Hi, Rob.
All right, everybody. This is the April 29th special 2026 special board of finance meeting, which as you know, we called for a singular purpose, which is to discuss the request from the Andover Board of Education for release of funds related to the bathroom project. I'll go ahead and start the meeting and start with the pledge of allegiance. I pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America
nd to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible,
with liberty and justice for all.
All right, everybody. we'll start real quick with public speak. the only member of the public I see here is Joanne. So, just as a reminder, Joanne, you know, it's a single topic meeting. So, if you have a comment related there too, by all means, fire away.
Just listening, Rob. That's all. Just I didn't know how big the meeting. No comments tonight, that's for sure.
Yeah, it's this is a real short special one. It was something that I was supposed to get to last time and failed to. So,
gotcha. Yeah, just
he manopa meeting. [gasps]
so I circulated to everybody I believe the email that that I had gotten that had the quote and you know the bid for this was a second and sons to do the work. It looks like at at the end of this process, we, you know, when we went and got extra bids, it looks like we've gotten a bid here that's, you know, about half what we were looking at before, which looks great to me. I saw an email from Jeff Murray strongly recommending this contractor. and I know Bill, you were involved earlier. If if you want to pipe up and and mention any of your thoughts, I'd be happy to to do that. I'll just say that, you know, we got five quotes and at first most when you get into this kind of quote, typically what you do, you take the highest quote and the lowest quote. You throw them out. That happens all the time. and and we kind of did that at first when Jeff and I were reviewing this. We were looking at the three middle quotes. we kind of went to the next highest quote and we didn't like it because that was the original contractor that Fuss O'Neal had recommended and they had dropped their price, you know, like $150,000 somewhat in that area and we just thought we didn't trust them after that, you know, why was it $400,000 dropped down to, you know, 250 and we just thought we didn't like that. So we looked at the next two middle votes and we were looking at them. We threw out another one because
it wasn't a complete package. They didn't have the project timeline. Val's aware of that. And so we started going back and look at the lowest one just for haha second dino at 207. And it was the most complete package of all the bids that were submitted. We we liked the package and the timeline the the most out of all of them. And we're just surprised it was the lowest price as well. So we feel very good that we have the lowest price and a very complete bid package of all the packages that we got. and that's why we we recommended them and so the rest of the board.
Awesome. Thank you for that synopsis. I mean I'm just I'm just thrilled because the the numbers are so much better.
I'll just add the last thing is we did recommend I think Val, was it 20% as a contingency?
So [snorts] there's a there was a 2 and a half% performance bond amount that needs to be added.
and the contingency wasn't yet recommended.
Oh, okay.
So, right, it wasn't recommended at this point
cuz things happen. You always have, you know, things of that nature. So, that's why we had recommended 20% because the quote was the lowest quote. So my recommendation with this meeting to Rob as the chair was that we went with a number of 220 because the number 220 gets us that original 207. It gets us the 2% performance and it gets us the a small amount of what would be the oversight but it doesn't purposely it doesn't complete the project because the 8 weeks or 9 weeks going to go pretty fast but I figured this board would want us to appear before the final payment. So 220 guarantees that I would have to come back to you guys with Eric with the
board prior to that final payment. So that that update as quick as it's going to go, that update would happen. We'd be able to review everything and then you guys would have to vote again on that final payment. But we would know what that final payment was at that point. So that's our purpose in saying 220. We know that 220 doesn't cover the whole thing, but that would make sure that you guys felt comfortable like, okay, that last payment's going to have to have to come through our our our purview there. So,
gota
Well, that all makes sense to me. do other members of the board have questions about the the status of this at this point? any any thoughts or questions that they want to bring up?
I just want to say I'm really happy with the contract. It looks so much better than what what we expected and and they it sounds like they this is like right in their wheelhouse which is really exciting. I was thinking that we're probably voting to approve the funding. Correct. I'm assuming Lisa, maybe Lisa can a answer this question about the funding portion of it. I'm assuming that since the money is in the town that the bills would be sent to us and or to the finance department and they'd be pay be paid. Is that the way that would operate
out of the capital account?
In my experience, that's what I've done. Yeah. because it's a capital purchase and
right and I think you know if this board does as we've been asked to do and authorize up to 220 out of that account for this purpose that should allow Lisa to just go ahead and do that
okay I had one other one other question actually sort of comment and it sort of involves Eric Eric Eric you're there right I did look at your contract and I did have like a little bit of comment I actually don't know about construction. So I consulted with someone who's in the business and did have a little bit of feedback and I was wondering if I could pass this along with you all and ask what you think. the one thing that was a little bit concerning was the part is it four where assumptions where it's like where you say site visits will be conducted as needed to support scope of services. The recommendation was that whoever's doing the oversight because the oversight portion is so important to make sure you know for our protection legally and whatnot to make sure that somebody goes to the site any day that the contractors are there to work to take photos either photos or video evidence of everything that's done and whatever. So you can kind of maintain a log of activities and whatnot. And the other thing was to to per yeah so so someone that would go every single day not just as needed but it would be expected that you would go at least every day that the contractors are there. and I would even say myself, I'd be willing to even raise raise the the budget to ensure that that happens because I think it's kind
of important for for our protection that we get that photographic documentation. what Eric, maybe if you could just talk about your experience with that, maybe that would be helpful. He's here, right? That's him on the phone, right?
I believe he's he's about he's he's muted at the moment. [clears throat]
I don't know if we're having technical difficulties here.
No. Or maybe
Yeah. My my first question when you started explaining that, Liz, was well this is the contract that we we have here, you know, going to support that number of hours, you know. so that that would be a question, but
it's not it's not it's not all it's just
Excuse me. can you try to unmute him from your end because he says hard time.
Sure.
Oh, there he is. He's on now. You unmuted him.
I did. Okay.
Yeah.
So, I still see mute. I'm sorry. I still
see him muted. I I There's an ask to unmute and I clicked that.
Okay. I'm going to get him on the phone so you can actually hear him.
Okay.
Oh, wait, wait. He muted.
Hold on. You might be able to hear me. Hi, Eric. Hi, Eric.
For some reason. Hi.
Yeah. Okay. I was saying a couple things before. Apparently, you got to hit star six to unmute. I don't know why.
even though I was unmuted. So, so yeah. So, you know, I've done a lot of projects, some some really big, some in the 1.5 to2 billion dollar range for the Navy and critical infrastructure for that. And, and what I've noticed over time is is being up the contractor's butt when it's not necessary can be disheartening for them and they they feel that. So, I do feel there needs to be eyes on it on a daily basis with pictures being taken. but a lot of that stuff is going to become, you know, you stop in on a Tuesday, Thursday, maybe some people get their eyes on it during the week. also, but if you
stop in a few times, you don't want to be fully in the contractor's face at all times. it gets disconcerning for them. And then, you know, you have your weekly report, right? So, at the end of the week, you have a meeting. that meeting, you're going to take the weekly activities. We'll have pictures. Obviously, we'll be stopping by the site before the end of the day, you know, before the meeting to make sure all the things on the contractor's schedule have been completed. if not, we're going to make corrections. We're going to figure out schedules to to get it back on track. all those things are are just really general practices that that we have to do. do we think we can have people there on site on a daily basis to to check in? Yes. so so that portion I think we can take care of it.
but it's more so
it's more than just that. It's more so setting the contra contractor up for success from the day we sign the contract. Right? So we have a we have a very small schedule to deal with. so the day we sign the contract and I've already had a small talk with the project manager from a second like I have expectations. Those expectations are I need a submitt log for them and they need to have all their submitts in when within the first 3 weeks. that gives bus and O'Neal time to review them, give approvals, and give those things back to them. The other thing we need is long lead items. so there's not a lot on this project. It's a it's a very small project. So but the bathroom partitions, right, for all the stalls, those sometimes can take up to 10 weeks. so we need to figure out which are their long lead items. Get those in first. Make sure we have the funding release because they might be be giving us some early bills for stuff they're they're purchasing right off the bat. but we need to make sure we're getting those long lead items because if we only have 8 weeks over the summer and we wait till the summer to order it, we're we're not getting bathroom stalls in in time. So we need to make sure that
those items are being clarify stated to us and we need to make sure that they can release them and fuss and O'Neal also has to be on board to approve them in time to get those things ordered. But you know for on-site activity I mean granted you know I'm I'm in the town a couple times a week probably 3 to 4. you know, I'm I'm typically not there on a Wednesday, so that's that's my main day that I'm not there, but I think Val can team up with me on that and maybe cover some photos and some things that has to be done on a Wednesday. But besides that, I'm in town to stop by, take photos.
but also we need to get some systems in place, too, on who wants to be on this weekly meeting, right? I can't be the only one representing the town. I think it it would be really good to have another party, even if it's one, on these weekly minutes calls to to update progress, billing, certified payroll, everything that has to go on. so if we can figure out maybe one person
from the town and maybe one person from the school.
Yep.
Okay. Talk to me about the what we what were you talking about the the payroll situation because this is not a
there's Yeah, talk to me about that.
What does that mean?
It's a prevailing wage. It's it's a prevailing wage job.
Is that required? considering it's there's not state or federal funding.
Yes. anything over $100,000 for a alteration to a building then yes 100%. And I think we all already agreed on that in the purpose of the RFP.
Oh okay. Okay. All right.
So yeah. So so
like new construction like the community center like it caps. You don't have to go into prevailing wage if it's under $1 million. But if it's an alteration or a remodel, anything over $100,000 in the state of Connecticut based off of a municipality or school, you have to kick in prevailing wage. luckily for us, it it honestly didn't factor too much in on the price. the bids came in much lower than we all thought, so it it honestly worked out well. personally, I thought they were going to come in a lot higher, so
Yeah. Okay. All right. Thanks for that.
Yes. Yeah. And so another point to this is like if you know say and and maybe I'm not the person to oversee it or whatever the board decides that's that's something for the future but one thing is figuring out the communication for the bills right so I feel like when the contractor submits an invoice they need to be submitting that to whoever is the person overseeing it. They need to make sure that the work is actually in place and the progress has been progressing, right? They can't bill for 75% of the work if they've only done 50. And then we just need to make sure they have all their certified payrolls and everything intact. and then once that's approved, I feel like it should be sent off to the town for final review and then or you know the board. I'm not sure how the money works on your end, but whoever the final person is and then they can go ahead and approve and pay the final invoice.
My thought my thought on that would be that if we have oversight [clears throat] in place and we as a board approve the funding you know once a bill has been reviewed by oversight, it should just go to the treasurer and get paid. That's my thought.
Well, first it first through to Jod because obviously we have our own auditing records that we need. So, Jod and Kate, and the reason why Kate, and myself, of course, wanted to make sure that we had someone like Eric in place was not to pay $100 and 251 125 to take pictures and things. That's Kate, that's myself, that is our business person, but to make sure that we know what we're looking at. And that's where Eric comes in. and so, that was why our board decided to have, that oversight there.
So, we're thinking Bill goes to Eric, he looks at it, says it's good, Jody, or maybe Jod and Eric at the same time, and then Jod sends it to Lisa and says,
"Yep."
Okay.
And then, so it'll have multiple approval. Kate's part of that process, too, as the board chair. So, you know, once it gets to Lisa, it's going to have multiple signatures on there, and Lisa's going to know, that everything's all set and ready to go. I think it should still be looked at by at least the town administrator before I can print that check.
Town administrator.
But but I mean if we if we've approved
the town
No, this is part of our policy. If that's coming out of our town checking account, which it will be, I have to have signatures on there when I don't care if you have 10 signatures on there. We have a minimum signatures of the town.
All right. Tell you what,
I'm not going to put I I sorry, but I don't think I put through huge checks without having
the town administrator signs every check.
Okay. Well, we'll get him looped in and if he has questions or if there's any sort of problem, alert me and
no problem working with Matt. Not a problem. It's
great guy. I think I think he's on.
That's fine. He was on. He was off. I I just let him back in.
that's fine. Okay, Lisa. I understand. he'll be
by the time it gets to you guys, by the time it gets to Lisa and Matt, it should be all teed up.
Correct.
Yeah. Betted teed up. Yep.
So, we're good. Yeah. No, I've met Matt a few times. Yeah, we're good.
Okay.
As long as I have like It would be great if I had some kind of construct because I don't think I got the email with everything in it and I don't need it certainly. as long as we have like a schedule of timeline so that we can know when we can expect these these checks are going to be due. You know what I mean? It's like is this a year project, six month project, a three
that'll be included
eight weeks.
Yes. So, it's it's in the contract that I provided.
Well, I haven't seen the contract. I'm not privy to that.
We'll need to get that.
That's all I'm asking is just can I have that so I can be prepared.
Why don't we do this once it's done yet?
Yep.
Yeah. Wait. Once it's signed.
Yep. Why don't we send it to Lisa
nd I can meet with Not a problem. I'll meet with Matt as soon as the contract's official and you know make sure that he's up to date. He's already toured the school and seen the site and so not a problem. okay.
So I I can explain it really quick. This is really simple.
It's it's really simple. I can explain it quick. So in the contract, because this is a typical AIA contract, and this is just how every big project is done for towns and municipalities. So a pencil wreck is like a rough draft of what they want to put in for their billing for that month. this is only an 8week project. We'll have a little bit of billing up front and maybe some retainage release at the end. So we're talking about maybe three payments. every payment that the contractor bills is due to whoever the oversight is on the 20th of each month. Then we have 5 days to review it, give them any edits back. And then they send us our final copy by the 25th. or however, you know, if it runs on a weekend, then it's due the following Monday. And then we have 30 days beyond that point to cut the check. So it's net30 from the point of approval of the invoice. So contractors send it in on the 20th. We have to approve or give edits back and have the final by the 25th. And then we have 30 days from that point to to make the payment. If you want to make it sooner, you can, but contractually you have 30 full days to make the payment.
Sounds good. and having experience with the community center and and running that one. It it you you guys paid much quicker than that. So, it was it was actually a good fresher breath air honestly from the other side to see somebody do that. So, I don't see any issues with it.
Eric, isn't there normally a schedule of payments that's attached to the project line?
Yeah. So, they're going to provide us with a schedule of values,
right?
That will be a Yep. So that will be a list of every single item. It it this is a small one. So it might be like 20 items, 15 items and there it's all going to be on a specific form. So when you get a payment or a bill, it's going to say this period and it's going to be all the bills they have for this period. And then the next bill, those will shift over to a column that says past period. And then you'll have your new period and then the retainage automatically calculates. And you know, we're holding back by law 5%, that's what we're allowed to do by law. just to make sure that the punch list and things get done at the end.
but yeah, that's like a normal project.
Substantial completion, they get it.
no. So, not at substantial completion. So at substantial completion means like people can go and start using the bathroom but there could be things that you know maybe Jeff you and I or Val or somebody goes and does a walk through we're like hey like go fix that grout line right so you hold back 5% of the project which is in this case 10,000 and change to make sure that they're dealing with some of the small things that have to be done. But the way our contract works is substantial completion is multiple days before school opens. So we're giving them an additional like almost 5 days to go and handle our punch list items, right? So we might have a consecutive bill one after another. but you know, you need to hold that money back to make sure you know they're they're they're making sure it's up to your standards.
So I have a question. Are there any town inspections during this project?
Yeah, this can be fully inspected.
All right. So,
there's no special inspections which is like a third party, which it's not needed. we're not pouring foundations or doing structural steel or anything like that. So, there's no special inspections, but there's the normal town inspection.
Inspector, Randy, I guess it is right now.
Randy.
Yeah. Or the Bolton guy.
Yeah. Yeah. Okay.
Yeah, he he did the Andover Community Center, too. He's a good guy.
I've worked with him numerous times.
Me, too. He's good.
Shared services, baby.
All right. [clears throat] does anybody have any further questions? Oh, Kim, go ahead. A quick one. going a little backwards. Where do we stand with Fuss and O'Neal now? Are we Is that Are we paid up? Is everything finished.
What is That is a good question.
No, their final payment wasn't paid.
and how much is that?
you'd have to talk to Jod and Lisa. I don't have that number in front of me.
Okay.
I think it was singledigit thousands, but I can't remember.
Yeah.
I feel like there was a meeting where we heard something about a removal. Was it a asbestos removal or something?
That's a entirely separate thing.
I don't think it was removal. I think it was like a certification kind of thing, right?
Yeah. Every 3 years we have to do the testing aera it's called a h e r a and that was an entirely separate thing. I had nothing to do with the project. It was just our three-year time period to get that done.
So is it fair to say that once that last invoice is paid that the contract within O'Neal is complete and done? I would say yes, but I I without looking at it, Kim, honestly, in front of me, I don't want to miswer that question. I would have to speak with Jod about that. I have not looked at that final one.
When you say done, they're still involved with the project. They're still going to do the inspections. They they don't call them inspections, but they still come in and make recommendations.
Correct.
What they see right there. Can I they they they have something in their contract called CS services, right? So constructive basically administration services, right? So that was in your contract with them cuz I I read it.
So they have to handle any RFI for the project, which is a request for information. So, if something doesn't jive and maybe this wall, we're not tearing down walls necessarily, but like if something doesn't jive in the project or a contractor has a question, they're obligated by contract to answer that question and give the path forward. They're also supposed to review all submitts, meaning every toilet that goes in, every piece of pipe, every single thing that goes into this building, they have to review and approve and put their stamp on it. and then they don't own any inspection portion of it or any payment reviews but they are there as support that if there's a discrepancy in the drawing they will go ahead and and make that recommendation of what to do and then they will also review and make
sure the thing that the contractor is stalling is to plan. so that's that's what their obligation is for CS services
and then they make final inspection. That's the only time it's actually an inspection, right? Is final inspection.
Everything else is just
No. So,
nope. So, it's all based on the the submitts, the RFIs, and and then close out documents. So, if there's any manuals for anything that has to be put in that need to be maintained, they review that. But typically an engineer does not do any final inspections that's based on the building department.
I appreciate
we appreciate your explanations. They make a lot of sense. So in your experience, will there be further billing from Fusset O'Neal or
No. No. I think I think
I I think that's basically it. I mean, so there's not a lot of submitts on this project. There's probably going to be about 20 in total. I already put a list together there. There's not a lot. So, I mean, it's very minimal time to be spent. Maybe some questions in the first two weeks of the construction, but besides that, we really don't need them from that point on.
Okay. Good. Good. Thank you very much. I appreciate all your answers. All right. Well, if nobody has anything further, my suggestion would be we make we make a motion here in act.
I'll make the motion that we approve the was it 220,000 I think. Yeah, $220,000
to be approved for the project for the bathroom project at the AES. Now just a clarification you know the board of ed request 220,000 from the as capital
fund
for this purpose. Yes. Do we have a second?
Anybody? Anybody? Anybody want to second?
Louise, is that you? I see you're muted, so I saw a hand though.
Yeah, sorry. I'll second it.
Okay, great. Any further discussion before we vote? Hearing none, I'll move around. Bill, [clears throat]
yes.
Heather,
yes.
Liz,
yes.
Kim,
yes.
Louise,
yes.
Nick,
And I'm a yes. That's 70.
Hopefully this goes smoothly. I want to thank everybody who was involved in this, the committee and and the board of ed and everybody. I think we ended up in in the right place. that was our action item. So, what I'm going to do is move to second round of public speak and we can adjourn, guys. So, that leaves, let's see, the only member of the public here is Joanne, I think. There's somebody
and Matt and Matt.
And Matt.
Well, right. Matt, the town. Yes.
And Lisa. Yeah.
I I don't This is Matt. I don't have anything. Thank you.
Sorry, I I think of town employees, a member of the public. I'm going to start with with Joanne. [gasps]
Yeah, thank you, Rob. I was just going to say that the only thing I was going to add real quick was I do work in a school, you know, in a big school system, too. And I just wanted to verify, you know, what Eric had said. we have a lot of big projects that go on during the summer. We're constantly letting, you know, construction crews and, you know, the contractors in and generally there's not a lot of oversight during the week because that would probably, you know, it would be hard for the contractors, too. I mean, you'll all decide what you want to do, but I love his his response saying like once or tw I see supervisors coming in at the beginning of big projects, checking it out, letting us know who's there, you know, in the building. then they kind of leave them to their to their, you know, working on their work and then, you know, check in with them once a week and then whatever. So, I thought that was a good point. Other than that, good luck with everything.
Okay. Thank you. All right. And yeah, for for completeness, Lisa, did you have any further commentary?
No, I'm good.
Okay, great. Matt, you already said you're good. Eric, do you have anything further to add?
No, not nothing at all. I think I think we got a good path forward and I think our our best thing is to sign the contract as soon as possible so we can start to release all the backend paperwork. because that takes a while and we want to get that done before school's out. So,
well, thanks for making time tonight and answering all the questions. That was helpful.
Did you go around the whole board and get everybody's vote?
I missed that.
I did everybody's vote.
Yeah, I went around the whole board. Everybody voted yes.
Thank you. I missed that somehow. [laughter]
Well, you know, this is what happens when I schedule impromptu meetings.
All right. do we have a motion to adjourn?
I actually wanted to motion to Oh,
I have a comment. I just I just want to thank Eric for all his help on this project.
Absolutely.
It was very much appreciated.
Thank you, Eric.
You're welcome.
Eric, I appreciate tonight.
All good.
Sorry. Was that you, Liz, who wanted to motion to adjurnn?
Make a motion to adjurnn. I'll second it.
All right, Liz motions. Louise seconds.
Bill,
yay.
Heather,
yep.
Kim,
yes.
Liz,
yes.
Louise,
yes.
Nick,
Me, yes. Thank you all. I appreciate you making time for this since I didn't get this in our last meeting. My bad. Thanks a lot. And I think we're gonna go. Appreciate your time.
Take care, everybody.
Have a good night.