that hasn't been earmarked or spended yet. So, while the contract we still have them under contract for a million dollars, we really only owe them at this point about $372,000. $372,000.
Um, so once we get a change order with Augustini to close that out or we close out that contract, we'll have some additional money available for for expenditures. We also have an OPA um funding or grant from our local OPA
funds uh for $170,766 which is available as well. So we're about like I said we got 2.6 million that we have not expended. Uh we got about 1.6 6 million that is available today plus the 170. Um so there is money
here to um finish up some of the existing things that need to be done. Um I imagine that if the contractor we'll probably have to give the contractor one more opportunity to finish some of these things and if they don't um we may have to expend the money to do it oursel and
then either go after the contractor or try to resolve that uh later on. I I think the object now, we've been kind of spinning our wheels for a couple of years now trying to get these things resolved. I think we we're at the point now where we just got to get it done. We may have to go out to bid to get it done and not go through the general
contractor. Um yeah, I there's really no I don't think there's another option at this point. And just to add to that, last uh this past Tuesday, we meet here at the school, too. Last week, last week, um, last week, uh,
myself, Tom, Jim, Kim, Jeff, Wade, Brian, Jeff, Charlie, Charlie, uh, from the JLA, who else? Anyway, we met, Tony. We met and discussed a lot of these
issues and we we went out into the building up on the roof and showing Charlie everything and this that and the other and you know again I mean we've heard it before but you know they're willing to to help us figure out the best way to uh
to fix it. So So that's where we are with the budget. Um we're still well under budget and we do have enough funds to finish or um address any issues that are outstanding. So a couple of things that have come up that have been talked about ongoing for a long time now is the cell phone
service here in the building. Um we still have an outstanding bill for service point of about $3400 that we haven't paid. Um Tony's worked with them or met with them once on site. Um, I think we need to get another meeting with them to see if we can get
them to address some of the deficiencies in cell service in the building. We we spent about $110,000 to uh wire this building for cell service. Uh, and it's not as good as it should be. So, um, so Tony, could you update us? So,
the guy came by a couple of weeks ago. He did, but he couldn't really finish his test because his computer was down or something. Out of his vehicle, he walked around the building. He did uh basically a cell signal survey. Um and I I'll get that's from the tower though,
right? That's from the outside tower. He he went around the perimeter of the building. Um when he walked inside uh and he was going to do um basically a heat map inside, he found that his antenna had broken. So he was unable to
begin that process. Um, what he did note was when he came originally prior to the install and did his survey compared to what happened about a month ago, he said the signal strength outside was marketkedly
lower than the previous one. So that tells me that, you know, signal strength outside of this building from three years ago versus today has been reduced for whatever reason. Maybe it's just according to them. According to them. Correct. I wanted him to come
in and do a heat map so that we could determine where we have weak spots within the building and if everything is consistent. I'm looking up there because that device right there, not the speaker. At this right here is one of
those antennas. I got one bar. So Tony did two bars. on your price on your So Tony, did you call him back and because we had asked that we we set up a meeting. So I contacted him and I said, you know,
we're going to wait withhold the money until he comes out again. Uh he said he would be happy to come out again. It's just a matter of scheduling the day now. So yeah, I mean go ahead and just, you know, when he can just let us know.
Okay. So, one thing we talked about last time was uh options. Uh you want to speak on that while we're on this subject? So, I I don't want to say it's grandiose. It's it's something that's much larger than installing an antenna booster
inside and and what he was saying again about the reference word booster versus um extender repeater. It's like a repeater. He wanted to make sure that I was aware that the term booster is not quite as accurate as a transference of
signal. So if you're if you got one and a half bars outside, you're trying to transfer that inside, not actually boost it. He said there might be a slight bit of boosting, but generally speaking, it's more of a transfer of the signal versus anything.
Which kind of changed my perspective about the install because a lot of times you're outside and you can't get signal even outside. So really, what was the point? The one thing that he did mention, I mean, it's a great idea and but it's a
lot more complicated, would be perhaps uh go to one of the providers and ask them if they could install a tower somewhere on town property. Of course, there's going to be a process voting and approvals and whatnot, but that would have been one way to actually have this section of town have excellent
connectivity with sales service. So, as someone who lives maybe I don't know maybe a mile from here down on off drift here. It's a terrible dead zone down there at the head. It is bad. I mean at the house at my house it's better. It's
not great. But this area down here has notoriously been uh been bad. Yep. Been hasn't been great. I mean that I know. I mean you drive down as soon as I make that corner if I'm on the phone I know I'm going to lose somebody. Usually I lose. Yes. Has it gotten worse over
the couple of years like they say or I mean I don't again it's the same dead area. I don't I don't know if it's gotten worse but I'm sure if we called whoever Verizon or whoever whoever owns the closest antenna, right? I'm sure they could probably tell us if it's weaker or
but the point is that we spent, you know, these guys came in and sold us a bill of goods and told us that we were going to they were going to fix our cell phone service in the building. We said, "Okay, you know, it's something we need to do. Let's do it. Yeah. But the results have been uh meager to say the
least. Yes. Um outside of one of our science classrooms is one of those antennas. The teacher would stand literally under it not even knowing that the antenna is there and he'll get no sign. How many did they in install? Do you know recall? Oh,
20 60 maybe. Yeah, there's a lot of those. Okay. Like every ring wing probably has three or four in it minimum. 52. 52. Okay. 52. So, you'd think with 52 of those little doohickeys, we'd have just be able to
make a call. Correct me if I'm wrong, but one of the main reasons to get this in was for safety. And when at our last meeting, I thought we talked about another option and that's Bluetooth
or some other way to get the biggest thing is is if if uh um if there's something going on that shouldn't be going on in the school and and they they put out an announcement, do they do it
through uh Wi-Fi? Do they do it through uh systems up here? People are worried about, you know, getting stuck in a classroom, not being able to communicate and so on and so forth. Is there any other option than this path
of of since I mean short of putting in a new tower, right? Which takes years. Yeah. Right. Um is there another path so that we have something more immediate in here for safety purposes? So, what we've been trying to do for administrators
is put them on the cell boost on their phone. So, there is an option for you to use your phone to piggyback off of our connection to the internet. Literally, it's called um Wi-Fi calling. And you go through our internal network. So, you're
on our Wi-Fi. It uses that to then go out to the internet and places the call. It still is a nominal increase, but there are points where you're in the basement, you get nothing, and then you add that feature and you'll get something. So, it does some sort of
increase. I would be hesitant to do that only because of the security like I don't know what you have, what garbage you have on your phone. Um, and if I'm allowing that on my network, what does that create on my network? Are you I mean you could be playing games, you
could be Bitcoin mining for all I know. Um but my point is that the short answer is yes, we could do that but teachers could do that for uh we would have to add their phone to our network but yes teachers could do that. It is an option. We wouldn't do it for the kids for the
people in charge. I think it's still a security concern though. Yeah, of course. But what are we going to do? I'm just trying to get a regard or bad. It is an option. Y I don't know if there's a I don't know if there an alert system. Beyond that, there's a whole security system. There's a whole security system
built into the school now beyond beyond the phones, right? Which is separate. So, as far as security goes, you know, we do have that covered. This would be in addition to So, if somebody's in a in a classroom, how do they communicate? I have no idea. They have a phone. Every
classroom has a phone. They can call directly to the office and I believe they can call 911. How is everybody notified? So that's what I think you're you're confusing a little bit is the speakers are what we're missing in some of the areas. So they wouldn't hear if we have
a medical emergency they might just say that there's a code blue so that people have to stay um in their classrooms while somebody might be receiving medical attention. Right. Those are the type of messages that people faulty faulty right now. Right. Exactly. But we
do have the alert system throughout the building and that has worked through the testing and everybody hears that. Is that one on the list? Because we were going to talk about that speakers. Yeah, that's on that's coming up. Yeah. Okay. Tony, could you answer this one if if
you know uh I mean any way of getting one of these, you know, the local antenner person own of the cell tower owner to put some sort of antenna on the building that maybe can That's a good question. I don't know. I can find out.
I'll talk to one of the carriers as opposed to, you know, trying to get an antenna, you know, a regular Yeah. Right. Right. Like a, you know, 200 footwear. Maybe there's a, you know, an easier way to I don't know. That's a good question. I'll find out. They just had one We just had one put in down in
uh on Drift Road and 88. You know, that was a reg. Yeah. That's just a regular antenna. That's a big double big, right? Yeah. Oh, what are you talking about? No, I'm I'm saying something smaller that would just an antenna that you could you could mount on some like existing structure here. Sort of like a
neighborhood instead of a section of town towards the closest cell tower. I don't I don't know. I don't or maybe a string and a cup. We're doing that already. That'd be better. So, the point here is we just want to let people know that we are still working on the cell phone. We got
to get that that person in here, Tony. Yep. Okay. And then the gym floor. I know Kim. Yes. So, we had um a gentleman from um I'm going to I don't recall the name right off the bat, but anyway, he came in Friday. He met with the director
of maintenance, Paul Puland, um and they discussed the gym floor regarding the paint chipping, the sponginess, and some dead spots. And basically he is um saying that due to the type of flooring
that we have the the small slats it's pretty much to be expected that's how those floors work. So he said that's why not a lot of people have them. But they are going to process
a report and um as soon as I get that I will send that over to everybody. But it doesn't look like we'll be getting um I think painting maybe every year is going to have to be in our future and then we'll just keep
recoding. Now, uh, Kim, did he mention anything about the the the subfloor should have been any different? He said he was going to go back and double check the drawings because I had sent them I had talked to Jim that week and, um, also sent him all the drawings that I
had from Procore. So, he did say that those were helpful, but um, he wanted to get out here. He came out here Friday kind of like on a type of like just fit it into his schedule. So, he wanted to go back and review it. Um, I just found
out about the the fact that he was going to send a report. So, I didn't know that till late this afternoon, but I will uh email him and contact him again in the morning to see if you know he put anything together yet. So, so you might check with Charlie um because he's, if I remember
correctly, um the floor was not supposed to be that small, right? But changed because they couldn't source the wood availability, right? which once they do that, then that's a contractor's responsibility to make sure it performs to what the other one was performing to.
And we never heard of any of this stuff. Now, uh Jeff, that we I we brought that up. Yeah. I don't know if we were still in the trailers when in the regular weekly meetings, we brought that up. And I remember asking Charlie probably or or Jonathan, hey, with the these new,
you know, with the new floor, should the subfloor have been any, you know, any different? Oh, no, no, no, no, no. And I believe that's how Charlie is still responding right now. I think Jim had gotten something from him. He went through the specs and said it was built
in accordance with the specs. So, even using the small boards, the actual small boards were in the spec. They could have done either or. Oh, okay. We couldn't get the uh the the dolphin safe wood or something, right? I forget. It was coming from Brazil or something. We it just we we we weren't able to source the
wood. So we had it that was the last minute change because it was going to hold up the the project. Again, none of us, you know, the lay people, none of us think about like who cares, right? I mean, like you think the experts kind of the experts tell you it's going to perform appropriately and
you believe them and you believe them. But yeah, exactly. So that's some of the some Oh, we asked, Tony. We asked. We asked. I know. we asked. So, just just a point. I mean, all these things Kim and Tony,
everybody's doing extra work to kind of track these things down. So, very appreciative of the time that they put in. This is another one, the filtration room ladder, which should have been a very simple fix. Um, the rungs at one point were too far apart, so they did a
uh change order or they did some changes to the plans to make it 8 in apart. But, uh, when they came in to fix it, they didn't do that. They just put new rungs in between the existing rungs, which you can barely get your boot through now. So, so it went from bad to worse.
Like I said, it should have been a very simple fix, but they've been driving us on for years. And Kim pointed out the other day, they they were down, you guys were down there servicing or something. Somebody was down there doing some service work. Mhm. And like the guy could barely get his boot between the the treads. I It's ridiculous. Crazy.
So I I did contact United Steel, which was the person who did the original ladder and also the person who made the modifications. I left a message for the gentleman, Steven Lang. I sent him an email. I have not heard back. And um
I don't know this for a fact, but I'm wondering if they were ever paid for the ladder and if that could be the lack of response that the reason I'm not getting a response. So I think I will just try to find another company to come in
just and stop from contractor right yeah the contractor has to pay within a certain period of time so I I would doubt that well he might have got paid for the first one but then he may not have gotten paid for the the modification so
sounds I don't know doesn't sound right it sounds like he probably did get paid but I mean I'm not getting anything yeah Oh, I don't know. You know, any idea what the cost would be or repair it properly? I don't I don't even I don't know what the original one was.
So, I'll try to um get that within the next two weeks. Try to get somebody out here to to definitely take a look at that. Yeah, I think that's good. I mean, if we're not getting these guys to help and it's been what, four years now? So, yeah. Okay. What was the name of that company? They did a lot of different
stuff. The defense guy, the guys, uh we bought the fence to go around the fence. Oh, City Works. City Works. They they like a metal fabrication, aren't they? I can I can ask them, Jim. I don't know. I I don't know. They do. I think they they get their hands in the I
Worth calling maybe. Absolutely. They they were nice. They did. They uh they were good. Yeah, he is very nice. John Chapfield. Yeah. So, and then the last thing, which is the big thing, is the commissioning list and the general punch list. We're still working through that. We got about we're down to about five pages now, maybe 30
35 items. Um, Gail Associates, we need to meet with uh Brian over the next week or two and some of these things will lift in your lap. Um, I don't know if it's all your responsibility, but we need to figure that out. Um, and this is important because until we get it commissioned,
until MSBA does signs off, they're holding a big chunk of our money, which um, we're paying interest on. We're paying interest on. So, we're pushing to get that. Um the commissioning agent who was hired by MSBA is not real excited about coming down because he's been down so much and he's
been told by the contractor over the years that things were done and get down here and it wasn't done. So um MSBA is helping us a little bit to get them down here and yeah we're working on it. It had there has been some pretty good progress over the last three weeks um four weeks. So, um, we're moving slow.
And, and just to throw this out there, if there's one part of these projects that the MSBA could fix, I think, yeah, they hire out these the commission agent, but they're still kind of like a sub. If that person, I don't know, just the way those contracts are written, if that person
actually worked for the MSBA, you'd think it'd be a lot different because now the contractor is dealing directly with the people who are supplying the money as opposed to just another sub from the MSBA. You know what I mean? Like there would certainly be a better connection. Maybe a state senator and a
state rep could help us make a I mean I' I've brought that up to them several times. Well, the communication on that typically is MSBA is not involved, right? So, as a commissioning agent for MSBA, we don't have correspondence with them. When we are a commissioning agent
on a school project, we communicate with the town and with the architect and the contractor to coordinate our visits. MSBA will they rarely do any followup on what we're unless there's political pressure. Yeah, unless somebody and I'm suggesting political pressure is
necessary. This is an SBA project that they are supposed to have some responsibility on, they dropped the ball a few times. And I think if our state senator and our rep uh represents us in that situation, maybe that'll move it a little because nothing else is moving it. You know, if you're building a house
and you go to the bank tomorrow, you say, "Hey, I need another $20,000." is the contractor needs to buy the windows and the bank says, "Tony, the house isn't even framed yet. I'm not giving you money for windows." You know, the bank's that that's what the bank's going to say, right? I mean, like the MSBA could do that. They could have a better
role. Well, they're not going to unless they get some pressure in these projects and and avoid some of this nonsense. Are we ready for the commissioning agent to come out? It sounds like we're not. No, no, that's why are we pressing them for the commissioning agent? Because they will put the pressure on the commissioning agent. No, the We're not ready for the commissioning agent.
That's what they just said. Yeah. One of the things we needed from the commissioning agent was what he was waiting on. Yes. And there was some discrepancy with that, but I think we've gotten most of that straightened out. We've been meeting with the MSBA every month, every four weeks. Uh we've had a meeting with them. They sit down with us and I think it kind of gives uh project
manager a little incentive to move forward and get some things done as well. So, um are are you prepared to um discuss what our options are in this punch list travesty? Yeah, I think we're going to do that. Brian's going to kind
of I mean I I I know on on on on that part we are. But on everything else I'm still hoping most of these will get addressed through the contractor. Um or at least he comes back and says he's not going to do it and then we have to make a decision as to which ones we're going to do and then we just hire them hire
someone and use their money. I mean that's what we're going to do. Exactly. And we're giving them a chance. That's what that $1.6 million is. I mean, if we need to that that's that's coming out of that's going to come out of Agustinini's pocket. Well, well, I'm looking more at the 300 and something we
still owe them. So, you know, whether whether that how that will work. Has our lawyer talked about that to us or anything? Yeah, not so much with the contractor, but with the architect. Um, but yeah, we we we've been holding on that last pay pay for gez year and a
half now. Two years. because you know that I talked about it before that when you have a punch list and and it gets monetized um and then and then you you either they either do it or you get you know that money. So but there is nuances
throughout that process obviously but well to be determined. So, we did get a recommendation from Char on the gutters and the downspouts. Um, this was back about a month ago before we've had some additional
meetings. Uh, they were recommending that, uh, some of the gutter work be looked at or replaced. Uh, they've also recommended that we go through Agustinini to do that. Um, we just haven't had much luck with the contractor over the last
four years, but over the last couple of months in particular, um, we haven't had much response from them. My opinion, I don't think they're going to do it. I think we're going to have to go out to bid ourselves, whatever work we want to do. Um, it'd be much easier if they did it. Um,
we wouldn't have to go out to bid. they could just uh do it under their existing contract, but um they they haven't been real responsive. Once we get this list after this meeting, hopefully we can uh talk to town council and send it to them and I give them a certain amount of time to
fix it and see what the response is. If it's a positive response, we can take a look at it. If not, we we move forward. Do you need a formal vote to do that, Jim? Not right now. I we will. Yeah, I think we will. Um yeah, once we know more
information, we do need a vote on the Gail Associates uh proposal. Brian, if you just want to give a quick update on some of the details with the proposal. I don't have a copy of the proposal on
me. This is this I mean I have this letter. So the proposal itself that we sent over included the time for a lot of the meetings that you were talking about and coming out to the roof to continue assisting you in trying to resolve some of these items. Uh we carried a another
task item which was to do the leak testing that we did about 3 four weeks ago and then we included an additional service to put together bid documents to go up for public bid on some of the repair scope. So that's what those
um allocations are for. And your biggest number was the construction phase services of 58,000. It was a not to exceed number more than anything else. Um because you weren't at the time sure how often you wanted to be here, nor do we know what the term of the contractor
um is. I think that was once a week plus a couple additional site visits to be thrown in for you know four or five months. I mean it was excessive. So, but it's based upon what Capeway had told us at the meeting. So, um if we went with
the the modified scope of work, it's going to be much quicker and that will be a lot less, but we would, you know, it's time and expense essentially. We'd use it as you need us to come out here to look at things. So, the total proposal was $92,200.
It included 5200 for ongoing leak evaluation. Some of that's been ongoing work has been gone and spent at this point. Um evaluation services which was a fixed fee of 5700 design services. So if we go out to bid we got to get it we got to have a design to go out to bid
with and we need uh bid documents to go out to bid. Um so that was 18,500 uh bid services optional time and expense fee of 4100. That's if we need to come out here and walk the contractors around the building
to answer RFI questions. um process the the bids, look at the bids, and make a recommendation letter to you to move forward with it. So, my recommendations that we've approved the proposal not to exceed 92,200.
Um Brian moved any questions? Second. All right. Any questions on the uh on the proposal? Anyone? So just uh so we we hired Gail Associates over a year ago. Yeah, at least a year
ago to help us uh you know come to some end with the figure out exactly what was going on with the gutters and all this stuff. So it's been good voice. Um they've kind of mediated some of the stuff. So it's been helpful. I think there's there's still going to have to be conversations as we go along as the
um scope gets defined, you know, so that we make sure that you're only going through the ones that we want. Remember, we talked about a couple options of things to do. Yep. We've started to mark that out. If you're happy to talk about that now or later this week, weeks to come.
Anything else? Anyone? Vote. All in favor? I opposed. Sorry. All right. So motion passes. So the next step is uh like I said we met last week with Brian Jeff um we put
our heads together Charlie yeah we met for probably three three hours three four hours and it wasn't just that me we've been discussing this for a long time from Gail has been up on the roof a number of times doing leak detection some other tests up there so this isn't something that's happened overnight it's
been ongoing um I don't know if you want to just highlight some of the changes that we're looking at originally we were looking redoing all the gutters, taking all the gutters off the building, taking all the flashing out from under the gutters, making sure that everything was sealed, putting the flashings back, putting new
gutters on. Um, since the down spouts have been opened, they originally only 2 in or they were opened up to the size that was the gutters have not been overflowing. Um, you know, nothing's perfect, but there may be some alternative things that we can do that
aren't as involved as as that. Sure. So, I mean, we've come out multiple times to look at different issues that you guys have been trying to deal with and address. Um, quite a few of those items became, I guess, a punch list at CHA incorporated
into the other commissioning punch list. Um, a lot of those items were resolved by the contractor. I think at the end of the day, there's a handful of items on the list that have our name next to it. Threearters of them are not really things that we brought up. And there's two items that we did bring up that I
believe everyone agreed was just going to be too complicated to address at this time. But for generally speaking, you know, we were able to go through and fix quite a few of those items. One of the things that was pulled out was the the water management on the roof. Um the gutters were problematic. Um they did
make some repairs to them. Um but generally we're finding that a lot of the staining you're seeing around the building and that's what this report kind of helps document is moisture that's not um staying on the roof and getting to the gutters, right? It's spilling over the edges. And so we came
out and leak test um using a garden hose essentially to recreate where the water is going on the roof to try to identify um how to resolve some of those issues. So, we had um two PDFs and another email from three different events that were
sent to us from the town. Those were on March 17th, April 26, and May 23rd of this year showing different conditions in the building, um staining, water marks, um things like that. And so, trying to recreate that, um we came up
with a list of A through N of items. And a lot of these have to do with water um rolling over the edge of the building in multiple locations. And so there's a couple factors. When we put water in the gutter, um the gutter is
holding water. It's not spilling out outside of that gutter. But when you have water that hits the downspout and comes down the downspout, the water is not contained in the down spout. Right? If you at your home, you have a rectangle that goes from top to bottom. Um here we have an open chute. Um and so
that open chute you can see there on the left has a cover plate but essentially the water's free to do what it wants inside that shoot as it falls down two stories. Um the bottom of them is wide open. um this EPDM that was put in place
to take the larger size to go down to a standard um I think it's a 5x4 square well rectangle that goes to the below grade retaining system is not really built for the purpose that it should be. So normally we would have a gutter the same size straight up or we'd have an
adapter that you probably see at your house that you know takes it from a square around to a different shape and then that goes straight up to the the top. So we would essentially remove that EPDM, remove the cover plate, put in a down spout that would collect the water
and drain it out properly. And then depending on the statics, we could either put a new cover back on or reuse the existing cover if possible. But um it's likely that the cover, which has a bent inward shape, may conflict with some of the downspout locations. And so some sort of new flat cover would
probably be necessary um which would be a cost item. It just depends on what we want it to look like afterwards. Um, so that would address the water that's um coming down the building. And when you see the staining along the the the the down spout locations, that's the water
that's spraying and hitting the brick. It's bypassing the open gutter and getting into the cavity. Um, on other locations, there's a a lot of heavy staining. Um, in the top picture on the top right, you can see it every say 20 feet or so down the building.
What we're finding is that the the roof um is not, you know, normally you have a roof and a roof edge goes over the veneer, right? In this case, the that roof edge is pushed inwards and you have a shelf and so the water is collecting on that shelf and rolling over the shelf
at locations where the sheet metal comes together. Where it comes together, there's a gap. Um there's a cover plate, there's a base plate behind it, which is good, but that gives it a low spot. the water collects in the channel, shoots down the face of the channel, and that's why it's staining in the locations that those joints are occurring. Um, we also
find that the water is not rolling straight down to the gutters. In some cases, the building like the gymnasium steps in and so when you have a, you know, high to low point, but that low point gets smaller, water's going to roll over the edges. Um, at
other locations, the roof edge is not completely flat and level. And so if you put water on it, it comes along and it bangs right and then it goes over the edge. And so what's happening is that more water is getting to that that ledge that's created there. And that's either
shooting water straight down um to the end of the wall and kind of pouring out or dripping down at the corners of the building. But the water is also collecting along that channel and shooting down all the rake edges, seam joints as well. And so what what the
contractor ended up doing at the gymnasium was putting a it's a you have a PVC roof up there and the PVC manufacturers make these little battens that are about an inch and a half tall. They welded that in and ran it down all along the gymnasium and now you don't have the water that's pouring down over the gymnasium walls. We could do the
same thing along other um rake edges to redirect the water off the rake and get it back towards the gutter. Um you could use the PVC strips. We could use a PVC clad metal that gets stripped in. We could replace the roof edge and put a gravel edge metal in. There's a couple different options. The PVC batten is
probably the cheapest way to go. Um but that would basically you put it at the rake edges and it just kind of collects any water that's going out to the edges and pushes it back to the middle. Um, it's not ideal obviously, but it would be a quick repair. You would still see
some water at those stain locations you're getting now because the shelf is still going to collect some water, but we're finding or it's our belief that most of that um staining is because you have an excess of water from the roof that's getting there. So, it won't
completely disappear, but it should be a lot better. Um, is this the whole P? These are your photos or the feed? I just took a few of the photos and put them on. So, um, is there another page of them? No. No. Okay. So, the the one on the right is a
little bit different. I have a This is I sent to him very late. So, sorry, sorry, sorry. So, I can show in a plan later if people are interested, but the the the roof edge at the front of the building is difficult because it's a flat roof.
So the structure of this building is pitched. So you have a gable roof essentially that's very shallow. The gable roof has a flat layer of insulation that goes from the top all the way down. When we get to the front of the building, the structure is flat. And so the roof system that's flat on
top of that is also flat. And so the contractor um built a a a cricut that's a big diamond essentially to direct water coming down that section to go left and right. And what happens is that water does go left and right, but it's not
long enough to get to where the gutters are. And if it was, it still is about 3 feet, four feet inboards of the gutter line. And so what happens is the water comes in right where the building steps back. There's no gutter there. And the water is just sitting there and rolling over. And when the wind blows, it blows
it over in bigger gusts. So, so if I could just expand on that, if that cricket wasn't there, the water would come straight down and end up in the gutter like every other place. Really, no problem. This is the front of the building here. Actually, putting the cricket there all of a sudden takes all
of that water that's hitting the roof and directs it to two points rather than all along the whole front. And that's why it's shooting out there and missing the gutter or hitting the gutter and filling it up and overflowing. According to uh the arc Charlie, that cricket
wasn't in the plan. The roof area plan, which is we have here, um does show the indication for an area of roof that would be tapered differently. There are no details for how to install that or no details that show it. So, the details
show a perfectly flat roof edge. the roofing contractor thought did what he thought was best. So when you look at what's there, it's not your typical construction. You wouldn't normally build a a tapered slope to the roof edge that is, you know, 30 ft long. It just is they didn't plan for it. They didn't
understand it. It was never communicated to them during the shop drawing process from what we could see. And so what's on there is what was approved in the shop drawing process. Um the options are to either build the cricket that the architect had expected to see and never required. Um because
that roof comes out. So the the problem one of the problems is that the standard roof edge is at the pitch where the structure comes down and stops. Right? So now when you have a flat roof that's you know 10 12 feet deeper, you can't build that same pitch to that area. So
now you're building a pitch that goes up much higher up onto the roof. So, it's a lot more insulation. Um, to maintain that roof at the same elevation. So, normally another option would be to step down, but they want to maintain that same roof edge line. So, to do that, we
would need to build a cricket that goes up from all of the roof edge lines or taper. Yeah. Taper essentially a quarter inch per foot. Um, you will still have some triangle areas of that Cricut that will direct water to the areas that don't have gutters. um because we're
still trying to maintain an even ed roof edge around the building. So, we could add that cricket in. Um we could remove the existing cricket and just leave it flat, which will allow the water rolling down to get to the the gutter, but you also get some ponding water there. You
get some now anyways, but you'll get more ponding water. Um, and the third option would be just to add gutters to these other locations, which you might want to do if you do the cricket with the architect's plan anyways because you'll still get some water in those locations. That will be probably more
expensive because there's a lot more sheet metal work to rework the the corners there. Or we just pen something to the side of the building and see how it looks. And Brian, another thing we uh we kind of realized the other day was that our gutters from the top of the roof to the top of the gutter, I mean,
typically it's like a couple inches or so, and odds are like four or five inches in some locations, probably a good six to eight inches lower. So, you could imagine water coming off the roof quickly in an area where, you know, the roof, these crickets are directing the water to a certain area. That water's
coming off the roof and it's just it's just going right over the gutter. Yeah. That's what we're seeing, you know, on these front locations, but that's mainly just two locations, right? So, these would be two main locations and the the cricut that needs to be removed is probably, you know, 40 or 50 feet. I
mean, it's it's the length of this this bump out, this front bumpout, probably more. It's like if you had a normal roof like this at your house and you took this end and you built a flat roof right next to it. That's what we have here. So, it comes down and then
hits that flat roof. and it's going to the two ends instead of straight. So, they knew that that the roofer knew that that would be a problem if you left it like that because this flat roof would just collect water and hold it. So, they directed it off the two ends and you know what happens when you do that.
But there's a solution, right? Yeah. Well, that's what we just said. We have three different solutions that we listed them in here. Um, we have the one shown here that we had talked about, which is building the cricket back up the way the, you know, JLA wanted it to have it. Um, but that would then ideally resolve
at least the amount of water that's getting there. You'll still see when we say build build the Cricut, we're talking about peeling off the vinyl, the roof membrane, and uh maybe removing and then reinstalling. Basically, we're just adding insulation, right, to to a certain grade, certain things. Um, it it
might be slightly more complicated than that only because I don't know how the existing roof's attached. So, the roof membranes adhere to the coverboard, which will probably be wrecked in the process of removing it. So, we have to go down to the next layer. If we have one that's mechanically fastened, go
down that far. If it's all adhered, we have to come up with a couple different options. We have to remove something, maybe mechanically attaching new coverboard, and then we'll work it out. But it's all work that's done on top of the on top of the roof. It's nothing. We're not putting holes in anything like
that. And then just we could potentially do it over top of it like get your get your um tapered insulation. I just can't adhere something to a facer that's been wrecked. So we may have to mechanically fasten something and then add the membrane to it. It's not once we get the options, we'll figure it
out. So on all these things, you're going to fine-tune the options and kind of come up with a cost estimate and then we'll decide whether or not we've shown the scope so far. I think that we've talked about what we need to do next um with the amendment approved is do the detailing now. Great. So, we'll walk through these options with you and then
confirm the detailing and put together a bid package in a couple weeks. Um the other items are the masonry at the roof edge and at the ground level under the windows. Those are heavily stained from moisture and
are growing moss and mold, moss and algae. And um what we want to do is remove that, clean it, cut the the the mortar back to solid mortar, and then rebuild it um with water and and sealant where yes, where needed.
These are various locations throughout the building, right? A lot of them. All the window sills that are at grade or on a roof level. Yeah. Mhm. And if you look, all the they put in this much brick underneath the windows.
Um, and the flashing goes down behind it and all of the mortar is breaking up in that and mold growing because all the water that gets behind the wall gets caught there and and it's harder to get out at that point. So, there's one or
two other minor um deficiencies we've noted that we would also just have the roofer fix while they're up there. Um there are other underlying things we think we've talked about in the past that we are not addressing here, but this would address the staining and the the moisture issues that we're seeing on
the outside of the building. Question before we get off that. Good. Do we have a bond on the roof? I would assume we do a new roof, usually we come with a 20 or 30 year warranty warranty warranty. Um, so, uh, if we
have that in place and you're going to be up on a roof doing these things, uh, which I think need to be done, how does that affect the bond? So, I believe the I'm not positive, but I believe the roof is a Sarnophil roof system, a PVC system, and what we would do is work
with the manufacturer. We would notify them of the work. they would um come out and do an inspection at the end of the work to make sure that they sign off on it and maintain the warranty in those areas. We also require that the contractor um who's bidding on it has certain qualifications, years of experience doing this, but also that
they're preapproved by that manufacturer to do um the work that's being asked to be done. My followup would be who owns who controls the bond right now? Who's our contact from the school department? Can we contact them and let them know that we're in this process for the warranty? So because I've seen
warranties not hold up by talking about Greenwood Tony the contractor before we've been up on the roof quite a bit now too there it's fine language I would think in those roofs the more times you go up there the more possibilities of other leaks springing because of people on roofs and over the years the u that's
one of the reasons for having the bonds on roof the 20 or 30-year bonds for the uh construction and so I think everything you're suggesting is right on I just want to make sure that we don't jeopardize liab ility concerns here and that we're able to tap into that bond.
That's a sum of money that we can use if things are not performed. It's a warranty basically, right? The warranty, a roof warranty, right, is from the manufacturer on the product. Correct. So, I don't know what you have here specifically, but usually you'll have the the contractor, the roofing subcontractor will have his guarantee
for the for a year or two and then you'll have a manufacturer who has material usually warranty for 20 or 30 years. There may be some pr-rated labor in there depending on the options that were selected in the project. Right. Yeah. In Massachusetts, most schools
that were constructed had bonds, 20 or 30 year bonds on a roof. Well, it's not a bond. There's no physical money there. It's a warranty that they will be responsible to come out and repair. Yeah. That I mean, I'm not setting the money aside, but the term was used as a roof bond 20 or 30 years in a guarantee for the construction. That's what I'm
talking about. So, can't imagine that's eliminated. And all I'm saying is let's pay attention to that before we do much more on the roof because we could be jeopardizing what we're doing now without contacting those folks. And it's on a year the amount of money you get for that the first couple of years is
quite a lot based on what you're going to do. But if you wait three or four years and we're probably in almost our fourth year now that's going to be reduced. So we we actually have the warranty on file. Yep. So if you read that, you'll understand what it is that we are are given in that whether it's
just the material or if it's material and labor and um if there's any prorating and all it's all in there. So so all we have to do is pull that out and take a look at it. But you know Tony's point is you know spot on. We have to make sure that that we continue to have that warranty. So should help us
on that because that's kind of a standard for the state in terms of school construction for schools. Unfortunately, the repairs that we're talking about here are not repairing the system that is warrantied per se. We're adding to that system. So, it wouldn't be, you know, these repairs. I'm just
talking about the liability if you try to, you know, if a year from now we got a problem and they're saying, "Well, wait, you've been jeopardizing repairs." We would have those conversations with the manufacturer, make sure that it doesn't impact the existing warranties. And I know from the few times that I've
already called the um company that they are aware that um we have issues here. And um because first I have to call the warranty company and then they contact Greenwood and then Greenwood contacts me to come out and uh repair the roof. So
um but like I said, the warranty people are aware that there's issues. And Brian, to be clear, the issues we're having isn't with the actual membrane, the roof membrane itself. It's maybe with the way it was installed. Some of the detailing. Yeah. It's the detail. It's It's not that the the roof itself
is failing. It's just the way it was constructed. Yeah. Yeah. Good. All right. So, we had a couple of other items that we've been discussing for three, four years now that um the school department has been pushing for. These
would all be extra work orders or change orders. Um, one is the sound panels in the auditorium. Um, you know, the insulation panels that were never installed and according to the architects and the contractor weren't really included in the drawings.
There was question whether or not they were included, but I they both agreed that it should have been a change order so they can um we can do it through them or we could do it ourselves. I think it would be easier if we just went out and did it ourselves. Um, these panels are, just to explain it, these panels are
really easy to take off. They're on a Z clip, which just allows you to pick it up and take it off like a picture and put it right back on again. So then they can take it off, put up the insulation behind it and put it back on. So, well, at last week's meeting, Charlie said he was going to contact the uh the
installer, they were a local company, and find out exactly how those things came off or something, right? Yeah, that'd be a good idea. And then uh the the third thing C for the we'll get back to B but C was also the sound system in the auditorium that I'm going let you explain what the issues are with the sound system.
I'm sorry I couldn't hear you. Little lemony. I I'll hold that pause just for a second just just to get you. Um so the auditorium was built for a couple of generic reasons. Uh there was no specific reason but how we use it currently is very specific. 90% of
everything that happens in there is a performance of some sort. So, the design is um too basic. There's a lot of echo which um we're looking at the sound dampening panels and the audio is insufficient. So, when we're doing
performances and you have either a live band or music playing through the main speakers, you can't even hear the main character speaking at all. As a matter of fact, Tony when he's up on stage during school committee meetings, he will have a hard time hearing himself
speak into said microphone and regurgitate out of the speaker. So, it was very noticeable from day one. Yep. Well, we was when we started using that auditorium that we there was a problem to sound. You just couldn't hear it. So, we're talking just to let everybody know that's going to be watching this, we're
talking about items A and C right now. Correct. Okay. Correct. So the idea is to do a two-fold improvement. Add more speakers and add sound dampening in addition to said speakers. So who's who's looking at the design of the new
speakers? So the design has been done through Ochres. Ores is a company that has done a lot of other school projects in the state before has had our music director has had in here a few times to look at the uh the auditorium. I don't know them but
Yep. And then the third thing up there is B, which is the speakers in all the individual um little rooms that we have throughout the building. Uh we looked into this and according to the architect, um we did have speakers in every one of these rooms when we first went out to bid, but they were value
engineered out or managed out. Um Charlie said, y So, um you know, I know the school's been pushing for it. um all the little classrooms and not classrooms but teachers offices between the two classrooms, breakout rooms. None of them have speakers. Um so they're not getting
the PA announcements. They still get the emergency correct alerts through a different system. So that is that is covered but they are not hearing the um normal announcements. Correct. I make a motion we approve all. So you listed
them. Are we done yet or three? Yeah, those three and I re we do have the app money. I recommend we use that to pay for this and the additional 25 or 50,000 come from my motion. Second. I already second. No, no, we want Tom on the record for that. Making
sure you're awake, Tom. He's been waiting for that. Any dying for it because I haven't heard one word in that auditorium since they opened it up. Any uh any further discussion?
All in favor? I I opposed. Gym flow we already talked about. Um and then we have four invoices. Uh two from Greenwood, one for $641 and change. I can't see. Another one for $1,282. Those were for some roof
repairs. We we tabled this at our last steering committee meeting. U we're going to look at it. I don't know if you got any additional information. it it really didn't show me anything and I thought we would try to look at those again when we were up there last week but it with everybody talking but I know
it's definitely it wasn't anything that was like I said what they were trying to say was that we were stepping on things over there but these are areas that there's no nobody goes over there you know and there was broken mortar off the the roof
there was also um a seal a seam that had to be resealed and then again the company Greenwood decided to caul all that around the edges which is not really what what should have been
done. So so Kim they were called for they were called for specific specific reason because we had a leak in the gym teacher on the in on the middle school side in her office. It's happened over and over and over again. So each time they came. No, now it's now it's fixed.
Okay. But each time they came it was a different it was a different reason. Oh uh it was a bird or oh you know there's there's no holes or anything. They tried they showed a separation of a seam. So they did seam that you know reseal that but there wasn't anything that was um so
so the the question is why isn't it on the covered under the warranty right? And why so why are we paying? And he he said that we were having a baseball game up there or something. Yeah. He said that these weren't items that were covered under the warranty. Who's he? The gentleman from Greenwood Greenwood.
Is he a representative that made that decision? Someone I mean Greenwood's the one that put it all in. So, right, they put the talking to though. It just was the worker. He he reported to the office that it was not a warranty. So when I
called the office to verify, he said that it was considered not a warranty item, including the seam that came open. The seam was not charged. This was a hole in where the area was that they cocked because they said that that was
the reason for the for the leak, but it's not Do you believe them? Well, I was told that that's not really what they shouldn't have cocked that. I'm not sure what they cocked. So we should look at what what area that is. But the PVC membrane if it's a seam
should be a welded seam or a patch seam, right? So that they did cover that wasn't that was one of the other times that they came. But these two times they showed a piece of of the mortar and then they showed like hole and then they said that um they had to
that area because that was another it should it wasn't cocked and it should have been cocked but it wasn't. Makes sense. Yeah. So, I we've been kind of bouncing these bills around for a few months now. Um, yeah, really. Maybe we could just authorize Kim or the school
department to contact Greenwood again and maybe get a better explanation and if you feel you feel comfortable, then we'll go ahead and Yeah. Well, some whatever you you decide you guys are close to it, but it just seems a little janky maybe. And Kim, the 641 to get both of them, those were two different
times. Yes. Yes. Basically the same idea was the same leak. And uh service point is the balance of the antenna which Tonyy's going to get the guy in here. The encore fire is an old bill from 2022. I have no Is that for the panel
movement? Kim, am I believe it did have to do with that. I still haven't gotten the actual invoice which I'm still working on. Jim, I keep calling but um I believe that was when they had to come in and reprogram that. So,
it's very the company that we had move the panel is not the company that can uh put in all the computer information. So, we had to call Encore back to you know have them okay connect it. So, I
move we authorize to approve Kim to allow we authorize Kim to approve the in the two invoices for Greenwood Industries and the invoice for Encore Fire Protection not to exceed the numbers that we have in front of us. Second. Any further discussion? All in
favor? I. Okay. Thank you, Kim. So, so the last thing that I have is uh we had received correspondence from CHA who is our project manager who is requesting additional compensation for work that they say that they have done related to legal issues
which is not part of their contract. Um I talked to town council and he helped draft a letter that we will send out to uh CHA basically saying that we never asked for this additional work. We've never signed any additional change orders or contracts for this work. Um we
need more explanation and we'll go from there. Personally, if they had done their job, it wouldn't even be here today. Yeah, exactly. had 10 people in. They have still been working with us. Um they have not refused to work with us, but um good part. Yep. Right. I mean, if
they That's a good part. If they did their job, we'd all be home right now. Austini. Yeah. Well, he doesn't return any phone calls. That's all I had. I don't know if you had anything. All right. No. Um, so again, just to, you know, behind the
scenes, there's a lot that, you know, these guys have been doing. Uh, Jim, everybody, Tom, everybody, uh, trying to wrap this up. So, anything else? Anyone? Oh, we just appreciate all the work Tom's done and Jim and, uh, certainly, uh, in house here, all the staff people,
you know, appreciate. And again, staying with it, aside from all these, you know, we all of us in this room, we we're all in the back and we know how the sausage is made. Yep. But when you drive by this building, it's a brand new, beautiful school, kids running around. A lot of
great things going on, right, Tom? Agreed. And uh you know, the average kid walking in that door doesn't know anything about the roofs or gutters, doesn't care. That's not what's important. So, we just want to you know, finish this mess and you know, tidy up things nice so that we can uh we can all
concentrate on on the kids that walk. Tony, can I throw something out there for one second? Yes, absolutely. Um, I don't know how much money is going to be left in all of 7,000, but um, if there was any type of legitimate money left, would it be possible to at least sort of
look at installing some lights on the fields or are we has that ship sailed? Hey, I'm all for it. I don't think there was any question before of the need for lights. I think there was a neighborhood concern about what would happen if the lights were out
there in the tennis courts. Um, that was a big concern. It's not a concern anymore. I don't think that's an issue anymore to be honest with you. I would be opposed to having lights on the fields. That was one person's worry. Yeah, we do have the money. Sold. Yeah.
You know, maybe we can get donations as well, but there's very few schools that don't have lights on their fields. No, that would be a that would be a big game changer. Is it possible um if we're going to add things like that that we look at uh um the
additional uh lands that the school board which we own? Yeah. Tom, what you Tom, you got a quote one time, correct? It was about 7 million. It was about 7 or 8 million. 700,000. It was about 7 or 8 million. 7 million. Yeah. No, no, just for the lights. No, this is just for the
lights on the existing field. He said he said the land. He said I said the land over there. The fields. new fields. No, no, but but I'm asking about lights for the current these fields here. It was 700,000. I know. I know. Yeah. Yeah. But what I'm asking is is um since it's all
part of school and since originally we wanted more fields before I even came here, I guess in the planning you've been telling me, Tony, if we can um possibly have that money for the fields, I don't think we should do that. I I that goes against what every even this
building committee was totally opposed to approaching that. I those funds were were voted on at town meeting for the purposes that we talked about and I think it should stay on the school grounds. Well, I'd love to do something with the others. No, no, but that is school. It wasn't at the time. You might know I know we tried to make that part
of the school grounds in the acquisition that we first did that and I had some heated discussions with people on this board. They didn't want to do that and town meeting voted a certain way. Now if we go back and start doing that and saying where's you know why are we doing that now? That was never But we I mean there's not enough money anyway to do
it. There there might be there might be money for lights, but there's not money to do the fields. Well, no, that's true. But at least right now. At least right now. And to be honest, Jeff, that's why, you know, I mean, yes, we we bought the land. We have the land, but no one's been uh you know, we haven't been banging that drum lately because we have
other drums that Well, the reason the question came up um was is why I brought it up is that originally it was not part of the town, not part of the school board. It was bought by the town and the town was looking into what to do with it including council on aging and I mean I
I was on the committee. I was a chair um of the committee and and and then it went to the school board to the school. So the school actually owns it now. And and the thought was back then of why it
was being transferred was after our study, we said that Fields was the best way to make it easier for to develop it. And and and so then the town put it over to the school legally and and so now it is part of the school which it never was
before. So that can bring up the question again. And as far as yes, it does not pay for it, but it's one heck of a start to it. Even if we don't I don't I don't I'm not saying go out and expend it now. I'm saying can we save
that money if if there's money left over. I think the things we're doing here is fantastic. You know, we need the speakers, we need the um uh PA system, we need all those things. There's no doubt we need more field space. We can't keep buzz buzzing. But I think that we
have to really seriously think about, you know, in the end if there's monies of whether we want to try to start something new with the rest of the fields since that's what was voted on by the town. We could slowly start to bang that drum a little bit. Yeah. Okay. Anyways. All right. Anything else?
Anyone? Motion to adjurnn. Second. All in favor? I I thank thanks everyone for coming. Thank you so much. your planet fields.