MINUTES

LITCHFIELD SCHOOL BUILDING COMMITTEE

LITCHFIELD INTERMEDIATE SCHOOL LIBRARY

DECEMBER 16, 2004

A meeting of the Litchfield School Building Committee was held on Thursday, December 16, 2004, at 7:00 p.m. in the Litchfield Intermediate School Library.

Present were: Jack Healy, Chairman; Stacie Kavle, Mac Bramley; Gary Waugh; Jeff Zullo and Robert Blazek.

Also Present: John Tindall-Gibson; Peg Perusse; Leo Paul; BOE Wayne Shuhi, Don Falcetti and Diane Knox; Public and the Press.

Meeting was called to order at 7:03 P.M. by Jack Healy.

Approval of Minutes

Motion to approval the minutes of the December 2, 2004 meeting with the following corrections was made by Gary Waugh and seconded by Jeff Zullo.

Corrections:

Page 5, Line 5 – Mac Bramley stated “On the stub outs, will there be a system that will cut off irrigation if there is a fire at LIS? Also, they need the fence up before out project starts. Problem.”

Page 5, Line 14 – Mac Bramley asked “Is there pedestrian access from Alain White Road?”

Motion Carried. All votes were in the affirmative. There were no abstentions.

Public Participation

Leo Paul – Met with DEP and they asked if the BC had looked into green design and grant funding.

Jack Healy – HSNP incorporated green design in the new construction.

Stacie Kavle – To some degree the design has to be further along to start looking at green design. It is not inexpensive.

Jeff Zullo – We should definitely pursue it with the design committee. Evaluate green design and green grants.

Mac Bramley – When we initially talked about this the Town was considering hiring a grant writer. There are a number of sites online where educational grants are available.

Jeff Zullo – It is the Architect’s responsibility to initiate this. Detailed design in done next week, we should initiate this with them.

Stacie Kavle – If we as a committee make a formal request of HSNP to look into green design, they will look further into it.

Communication

John Tindall-Gibson passed out a report from the BOE Facilities Committee on the auditorium stage.

Gary Waugh read the following Resolution of Support confirming its confidence in the Building Committee:

The Litchfield Board of Education unequivocally reconfirms its confidence in the Litchfield Building Committee and its work on the current design for renovations and additions to our intermediate school and high school facilities. We believe that the Committee has faithfully and professionally designed a thoughtful response to the community’s expressed wishes to expand and improve our existing school buildings.

Even with dramatic rises in the costs of construction, which would have affected any building committee with similar pressures and difficult choices, our Committee has been both creative and responsible; holding the line on the project’s ultimate costs, ensuring that the promised levels of reimbursement are secured, all the while providing a plan that will meet the education specifications submitted by the Board of Education. Whey this concept was offered to the voters of Litchfield it passed by an almost three to one margin. This was a clear demonstration of the community will and we believe that position remains unchanged.

We do not believe that further delay or major concept discussions are called for or are even permitted under our grant from the State of Connecticut. Prices continue to rise and we are convinced that any variation from our current path will delay the project for many years, only decrease our eventual return on investment, waste untold already invested human and financial resources, and, ultimately, increase taxes even more than our current commitment.

We are steadfast and unanimous in our support of this project and this Building Committee.

Gary Waugh – The BOE asked how they want us to proceed in interacting with them on the technology. They are talking about a slight variation in wiring.

Jeff Zullo – The BOF is supportive in everything the BC is doing.

Stacie Kavle – I received a report from the Kitchen Consultant and Education Connection. They felt we should do more work at the LHS Kitchen than is planned. We are going to put there suggestions in design development as an add alternate.

John Tindall-Gibson – I had a letter that points out code violations and inadequacies. My concern is that it puts in writing possible hazards and presents a liability.

Mac Bramley – Are we obligated to make it code compliant.

Peg Perusse – Some of these violations were pointed out some time ago and we’re on hold until the renovation.

Jeff Zullo – Education Connection is a subcontractor for food service. Are they responsible for equipment?

Peg Perusse - We provide them with the space and major equipment. They provide food service and pots and pans, small equipment.

Finance Subcommittee Report

Mac Bramley – I convened and hallway and immediately adjourned for lack of a quorum. We will have presentations for bill payment for HSNP at the next Building Committee meeting. We also need to talk about the funds for fences. Could we allocate a portion of our bonding to the Town?

Jeff Zullo – Because time is of the essence there is no way to manage it through our project. We should allocate the money to the Playing Fields Group.

Mac Bramley – If the bond counsel will agree to that, the resolution we passed is general in scope.

Jack Healy – We can not make a decision without having talked to all the appropriate parties, including David Wedge and bond counsel. Bruce Walpole said the contractor for the track should be responsible for the fence.

Mac Bramley – We should change it in the budget to an add item and delete it immediately.

Jack Healy – We can not make a decision tonight. We need to go back to do our homework.

Mac Bramley – Can the existing contractor come up with an estimate on the length and different materials?

Jack Healy – Regardless of the cost of the fence, this committee is committed to $75K.

Stacie Kavle – Why do the fences have to go up right away?

Jeff Zullo – You don’t want people to have access with cars, or bikes in that area. Damage and a liability issue. I’ll contact David Wedge and discuss this.

Gary Waugh – It is critical when the track is laid down that there is no delay putting the fence up. Once the work is done the money has to be in place to pay for it.

Technology Update

Wayne Shuhi – We discussed different ways to deliver resources to the classroom. It seems logical to not have our own internal resource system. It’s better to have a large conduit to being in the technology and information.

Mac Bramley – Has there been a discussion on distance learning where Litchfield is a provider instead of a receiver?

Wayne Shuhi – Connecticut Education Network is building a fiber network. They want to connect all schools by June – July 2005. It’s an opportunity to share resources, distance learning, video conferencing. We are eagerly anticipating how great it’s going to be.

Playing Fields Group

Jeff Zullo – The project has stopped because of the weather. The issues with sedimentation and runoff are being remediated. The DEP is working with the Town and the Wetlands to fix the problem. Hopefully we’ll have grass growing this spring.

Motion to Adjourn was made by Jeff Zullo at 7:50 PM and seconded by Gary Waugh.

Motion Carried. All Votes were in the affirmative. There were no abstentions.

Respectfully Submitted,

Kelli L. Green

Recorder