at the cloud. Yeah, all right. Just wanted to welcome everyone to our meeting tonight. That's an informational meeting special committee meeting for the bathroom renovation project at the end over elementary school. And then as we start, I just wanted to give a brief overview of kind of where we are and how we got here over the past kind of year and a half to two years or so. So starting in May, 2024, there was a lead first noted. I believe in the boys bathroom in the is it the four or five wing and well, right now it's called the two three. But it's in one of the wings on the kind of the first floor over by towards the basketball court side of the school. That was first noted in May, 2024 and then the regular plumber for the school who's my tech came out and looked at it and he discovered it was definitely much larger issue than just a leak in the bathroom, extending to like this the drainage for the entire portion of the building and affecting multiple areas. We did get quotes from three different companies in June and July of 2024. And then so last, who was the chair of the board of Ed at the time, went before CIP in August, 2024 to let them know of the issue and hopefully get approval, even though we didn't need it, of trying to seek someone to come and do an MEP to figure out what we needed to do to move forward. So for a few months, we worked on that in December, 2024. The board of finance did approve our MEP plans with Foss and O'Neill that also included the
architectural plans and then in December of 2025. So this right this past December, the Board of Education voted to get two more estimates from the project from two more different construction groups. And then a few things that people have been talking about, but maybe not completely clear on regard the town charter and the RFP process, and whether or not it affects the Board of Education and then what governs the Board of Education in regards to capital projects. For reference, if people want to look them up within the town charter, you'd want to look at policy 807, which specifically excludes the
Board of Education from that process. And then the Board of Education policy 3323, which states that any capital project over $5,000, the Board of Education and the superintendent needs to determine if bidding is to the advantage of the school district. So so far where we are is that we have this thing with Foss and O'Neill and they basically gave us a design build proposal. And we're going to go over that tonight and then have some public comment and then adjourn the meeting. I am waiting currently to hear back from two other companies, but the past two weeks of December, I guess people in the construction world do not work. So I'm still waiting for those to come back. Josh, if you're there, Josh is here with us from Foss and O'Neill tonight. And he's going to give a presentation about the design build advantage and about what they presented to us. This is one point Caitlin on that one comment you made on your policy 3323. It says, all purchases $5,000 or shall be the unless the nature of the commodity or service service prevents bidding. And if the bidding is to be the advantage of the school district, two conditions there, not just one, two conditions. So it is
service prohibits building bidding and if the bidding is to be the advantage of the school district. So those two conditions there are just a clear point. Okay, go ahead, Josh. Time for everybody. So I guess I just all kind of just run down the design build approach how we see it and kind of tell you what advantages we can we see and we can provide for you. So some of the advantages they're very Googleable, you know, it's a very Googleable firm design build. But we partner with a contractor that also hires their subcontractors. And this is a contractor, Richard's corporation is who we're using. We've worked with them countless times in the past on design builds. And the benefit we have is the constant collaboration throughout the project, you know, starting with the design and when we submitted our drawings to them, they asked us questions about certain aspects. And those things have already been ironed out. A lot of times when you do a design bid build in construction, you end up with a lot of RFIs request for information. And those can really bog down the timeline of a project. So by
getting ahead of that, submitting our plans to our contractor and working collaboratively with them, we're able to reduce time during construction and we're also able to get a more transparent bid package from them. On top of our collaboration, there's also only one point of contact, one billion have to pay and one, you know, firm your paying. So you're not going to be surprised by any additional costs or anything associated with, you know, having to hire different contractors. It's all in one package comes straight from us. Another, you know, on the collaboration and the timeline of the project, we're able to get this done a lot quicker. Because the team is already kind of familiar with the project familiar with our specifications that we've already provided and familiar with, you know, the building itself because we've provided them drawings. We're able to run through this project a lot quicker and, you know, save time and money that way. That's basically all I have, Valerie and Caitlin. All right, so everyone on the committee, did you guys all get a chance to look at their cost breakdown and the proposal that has the letter with the information. Yes. Bell, did you see that? Yes, yes, okay. Is Eric Sanderson here? He is, that's catheter. Yeah, okay. Okay. So next on our agenda is you, I think, I believe spoke with the super
content and then also wrote a letter regarding your opinion on design bills and this specific project. So, yes, so I've been involved since the beginning. And when Fussano Neal came out with the first set of drawings, we were able to run it through I put into my estimating software, came up with a basically a cost analysis of what it should cost. Also, looks for any deficiencies or anything when the drawings that would add to change orders, also ran it by my tech plumbing and heating as well and they were able to give some feedback that we sent over to Fussano Neal. They revised those drawings according to our edits and recent out a new set of drawings. Everything was really captured. You know, based off of how I pray things, I think what Richards Corp, I'm not sure if they're number has changed it all now, but based off of what Valerie and I talked about in the beginning, it was a very fair and reasonable cost. I was honestly surprised that this was a project that they were going after. There are much bigger firm. And, you know, there's good things that come with that. You're going to get a lot of really good resources that they're able to give and they're not going to over send themselves as opposed to, you know, going to a much smaller company. And then I also in the letter, I believe, I said to give an extra 10%. The whole back to yourselves, just in case for any additional change orders, I know you guys don't know what's going to happen when you open
up the wall and you see all the cast iron. So, you know, so just making sure that the school has those additional funds just in case any change orders come up. I mean, just spoke very clearly to the design build process. I agree, uh, RFI's and everything can delay projects drag it now, right? Because you said in RFI, it could take 10 days to get an answer. You may need that answer tomorrow. And, you know, with the design build process, all that's has to out before construction starts. I've worked really closely with Fussano Nielo over the years. They're a great firm as well. Josh, you probably know Joe divine. I'm known him for probably 20 something years. But he worked with you guys for a long time. And I'll think he's there with you now, though. But, um, yep, I think overall the drawings are all set and and the schools should be in good shape to get started. That's not all I got. Thank you so much for your input. We really value it. Next on our agenda is a discussion by the committee on the presentation and on what Eric has said so far. So I would open up the floor to people on the committee for questions, comments,
discussion. I mean, I, I, we, when I first meeting, we had back in June, there was still some changes that I requested on these drawings. And it looks like they still haven't been done. When you take for advanced, uh, drawing a 101, the door swing for the men's boys bathroom, they overlap to the, uh, stalls. They're going to, there's an interference there. I thought it has to correct that. And you see, again, those weren't correctness. This is the only one. Okay, you know, I got to anybody have the authority drawings. I know, that's not it. It was, hey, Josh, are you still on? I'm, uh, these are days nine. Josh, November. Do you recall the conversation about, um, Jeff Murray is asking about those doors, uh, the swing doors. Do you remember that conversation? Not a hundred percent familiar with the exact conversation, but it's in A 101. You said, yes, I'll put left-hand side entry door to the boys bathroom. The other parents there, their plans are there. That was just one of them. I had a few of where I'd have to go back and look at my notes. Because I thought that was something that you said would be depend on with doors chosen. But I don't want to speak the emphasis on it. Like the outdoor, but the stall doors. Yes, yes, there's an interference there. Is that, is that an interference or they just touch just meet each other?
They actually will hit each other. You can tell that the swing doors. I think that. That's why I wanted to have a second meeting just to make sure that all these changes were recorded and make sure we have a finalized set of drawings. Well, those would be going to go with the contractor. But we should as a committee should do that with Eric and everybody. Because we took action items from Eric and we took action items from me and that last meeting. Yeah. And we should go through all those actions and make sure that all those deficiencies were closed. Before receiving the walk to anybody. Josh, you can just let us know if there's a recall from looking at that. Otherwise, we'll go on to the other committee members for right now. Well, I'm sure you have. That was just one of them. I just noticed the lighting is still in the same spot. So I had some concerns over the lighting. We did have a conversation about the lighting. Some of these. Oh, it's tough. We did have a conversation about the lighting and high recall that that was dependent on what we're the lights above the stalls. We're going to think that's where they were going to be and if we were going with the LEDs like this or not. So that wasn't a problem. We asked that because we were speaking about getting LED lights
changed in the rest of the building. And so that was something that would be a little further along than where we were in the planning process there. It wasn't going to change the cost. It was going to change which lights really opted for. Just as the board and I have discussed at the last meeting, these LEDs versus the inverted LEDs. So I know that one's still on a table for sure. Okay, but that's what I'm saying. We need to make sure that all these changes are recorded on these drawings. So we have a but all those actions are closed and it doesn't seem like they are. Bill, I see that you are unmuted. Yes, you are. I would agree with Jeff that and I didn't catch
that particular item, but it does look like an interference that should be addressed and I agree with Jeff that any items that are that are discussed like this, they should be addressed before it goes out to any further being. I understand there's two new contractors that I could review these documents that correct. Yes. So I would think that before we send out these documents that we would address any of those issues that Jeff brought to light. That would be my only comment concerning this particular item that we're talking about right now. I have other comments, but I would say those for later. Yes, I have a question too. How else would we do it? Right. So you have the swings of the bathroom stalls and you're not changing the location of the entry door. So how else could you really do it? Right. Your only clash is if you're opening the door at the same exact time that some of these opening the bathroom stall. I mean, that would be your clash. You would have to move that bathroom wall the stall wall over a little bit is what you'd have to do.
Or even the door swing in? It's the existing model of what it says. It's the same as what it is right now. There was no change. That's something. Yeah. I mean, unless you're going to start modifying other walls and adding scope in a lot more things, it's facing something that's right now. It's an interference there. It's clearly on the drawing side. Another question I had is we went back before the belt. Touch free versus the manual flush handles. I don't know where we ever went to the webinar. I suggested I sent you a part number of manual automatic and I don't know what those ever made it on the specs. We did even at the Board of Education. We had a good conversation about touch free versus non-touch free and I'd sent you the articles too. I don't remember. For an elementary school, little kids bathroom, the touch free was now. Yeah, we did. Yeah, I've never read articles that everything's going touchless now because of jerk concerns and I would think the parents in the school system would want their kids to have touch free. The touch free for those bathrooms I mean, that's that sex link. There's some business experience over there. Right now, it's two three. Okay. They should be old. I mean, we have an airport everywhere. I mean, that's the common common practice now. And we looked at the articles because you're right. I looked at the articles doing. It is definitely, if you look at the articles, the debate is, is do you go to hygiene with
the touch free toilets or do you go with the kids get scared and then it's a toy to try to make it so that you can do that. So I had provided at one of the board meetings because it was a debate absolutely. I had provided some articles that it is kind of a, you know, whatever the decision is, you've got frozen cons on either end. And everybody I spoke to said there was to be able to stay tackle and touch free. Most of the elementary schools. I talked to teachers too and they said they'll say a lot of schools. There was a touch was not stable. Maybe we need to survey all the teachers here. I know six. I don't know. I don't know if I were not doing that, but that's just like that. That was honestly directly from the custodian, but that was the first thing that he commented there about it, like before we even had any of those. Yeah, we're custodians driving their designs. No, but he's a no, but I think it's the opinion of someone that deals with cleaning those restaurants on a daily basis is matters. Yeah, you know, we had new wing put on in Manchester when
I was there like just 10 years ago and they did not have the touchless. And in fact, we had the faucets that you just put your hands on. Yes, turn on the faucets and I've done them. They they took them out. They have done them on the floor. They're not who is they in elementary schools. I think years ago things have changed a lot. Yeah, I still do. Well, I said, I said, I've already hired a model that was actually a manual an automatic. But I don't know if that ever made it on the drawings. I don't think it's on the drawing. I know that we did discuss it. I think we had asked for like what the price difference would be. But contract just going to be the project that contract just should be the specifying hardware. But I mean, that's it. And if there's a possible case. Yeah, I guess I was going to get a bigger credit. I don't know. But we didn't know. You know, we didn't
we didn't necessarily lean toward wanting the touch freight on the other stuff. That would be hard to design. With the issues that Jeff has raised right now, I think he's good to go through those. I do believe that the touchless versus the manual. That's that's a pin you can go back and forth. I don't think that's something that we should waste a lot of time. I think I think the design came at Fusson and Neo probably has a lot more experience with what's being done in schools today. So I kind of lean towards the flush the manual. But I think it's kind of a, you know, he said, she said, you can go either way. It's not a sticking point. I sticking point to me is the door
interference, which I think should be addressed. But it's it's a matter of opinion on the flushless, you know, touchless versus manual. That's not something I would get hung up on. I think Fusson Neo does enough work on this type. I just mentioned if it was included or not, and if it was considered. I see, and that's what I'm saying. Maybe they consider it Jeff and they decided not to go with the touch freight. Again, I think we go either way there. I think a more valid point that you raise though, again, is going back to interference of the door. I agree the 100% that should be addressed whether the the swing doors should be moved in a few inches or the door between the two stalls. I mean, move to the right a little bit. I think I can be addressed without moving the actual outside door. So I think that's an easier problem to address. But it's just really a matter of opinion one way or another on manual versus automatic. I don't think it's something we'd hold over the project over. There were other issues Jeff that you want to cover too. I think we should hear him all and address him all. Yeah.
That's what I have to go back to my notes and there was some other minor things. The lighting locations, especially let me go. Which to be clear in terms of stuff like that, like the interference as well as the lighting, like majority of that stuff was them trying to keep it exactly the same as it currently is, because we're trying to keep this as low-cost as possible without majorly moving things. But this is stuff. I wanted to kind of hash out our we were supposed to get together and have another design review over the drawings before we released everything. That was something I wanted to have. But just that that really occurred. For whatever reason, vacation, summertime. I think that happened and then school started. Yeah, I just got to fill out the radar. Yeah, there have been meetings with the general contractor to make sure that these things are just Eric Sanders and do you have other points or things that you want to talk about in regards to where we stand currently? No, I think I'm pretty good. I think fuss has done a really good job with the drawings. My opinion, I don't think there's too much unless you're going to get into a lot of costs on changing
that door interference. Partitions are built in a specific way. To be able to have that piece in the middle between the sections, you really can't change the size of that. So a Josh, I don't know if it's something you can look at, but I really don't see an alternative to that. But no, overall, I really have nothing else to talk about when it comes to the constructability of it. Yeah, one more thing to add on the door, so I'm sorry, I kind of the conversation went away. So I just let it go. But I did want to at least make a little bit of sense of why or what we had maybe spoke about with an architect or our architect. And it's the door threshold and possibly being able to rework that. But like Eric was saying, it is, you are kind of opening up a can of worms if you start messing with the wall. And you're going to increase costs if we have to start tearing down any walls just for a small clearance item. You know, there are some things we could try running by our architect and seeing if they have any other other opinions. And do you ever make those doors swing in instead of out? I've been at a lot of bathrooms for the door swings in. Is that, is that not a possibility? I think there's an ADA compliance part to that. I'm not 100% sure, but I think they're possibly as an ADA
compliance issue with that. You're going to get a real chair in if it's swinging. Those aren't our real chair. Those aren't our real chair bathrooms anyways. But these are definitely things that we would be talking to their Richard's group about as well and getting ideas because that was the existing plan before that's what our bathroom looked like. So we would have to, we really would have to look and see what other options we had for that space. So I know in like private places, the doors can swing in, but typically in commercial and educational facilities, they swing out due to egress and safety codes. So that's typically a safety code thing in an egress. Mostly for exiting and all that stuff. So that's typically why in schools you'll see I'm swinging out.
And then you might be in restaurants and they swing in. But. If there, I know Bill, you said you had some other things that you wanted to discuss. Well, it's more about the process that we're going through and I just want to reiterate that I thought using Fuss and Deal as a design bill team, their expertise and their construction management is a huge advantage for a town that really doesn't have experts to review the documents to run the construction of the project. Design bid build is a lot harder to operate than a design build. It's more complicated. I just think there's a lot of advantages that Fuss and Deal just described. I've been involved a lot of jobs like this. There's a lot more finger pointing as he said. There's a lot more. He said she said this is his job, my job. Usually more change orders. I just think that you know, because we're not in the construction business, the town, it's good to have a firm like Fuss and Deal over seeing the project force design build is definitely way to go. And I think now that we have additional contractors pricing this and even based on what Eric Sanderson said with his cost estimates, which were higher than it's Richardson, I believe, right? Did you have a question? Yeah, Richard Scott. Richard Scott. There's already quite a bit higher than the quote that we have from the contractor that's bidding this thing. So I think that's one good determination that we have a good price on this already and with two more contractors
coming in to give pricing on this. I think we'd be very good shape to move forward as we are with the design build project and the oversight of Fuss and Deal. And with the additional quotes, we always have an RFP process if you will, really, right? I mean, it wasn't the way we normally do it, but with the additional quotes, I think we're getting what we really need is to make sure we're having a contract just given us a fair buyable price for the job. As I learned a more about a design build, because I really didn't until all of this know, actually a Jodie suggestion I had reached out to, I always forget his last name, Raza Lexi, who is the town administrator and her public work director, rather, and town engineer in Litchfield because they had done something similar where they had switched over, small town, but they had switched over to design builds for a variety of projects in their town. And so, you know, I did speak with him and said, what are the advantage advantages, disadvantages, does your town continue now, this process of doing this? And much like what Eric has said, Ian, what Josh have said, when you have a small town where you don't have a facilities and maintenance and operation and all these people and they have a planter there as well. They have switched to that, for all the reasons that Bill just said, because
it's just when you're tiny and you just don't have the expertise available in a little town of a few thousand, that is, we are a lot of communities are going now through our all sorts of projects. And I know Jodie had had some experience, so thank you for allowing us to to call and talk to them because you are familiar with the projects. So, hey, does anyone up on the committee have other stuff that they would like to talk about tonight? I'd like to comment on Bill's comments. I'm just looking, I'm looking at your policy, your purchasing policy, and I know we've, Kevin before he said, you know, if the bidding is the advantage of the school district, but I'm going to read this verbatim of all competitive bidding quotations for $5,000 in up. Since all purchases for $5,000 are more shall be bit unless the nature of the commodity or service prohibits bidding and if the bidding is to the advantage of the school district, which either of those do not apply to this. Bits shall be advertised appropriately.
solicitation for bid shall also be made from the mailing list for bidders maintained in the business office. All bids must be submitted and sealed envelopes and marked appropriately on the outside of the envelope. Bids shall be opened at the time specified. Bid opening shall be public. The school district reserves are right to reject any or all bids or quotes. It reserves the right to wave any informalities and any bid. So, that is your process. Not as your policy. So, I'm just going to ask the question why, as a committee member, why are we not following the policy? I would say I don't have a good answer. I would point out that policy was adopted in 2009, so it's been quite a while since it's been reviewed. That would be the way we go if we went a traditional bidding process. And I'm feeling a lot of money. As my personal opinion has a tax pair and a resident, we should go to traditional bidding process. Well, the board does have a right not to decide to go in that direction, which is where they are right now. I don't see where
that says that. They do have that right. Well, please show me. I don't see it. And I think it was should stick with it. I don't see where it says it. Okay. I appreciate you sharing your opinions about that tonight. I think there's a lot of other stuff that we could get into comparing this project to other projects that were down on the town side. I was in the following comments, so I'm interested in resident stuff. I've been receiving that this is a success. Yeah. And what Eric said is we need to keep a 10% contingency. Yeah. So we did this whole project at $440,000. That's another $45,000. So this job could be $500,000. It could be $500,000. Yeah. And I will tell you as the chair of the board of Ed, I was not comfortable with saying, oh, great. Here's, here's this. Let's go ahead. I'm like, I would believe that without having other bits to compare it to. I'm like, right, as a business owner, I'm not comfortable with that. Because, you know, as a select man and as a board member, I mean, this isn't the school board's money. This isn't the town's money. This is the taxpayer's money. It's taxpayers money. And we all and as a board member, we owe an obligation to do the taxpayers to make sure that their money is spent. But we are done with the other town projects. So we're off topic. I don't want to get into a fight or an article. I'm just, I'm just, I'm just a discussion. It's a discussion. And I, and I's gushing because we're talking about going out for this.
But I'm saying, we're going to do this. We should follow your policy. And I don't know. I do think you, you, you will do a disservice to yourself, right? If, if you don't have multiple bits, at least three, you need something to compare it to. And that doesn't mean you have to go to the lowest bidder, because that may be an unqualified bid. They can miss something. You have to do a scope review, all those things. So as long as you're getting something, and this is just my personal opinion to compare to, then at least you have something to say on it. You know, if somebody else comes in at 220,000, you're going to kind of question yourself because, okay, maybe they missed half the scope. If somebody comes in at 355, and another one at 390, another one at 400, okay, now you sit each one of them down, have a scope review, and you figure out, making sure, who missed what, who doesn't have what, and get everything apples to apples. I mean, that's typically how I see it. If I don't do something as a public bid, but, but, anybody should do that, even if you're a homeowner, get three quotes. Do you want to switch one or two? Yeah, failed. Did you have any comments on that or? No, I think we're saying the same thing around the round. Again, if we're to get multiple
quotes to be compared to, then I think the process that we have is good. I do agree with you have multiple quotes, but I don't think we have to decently, I don't think we have to go back to like a design bid build type of project where it goes out to RFP because we already have Sanderson's review of this if we're getting two more quotes for Fusson and Neil in the board to review. I think we're doing basically the same thing. You're kind of getting an RFP in a different way. It's not like we're just getting one quote and running with it. We do have multiple sets of eyes looking at this and giving us quotes, so we're not going to go blindly into just picking one
contractor as I think many people in this town highly regard Eric Sanderson's opinion. He's reviewed this. He wrote a letter stating that it's a price that seems in line and fair and right that the job is properly put together. So I think we're cross-and-rise and dot in our T's or whatever you want to call it, I think we're doing our due diligence is just an a slightly different way. It's not going out as official RFP, but we are getting multiple quotes. So that's where I'm more comfortable with the process that the board is following right now. Right, so if there isn't any further discussion for committee members, then we move on to comments from the public. I do ask everyone is limited to three minutes per person and if you
guys could speak clearly with questions that you might have, I'm going to try to write them down so that we can try to get stuff answered. The people have specific questions in regards to the information that was presented tonight. Marcy? Hi, one question I have is about the committee members. We had two other that were on the board of ed, didn't we? And they've since gone and we have the free place. Three is here. Sorry, I will answer because it's so free is here and my back with I was not reelected. I was still invited to Eric Becker also. Yeah. Right, so are they going to be replaced? On the my back, Mike Becker was invited to still be on the committee if he'd like to as a community member. He was sent all of the everything for tonight. Okay. And we can talk more about it at our board of ed. Okay. So I do want to comment on the design build process because I've done a lot of construction and we built another house recently and due to the location we considered a design build and we met with a wonderful designer and we were really excited about using them. However,
the cost of construction was astronomical. It was in 2000 square foot house and we got a quote of a million dollars. And so we end up going a different direction and we end up spending half of that. So, you know, there's a lot that we, we're not even spending money on kids really. We're just spending money on the bathroom. So I kind of would like to see if we can save some money and spend it on the kids, you know. So, all right, let's thank you. Rob England. Hey, there. Thanks for having me. I guess my only comment would be a question really about the timeline we think we've got for those additional bids and their review by the committee. When do we think we'll get those? When will the be the next subcommittee meeting be to kind of go over that? Because I certainly like to listen in again. It's been informative for me. Well, what are you doing for a walk through town? Well, contractors. Well, once the contractor, the board of that on the 14 has to vote to proceed or not proceed with the design bills. Okay, because I'm on that meeting, you've got to vote it to have two more bids. Two comparable. Yes, she did. Is that if you invited those contractors? Yes, she, if you have one through with the contract. They have not, neither one of them have come here yet. They both are planning to. Can you please do me a favor? It would me. I'd like to come to walk yours. Yeah. I would like to do something if possible. Okay, I'm going to be right
other members. Yeah, yeah, for sure. Thank you. Yes, that that's basically what I'm getting at is next steps. How do we get to the point where we have our three beds? They have all been evaluated and it's decision time. Because that's really where we want to get to. I think ultimately on the process argument is over how to get to a place where we feel that we've gotten the proper review of all of this and we have our bids. We've looked at everything. We've done our due diligence and we can make the best choice. We as a town, obviously, I'm not on the board. But the point being, you know, I just want to have a general sense for when we think those things might be happening so that I can kind of keep track of all of this. That's all. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah, I think you can have both contractors come at the same time and get a longer at the same time. Okay. Because that way, both of them get paid. I don't know that they will. I can tell you when I was getting the three quotes for the oversight. They didn't want to
come and someone else was here when you're there, voting a job. They don't necessarily want me through it. Because if they're your asking questions, you're giving them the same answers. Everybody gets the same answers. Yeah. The things that they might. There's very many conversations about that. The very transparent process to do it that way. Because you may tell one contractor one thing and one the other. So if they're there at the bulls at the same time, they get the same answer. I'm Sharon. Thank you. Thank. Yup. Admissioned. Yes. Yeah. I just want to remind everybody our committee built the community senior center and the client built process our committee selected the lowest number three. Design build that firms to select the lowest, qualified. better to get our community center built for under a million dollars. It's a good process. I just brought in on this information a few days. I haven't had a chance to fully review everything, but just as an overview, it just seems to be spending a lot of money on bathroom renovation. It's just, I realize we're getting different opinions on it, but it does seem to be a lot of money for just the two bathroom as an outsider of this whole process. But the design build should save us money in the long run to do lack of a change order. So I agree with I agree with Josh's opinion on that. Thank you. Thank you. I'm Daniel Grinier. Yes, I'd like to say I agree with a lot of rub in Glenhead to say. This meeting was very informative and I appreciate all the work with the committee. Thank you. Thank you. Liz, low check. Hi. I have a question actually. I'm curious if you can tell us how those other
two contractors were identified that are planning on coming in on the bidding. They were contractors that I met at the Cade Caps Convention, which is the United States Board of Ed and Superintendent Convention that happens once a year. So they specifically do school construction. They were probably about eight or nine different companies there that I got cards for. I also wanted to thank Jeff Murray for reading your policy 3323. I found that myself as well. And I don't think you should dismiss a policy that you have on record. That's all. Can you turn it on? Nothing right now. Thank you. Hey, I got a commonsky. Thank you all in the committee and the Board of Ed for your work on this. I just have two things. Have we clarified if we are actually operating within the written policy or not and when compared and expect an update as to when the school will have more bathrooms available for the children. Thank you. Amber Richard. I was all that. Thank you so much. Zoom user. That's me, Louise Goodwin. Sorry, I didn't come up with with my name. Yeah, I'm happy to see that we are couldn't be getting to more opinions. I think that's the norm. And I think this is safe. Just safe this way. And speaking for a town, a town person, I'm happy. And thank you for all your help. Both boards, all the boards. Thanks for your help. Bye, bye. Yes. I'm free. I don't have anything at this time. Thank you. Yes. Nothing really.
Good job. Since this process is slightly destroyed from where we first were going to be Boston, O'Neill has been paid on a entire contract or proposal. I was assuming you signed the original proposal. We did. I understand. We were who? The original. I believe I did. And you said. Okay, like this. Caitlin, you and. Okay. If we have either me or so last. I think it was signed. We get the signed contract at the found. That was great. The board of finance hasn't. They did. They do. And I resent it to them again. I'll be like two months ago. So I'm done for cooking. And then on the current billing for Boston, O'Neill, we paid for phase three bidding $3,900. Can you tell me what what did Boston O'Neill do for that? Why did we approve those bills?
And Josh, if you can answer that, I would be great. Joey, Joey, here's a lot of things. Josh or Jody? Well, yeah, it's my understanding that you guys change. And I'm new. So excuse me, if I want to give you only correct information. I've been tracking all the bills. I looked at all the bills and tracked them against each phase of what they're billing for and you are right, Jeff, there is the last bill came in October. Well, and that's in for phase four. Phase three, we've paid a hundred percent for phase three. And I asked Valerie the same question. So my understanding is that the process was Boston O'Neill bidding within their pool of general contractors. And then is Josh still on here. So Josh, my assumption is when you went to that phase of looking for a contractor that that is
what phase three was in your proposal? Yeah, between that. And answering these meetings and things like that, we've been putting a lot of time and effort into what we would consider the bidding phase of this project. So that's why it was built. Okay, so when you did this project, Josh, I assume like your company, Fusson O'Neill considered several different construction companies and research the companies. Did you do that as part of phase three? It's part of the design build approach that we're taking. We did not consider three companies. But that's what the Board of Education is doing right now. Okay. Yeah, we're going to continue supporting and construction administrative services. So that doesn't include RFP or any type of soliciting beyond what we've done already. Okay, and you have responded to request for information and talking with the Richard's group, right? You've been communicating back and forth as part of the bidding support.
That is, that is how we've come to the conclusion of the proposal that we provided. Okay, and then in the billing, I assume. So I did look at phase fours reviewing some middles, the drawings, answering RFIs. And then I see. If this project is approved to Fusson O'Neill or if you decide to go in a different direction and don't use us as, you know, the designers of the project for whatever reason. That's a credited. We had talked about crediting that as part of this. When the design build was approved. Okay, it's hard. Can you explain that a little bit more to me? I'm sorry. Gosh, when was the design build approved? That's not true. What's the date? What's the date? We have not designed to preserve our design. The design build were approved as what I said. So if a design build, our proposal was to be approved, then our CA services included in that portion of the project would not be included. Like, would not be part of the contract anymore. So there'd be a credit back for the amount that you have for construction services on the detailed list in. You got it. So correct. So sorry, paid. Okay. Okay, and just just Joshua. So, you know, we have, so we have paid out 45,725 on the initial contract of 48,600. So we'll, so are you saying that we won't get a last bill for 28, another 28, 75 until this all design build, whether RFP process is worked out? This is our, yeah. That's correct. Okay. Okay.
Probably it wouldn't be till project close out for that portion. Okay. And then the one thing I did want to also just bring to this committee and the board of that and board of finance members attention is we do have an outstanding invoice from Fussino Neal in the amount of $8,100. It seems that we just got that invoice. It was dated in August, but it never came to us and it just came to us in December. But when we looked, so when I investigated and talked with BAL, as that invoice came in, it was for a hazardous waste assessment. And it was, I just want everybody know, it was in the contract as an addendum. So that $8,100 is not included in the $48,000. It's listed as an additional necessary proposal. So I just want to put that out there that we do have an outstanding bill for $8,100 that needs to be paid. And that has to, I'd be brought to the board of ed and presumably the board of finance because it was in the contract that was approved and discussed. But that amount was not available at the time when the contract was signed. Yes, the contract says that that a hazardous building material inspection will need to be done by us. And that was done separately. Our company that does or a hera and a spestus is Fussino Neal. So they were the ones that did that as well. So that bill doesn't have anything
to do with those four phases. That has to do with the fact that a hazardous building material inspection needed to be done anyways for the project. So yeah, so that's a separate entity. And it says that that would have to be conducted separately. Thank you, Joni. Thank you. Can Joni let us know where that's located in the contract. Joni, what page is that on? I know it's in the contract, but this reply would like to know what page that's on. And that's a good question. Don't Joni, you're muted. Sorry. Yeah, I will find it does say, yes, it's on page. Let's see, three. It's after all the phases page three, number five. It says hazardous material inspection or abatement design are not included. However, it is required by law and Fussino Neal is submitting a separate proposal for the hazardous materials inspection to the school. So page three, they should number five. Yeah, we didn't bid that. We just went to no, because we did separately the Board of Education did discuss the same time we were getting the agera, which is a requirement for the school, which is the asbestos examination that has always been done by Fussino Neal. It did go to the Board of Education and they did approve them to do the agera asbestos when they did that and this one was a reduced price that agera. So that was something separate at the Board of Education and had nothing to do with the vote on this. And you're one responsible for the other two quotations just so I'm pleased with it. And as in the person in contact with the other two construction company, yes. All right. So far, I spoke with people from both of those people, both of those places on the
bone and I've communicated with them via email. I'm waiting to hear back from them in regards to what questions they have and one of them made it very clear that they would want to come here in a person. And I mean, I don't know who's no RAP bill bill activity bill to us. Zero, right? There was no, the only as Josh said the only amount that was considered as part of their billing was their time in choosing who they gave us as their suggested general contractor, plumber, tireless, etc. As Jody alluded to and Josh confirmed, yes, their time where they together sat and said, okay, when we look at the scope of this project of the all of the people that we work with as boss and Ria, when we would like to consider who we should recommend to them in a design build for the general contractor, that conversation, those conversations, the research that they did, the talking about the projects that they've worked on and ultimately suggesting the Richard's group to us, that was already put in there is what was so after the time coming and that's what I said to the email last week, I was asking for the day, it's like, what was bid? Because I think to email you sent me July 26, supposed to be an Eric Anderson and it said, and over elementary school, the school is issuing the request for proposal
for the renovation of three restrooms within the building. Yes, school is seeking qualified contractors with the construction of this project. This RAP is issued with the support of the Department of Education to begin the RAP process, please direct all on buyers to Jasper Drow at, yes, yes, by August 6. But then we just came out and said there was no close. When you asked at that meeting in July to subcommittee, and again, we're off track and Caitlin, I don't want to hijack it. I thought there was no, so let's explain that please. So when we had that meeting this summer and you actually said the same thing, you were like, are we going to do an RFP at that time? We just started to talk about the possibility of looking at a design bill. It didn't know anything about it myself, either. And as we started to learn about that, you had a valid concern. And your concern was what if there were local people that weren't already associated with fustinonial, what if Eric Sanderson's company, or my tech or somebody wanted to be able to be considered
about how would they do that? And that was valid. That's my question. So at that meeting, so at that, for it to be posted, don't add that meeting. And I've got a full website. That was, I finished, please. Don't add that meeting. I heard you. And you were, was a good point. You were right. What if there was somebody else that had not worked with fustinonial before? That wasn't going to come up in sitting in a fustinonial conversation about contractors, about plumbers, about electricians. You had a valid point. What if somebody else was interested? So we did take your concern back to not only the board of ed, but I brought it back to Josh and Elizabeth and said to them, we do have a member that is concerned that you guys wouldn't be considering somebody else if we go this route. And he said that email, and I sent that to the town administrator immediately and said, can you post this please? Because if there are people that are interested, they would want to be able to contact Josh directly and say they were interested. Eric Anderson, not Sanderson. Eric Anderson, as the town administrator at time, decided not to post that. And that was sent to you guys to post. So I mean, this isn't, this is where you said, please post this. No, it's on the town website. Yes. Where you have the RFP information was full committee mat, which I think we last week and that the beginning of the circuit committee, the side that we will be using fustinonial for the RFP process. Yeah.
But we'll post on the town and school sites in addition to allow any interest to party. Right. Any interest to party? It was supposed to be on the school. It was posted in our minutes, but it wasn't posted. We're we're we're grasping it straws and we're not just we are we're bashing it straws. Trying to make sure that people work notified publicly that I can't control that the town administrator posted on the town website. I can't control it. It was time where you guys have RFP. That's nonsense. Those those three sentences you are posted on the town. It went, yes, that it there was. Yes, no documents, no, no, no. That was sent and asked to be posted on the town website. Okay. So that if we and he had a valid point there, what if that, you know, and we had Eric Sanderson, you know, on on this committee here as well. And I did talk to Rick from my tag and they weren't interested. It was beyond the scope, but that was a valid concern. What if there was, you know, a party out there that was not already
associated with fustinonial, either directly or indirectly, that they wouldn't be considered at that time. And so that is why we said, absolutely, that's a great compromise. We will put it on the town website so that it didn't matter if we were going traditional RFP or if we were going build a design built that there would be people that would have that ability to reach out to plus anonial and Josh boot down. Okay. Okay. So, so, well, one last point on me. So we're like way over how we've seen just. We're not. We're not. We're not. I'm so even. So we're we're we're are we paying fustinonial, are we paying fustinonial, plunder and part of people's holes, which is what you signed, right? No, that portion said, bid bidding support. So the original proposal that you signed was plus anonial. Since there says bidding support and construction administration the last two sections. Correct. Correct. And you're asking for payments to be made under a proposal that you're telling us is never going to go forward. The board on the 14th will decide if they're moving forward with a design built.
And so, and I got it so long last week for me just by so we built the community center under a bidding practice where we got three different designs that build boats. So even if you are sitting there saying that you don't want to vote and be the general contracting yourself, you can sit there and go out and find out that where we're a better approach for design to build and you've been three designed to build boats. Yes. That's what we're doing. We could. We could. You're right. I don't want to compare. You're doing a you're doing your taking their
bill. No, we're doing comprehensive. There's a bit difference. There's a bit of a difference. But I, you know, I don't want us to keep comparing this to the town design for a variety of reasons. I mean, we never even went to a town meeting to discuss spending a million dollars on building that. So I don't want us to have this back and forth interaction where we're comparing two different projects. Jeff, that's not one was a board of selectment project, one is a board of education and there's going to be a lot of things that are different. And in this case, yes, you guys went design builds. So I think we all do agree that looking at a design build possibility is the solution here. I don't think that that's, you know, in in controversy here, we heard that from a variety of of members. And I don't think and take away right now, right, is that we're waiting to hear from these two other companies and unfortunately, due to the fact that New years and Christmas means that people don't work for two weeks in December, unless they work in industries that have to work. That's where we are. We're waiting for those. I think you've got everybody on here. Yeah, I love it. Rob, did you have something else? I apologize. I know I'm double dipping here, but one of the things that Jeff, I'm a part of her asked about is the signed contract between the Board of Ed and Fuston O'Neill. I know I have a copy of the contract itself, but it's unsigned. I think that's what he's getting at. It may be just for record keeping purposes. There must be a signed copy somewhere
and if we can get a hold of that, that'd be helpful because I asked you, you had sent me the the unsigned copy and I said, did you, is that the one you signed, you said, yes, which I completely believe. But that's just, I think what he's asking for is the signed copy. That's that was number one. Number two is that eight thousand dollar bill. That's going to have to obviously be discussed because the initial Board of Finance approval for Fuston O'Neill's contract was I believe for $48,000. If it's going to be $56,000, then obviously we have to talk about that. I mean, I understand it has met review. I get it, but that wasn't in the original scope for us for our grant of approval for the money. That's it. Rob, it's on the agenda for the 14.
For our Board of Education, because just like when we had to do the HVAC mandatory inspection, just like when we had to do the a hair inspection, we didn't come to the Board of Finance and ask for the money for that. Our Board decided that if it was not able to, at that time, this was last school year, but that it was approved, but if it wasn't able to be paid for out of our budget, we were going to go to the 2% at the time. So that is something that is on our agenda for the 14th Robert, because whether we were doing this project with Fuston O'Neill, that was something that would have had to be added. And so the Board just to clarify about it. So the the 80, 100 that they spent on the HVAC review would have happened regardless of the bathroom project. No, regardless of who did the bathroom project. So that's why I had to be getting right. It was part of the project, but it's not specifically for us, I don't understand. Part of that original ask. So I'm not saying the Board of Ed is not going to come to you guys and say, can we still have an additional appropriation, but that is on the agenda for the 14th and the inspection was completed August 19th. So. All right, good to know. Thank you all. Yeah, so that's on this week's the 14th. I wanted to ask you to express this inspection. So honestly, mercy, the inspection. I would say, let's save it for the regular Board of Ed meeting,
because there's nothing to do with the bathroom project. Just so people that are here just for that can go. Well, it had been part of their original cool. If that was something that's, you know, you know, it has nothing to do with this project. It's a it's a totally different thing in regards to the school specific. Like we'll talk about it at the Board of Ed meeting. I think I think we'll adjourn for tonight. It is. I don't find it. Oh, five. Thank you, everyone. Thanks.