Special Meeting

Wednesday, January 17, 2007

7:00 PM

AS APPROVED 2/1/07                                    Litchfield Intermediate School Library

Jack Healy called the meeting was called to order at 7:05 pm.

Present:  Bill Buckley, Kent Gilyard, Gary Waugh, Jack Healy, Lynn Chapman, Mac Bramley, Bob Blazek.

Public Participation:  Louis Rosenblatt, Peg Perusse, Winnie Harrison, Dr. Vita, Tony Crowe, others.

Motion to Approve minutes of January 4, 2007 meeting.

The Motion was tabled.

Communication:

Gary Waugh— At the Board of Education meeting last week safety issue came up concerning the glass in the gym doors.  The public participants questioned the color schemes.  Winnie  Harrison spoke up on behalf of the Building Committee stating that  she was the only public participant at the  BOE meeting who went to the meeting of the Building Committee.  For the most part all were pleased with the gym.

Jack Healy—The first game was played on the home court the other night.

Newman contacted Leo Paul about having a meeting regarding payment on the unpaid invoices.  Leo Paul wants Jack Healy to sit down with him and Newman to discuss the matter.  The issue will eventually come back to the building committee.  It’s up to the Building Committee whether or not the meeting should go forward. 

Bill Buckley—What does Newman expect Leo Paul to say? 

Jack Healy—What ever the request, it has to come back to the Building Committee.

Bob Blazek—Should that meeting come here?

Bill—This is going down the wrong road.

Mac Bramley—(to Jack) We’ve relied on your judgment, this puts you in a corner. 

Kent Gilyard—I agree with Bill and Mac.  Divide and conquer technique.  If we need an attorney, we need to pick one who has experience in this matter. 

Gary Waugh—We made a statement.  We need substantial information and they should come armed with that information.  Then rational decisions can be made. 

Lynn Chapman—The information wasn’t substantial for Newman to go to Leo Paul before us. 

Jack Healy—It’s the consensus of the Building Committee that the meeting between Newman and Leo Paul should not take place.  Leo Paul will probably not approve.

Mac Bramley—Will we invite him to a meeting with us? 

 Bill Buckley—I don’t know if we should invite him.  This man chose to by pass us. 

Jack Healy—Motion to approve the minutes of the January 4, 2007 meeting. 

Bill Buckley 2^nd, All in Favor.

Mac Bramley—Approve with one change, Jack did not open the January 4, 2007 meeting.  Stacy Kale did and Jack arrived later on. 

Finance: 

The following invoices were discussed for payment:

Bill Buckley moved to pay the above listed invoices subject to proper certification. 

Gary Waugh 2^nd,

Mac Bramley—Why do we have an invoice from O&G dated May 31, 2006?

Louis Rosenblatt—It’s for work done the summer before.  Peg Perusse—It was for all sorts of general work.  Jack Healy—Was it represented in a spread sheet?

Louis Rosenblatt—This was money spent before the budget.  The work was done before we came on site and is not part of the budget for the project. 

Bill Buckley—It says on the invoice, “for work, labor, materials and supplies from 2005”.  Probably construction of temporary classroom—walls, sheet rock…it has a very detailed attachment.  We had an asbestos abatement.

Peg Perusse—No, not an abatement.

Mac Bramley—Is it part of the State’s documentation.?

Louis Rosenblatt—It should have been a change order.

Jack Healy—We’re watching the spread sheet carefully.

Mac Bramley—We paid something for temporary walls a long time ago. 

Bill Buckley—This is broken down. 

Mac Bramley—I’m not questioning the bill.  Can we combine this with other temporary walls?

All in Favor of paying. Motion Approved.

Bill Buckley--Szewczak Associates It’s for field inspections.  Six hours of licensed professional services @ $95.00 per hour.   Jack Healy—It needs a cover letter.

Bill Buckley—I move to pay it.  Jack Healy 2^nd.  All in Favor.

Bill Buckley moved to pay the above listed invoices—Jack Healy 2^nd  All in Favor.

Bill Buckley moved to pay above invoices subject to having the proper certification.  Mac Bramley  2^nd, Lynn Chapman—What are they for?  Bill--16250 is a routine bill.

Bill Buckley—16276  is for extra work on the gym wall, reinforcing the wall.  There is an email attached from Jack Healy to Richard dated 6/22/2006 authorizing.  16278  FF&E work--email from Jack to Richard authorizing. 

Bill Buckley—Motion to authorize the Chair to pay subject to proper certification.

Kent Gilyard 2^nd,   All in Favor.

Bill Buckley--$250. for extra work on the loading dock.—authorized to proceed.

Invoice 16251—Routine work, 60% contractually complete. 

Bill Buckley—I move to pay, Kent Gilyard 2^nd  All in Favor.

Motion to Pay invoice 16224

Bill Buckley—This is the Invoice we tabled last time for a number of reasons.  Extra site visits.—A letter is attached to Jack Healy dated 11/30/2006 from Richard.  There’s an agreement to visit the site every other week. 

Bob Blazek—Did the Building Committee request these visits?  Bill Buckley—I’m not sure.  The cover letter from Herbert Newman doesn’t say if we requested the visits or did they just show up.  It appears to me that we are billed every time they make more than 2 visits per month. 

Peter—We did notify you in the Spring.  We thought we were exceeding contractual obligations.  We were requested by your committee to attend meetings.

Louis Rosenblatt—They are required to attend safety, construction, etc. meetings.  The contract doesn’t spell it out. 

Bill Buckley—Clearly the contract requires them to attend more than 2 meetings per month.

Jack Healy—The only problem I have is that it only tell me a date and amount.  It should say who attended and for what reason.  I need a description or I can’t vote on it.  Let’s table it or vote it down.

Bill Buckley—I withdraw my motion.  Motion to Table.  Bob Blazek 2^nd.  All in Favor.   (Peter will provide information concerning invoice.)

Technology Update

Peg Perusse circulated the bid and explained the contents. 

We made a list.  The consultant put it into this document.  This is just putting it into bid form. 

Gary Waugh—Are we supposed to assume that this represents our list? 

Jack Healy—We still have to approve it when it comes back from the State.

Lynn Chapman requested that the information be put into 2 separate binders.  One for the high school and one for the middle school. 

Bill Buckley—Mr. Chairman.  This is a lot to vote on and a lot of money.  Can the design Committee review this and explain it to us so we understand it?

Gary Waugh—How is the word “replacement” being used in this document.  We choose to put a new score board in.  We already had one, so we will not be reimbursed.  Anything we are getting that we didn’t have before, we will be reimbursed for. 

Bill Buckley—how does this compare to what we voted on?

Peg Perusse—It’s the same, but in a different form. 

Jack Healy—How quickly we get an answer?

Peg—He eluded to not too long then the Board of Education will have to approve it. 

Mac Bramley reads Peg sample Motion.  “Motion to approve the final plan document for technology equipment for both Litchfield MS/HS and Litchfield Intermediate School for submission to the State Dept. of Education—Bureau of School Facilities for approval to go out to bid.  The Building Committee reserves the right to amend the items and quantities of items upon receipt of bids for budget purposes. “ 

Bill Buckley—What will we be voting on?  I vote NO.

Peg Perusse—I understand if you want to wait.  Everything that goes out to bid still comes back to this Committee to vote. 

Bob Blazek agrees with Bill.

Gary Waugh—Is it possible to approve with the stipulation “as long as it is consistent with our list.  I don’t want to delay any more. 

Kent Gilyard—I agree let’s keep it moving.

Bill Buckley—The board of education hasn’t even seen this.  They’ll have a week before they vote.

Gary Waugh—We have to view this in good faith.

Jack Healy—Since the Building committee invested in consultants, we should look to them for answers. Actually, we voted on a list. 

Mac Bramley—We can make the vote subject to board of education approval.

Bill Buckley—I don’t think we can do that. 

Jack Healy—So, it won’t go to the Board of Education until we approve.

Gary Waugh—The motion Mac read contains the premise. 

Jack Healy—Lynn can continue with her inventory.   All in Favor of submitting the bid.  Bill Buckley—NO; Bob Blazek—NO

FF&E

Peg Perusse—we’re working on compiling things and getting the bid document together.  Tony Crowe was going through the High school to see what we can keep. 

Gary Waugh—There are a number of storage areas containing furniture that is not being used near the work out rooms.  If we sell anything it has to be put out to the public.  I just don’t want to see old stuff getting in the way of new stuff.

Architect and Construction Update

Louis Rosenblatt-I didn’t bring any budget information.  There a very few changes.  I like to attend a meeting of the Financial Subcommittee.

Jack Healy—We’re going to go line by line to see what money is available.  Jeff Zullo and I will sit with Louis and then we’ll bring it back to the Committee.

Louis Rosenblatt—The gym has been delivered.  Except for roofing, Intermediate School is on schedule. 

Discussion regarding heat in the Intermediate School. 

A meeting will take place next week.  We can reuse some of the existing heating pipes.  Some pipes have failed.  We can use electric floor radiation in this room. 

Parking Lot Update

Louis Rosenblatt—All the issues we discussed have been raised in the new proposal.  They have agreed to perform the work for $16,000. O&G will prepare the contract.

Gym Update

Louis Rosenblatt—It’s been turned over and completed.

Jack Healy—We have to make a provision for the sun coming in through the windows.

Bob Blazek—can you coat the glass?

Peter—Window people will be out to solve the problem. 

Flooring Condition

Gary Waugh—When was the floor replaced.  Can we assess the resiliency of the floor?

Dr. Vita—1976.  The resiliency was decent. 

Gary Waugh—What is the shelf-life for that floor?   I need the information so I can get back to a parent. 

Representatives from Allied and Titan are in attendance. 

Allied—We want to solve this problem and move ahead.  We have approached Morin and for replacements.  Centera is not necessarily in compliance with the “Fair Bidding” practice.  They’re price gouging.  In the interim, we tried to look for other panels.  The various considerations were not up to the original requirements. 

Jack Healy—Is the color the same.  Is it the same gauge. 

Allied—Yes.  Exactly the same.  We were limited to Centera  because the others you listed weren’t comparable.  Morin is comparable to Centera. 

Attorney for Allied—The point is to solve the problem. 

A discussion of the issues causing the delay.

Bill Buckley—who was the 2^nd lowest bidder?

Louis Rosenblatt—I have the information, but I don’t know off hand.

Titan—We are in the same position as Allied.  We have had the same problem as Allied.  We’re here to move the project along.  Centera told us that they couldn’t buy from Centera and install them.

Bob Blazek to Peter—When did this problem start with Centera.

Allied—10/2006

Peter—We waited until September for shop drawings from Allied. 

Allied—Centera supplied the drawings. 

Peter—The drawing don’t meet the specs and they require an engineer’s stamp.  I want a full submittal package. 

Jack Healy—It doesn’t have to be Centera.  We have to get the building buttoned-

up.  Are Morin’s panels acceptable. 

Peter—So far.  The color matched the specifications.

Louis Rosenblatt—Morin is not an option because it wasn’t listed, but it meets the basis of the design.  We need to get approval from Newman to approve going outside for the panels. 

Estimator—Gary Bowen—the previous shop drawings were down by a Massachusetts firm.  We asked Centera to prepare the shop drawings.   Centera wanted to charge $110,000-$178,000.  Morin wants $3,500.   This all happened after the fact. 

Jack Healy—We have to get something done here.

Mac Bramley to Louis Rosenblatt—is there any mechanism where we can get indemnification if something happens?  Allied has shop drawings now.  Titan can have them by Monday.  We can get shop drawings approval from the architect. 

Attorney—what do you indemnity for?  Mac Bramley—the 2^nd bidder.

Gary Waugh—Allied and Titan stepped up to the plate to waterproof, etc.

Peter—We want to review the package and be sure everything is o.k. and comparable rather than rush through things. 

Louis Rosenblatt—we will complete the review by Friday of next week. 

Bill Buckley—When will we get the Titan drawings?

Titan—Friday or Monday.  The colors are causing a delay of 2 – 3 weeks.

Gary Waugh—Are there standard colors we can choose from.

Titan—No. 

Jack Healy—The Building Committee should be aware of the extra time for color. 

Lynn Chapman—Will the standard colors come directly from the manufacturer?

Gary Waugh—This is an issue for the Design Committee.

Jack Healy—What ever they decide is fine. 

Louis Rosenblatt—I  still want to pull and meeting together to help to resolve any issues regarding the shop drawings. 

Jack Healy—To Titan and Allied—Thank you for coming. 

Allied’s attorney left his card with Jack Healy incase the town attorney has questions.

Jack Healy—FYI  the gym teachers want an office.  Peter—There is a problem with ventilation.  Maybe it’s best not to designate the space for an office right now.  We’ll look into it.

Gary Waugh—There is a high noise level in some of the classrooms and I don’t want to wait until the end of the project to correct the problem.

Kent Gilyard—I sat in four different classrooms in the new wing of the High School.  The rooms with no material to absorb the sound were noisy and it was difficult to hear. 

Jack Healy to Tony Crowe—Try some sound absorbing panels and see if it helps.

Gary Waugh—If sound is the issue, I would not want to teach in that room. 

Bill Buckley—This could qualify as an extra item on the list that Lynn Chapman has been compiling.  Maybe we can  start implementing these kinds of changes.  We should prioritize the items on the list. 

Tony Crowe—We have a request from the Superintendent about using carpet tiles.  Peter—I’ll work up a standard.  Gary Waugh-- let’s do it ASAP. 

Bill Buckley—Can we get results by the next meeting.  Peter—Yes.

Jack Healy—All in favor to adjourn.

Bill Buckley—2^nd

All in Favor.

The meeting adjourned at 9:30 pm

Respectfully Submitted,

Cathy Mastrianno, Recorder