Litchfield Schools Building Committee

Meeting Minutes

LOCATION                                                                   Litchfield Intermediate School Art Room  

DATE OF MEETING                                                     December 20, 2007       

TIME MEETING STARTED                                           7:12 PM

PERSON PREPARING THE MINUTES                          Marianne Arancio Stilson

MEMBERS PRESENT

1.  Jack Healy, Chair & BOS Representative                    6.  Bob Blazek

2.  William J. Buckley, Jr.                                                7.  Lynn Chapman

3.  Jeff Zullo, Treasurer  & BOF Representative                           8.  Mac Bramley

4.  Gary Waugh - BOE Representative                            9. Kent Gilyard

5. Stacie Kavle, Vice Chair arrives at 7:28 PM               10. Leo Paul - Ex-Officio

OTHERS PRESENT

George Graikoski of O&G, Jose A. Hernandez & A. Brooks Fischer of Herbert S. Newman, Tony Crowe, Peg Perusse, Wayne Shuhi & Winnie Harrison

QUORUM PRESENT                                                     Yes    

1.  CALL TO ORDER

Jack Healy, Chair called the meeting to order at 7:12 PM.

2.  APPROVAL OF MINUTES

Jack Healy, Chair asks for a motion to approve the minutes of the December 6, 2007 meeting.

Motion:  William J. Buckley, Jr. moved to approve the meeting minutes of December 6, 2007.

So moved.   Seconded:  Bob Blazek

Discussion:  None

Vote: 

Abstention:  Gary Waugh and Leo Paul, Ex-Officio

Deletions/Corrections/Additions:  None

Absent:   Stacie Kavle, Vice Chair

All Ayes

Motion passed.

PUBLIC PARTICIPATION

Winnie Harrison comments on the October 4^th meeting minutes in regard to the parking lot, her letter and comments by the Committee.  She discusses credibility.  She also states that she was told today that a wet moldy ceiling tile fell out of the new boy’s locker room ceiling and on to the floor and doesn’t understand how this could happen and thinks that the Building Committee should abandon their fantasy that they can add anything more to the project including the parking lot until the reasons for having this building project are resolved.  She mentions the media center, heat in the bathrooms, the extra cost for pizza and the science rooms.  She states that she is concerned.  She states that the Building Committee should not be too proud of the project and that they need to admit that they can’t afford the parking lot and that they need to fix the things that need to be fixed first.

Jack Healy, Chair asks Tony Crowe about the ceiling tile issue.  Tony Crowe responds that once the gym is sealed up that one spot will go away.  Jack Healy, Chair asks George Graikoski if they are working on this.  He states that they are.

4.  COMMUNICATION

Report from Jeff Zullo on BOF Communication

Jeff Zullo stated that there was a BOF meeting this month with the new BOF and that he reported on the status of the project, the contingency and explained that FFE is built into the contingency figure.  He told them that they were finalizing construction this month and that all construction would be complete this month.  He told them that they are doing punch listing and incomplete listing and filing for the certificates of occupancy.  He states that the BOF was very pleased with the continuous effort by the Committee and there were no major issues or questions from the BOF.

Report from Gary Waugh on BOE Communication

Gary Waugh  states that the BOE meeting was last week and reported about the same things as Jeff Zullo did but the BOE is concerned about certain facilities not being turned over that are desperately needed in the school.  He states that they went into an extensive session in which Tony Crowe presented an updated punch list to the BOE.  He states that many of the original items on the punch list were resolved.  He states that there are some additional items and that they prioritized them in a 1,2,3 order with 1 as the highest priority and that hopefully that list will be shared with the Committee members at the next meeting.  He states that in general the BOE is pleased with what has been done and would like the project brought to closure so they can use the full facility.  Jack Healy, Chair states that so does the Building Committee.

Report from Jack Healy on BOS Communication

Jack Healy, Chair reports that he has given a report to the BOS and used the figures on George Graikoski’s budget report.  He gave them a status update on the project and reported that the kitchen is not open yet at the High School.  He also reported on the parking lot and that there was extensive discussion on that issue.   He states that he told them he did not know how much money would be available to build the parking lot.   He told them that some issues have come up including sealing all the manholes throughout the school with a rubber gaskets and that George Graikoski is working on that now and that $2,000.00 was authorized for that work.  He states that other issues he discussed would be discussed tonight including fences and gates.

Correspondence

None.

5.  ARCHITECT/CONSTRUCTION MANAGER UPDATES

Jack Healy, Chair states that Leo Paul, Ex-Officio member is here tonight and that he has to leave to go to another meeting so if the Committee has no objection, he would like to take the agenda item entitled, Parking Lot Update (Jeff Zullo and Bill Buckley) out of order.

Motion:   Bob Blazek moved to hear Agenda Item Parking Lot Update (Jeff Zullo & Bill Buckley)

So moved.  Seconded:  Lynn Chapman

Discussion:  None.

Vote:

Absent:  Stacie Kavle, Vice Chair

Objection:  None.

All Ayes

Motion Passed. 

Parking Lot Update (Jeff Zullo & Bill Buckley)

Bob Blazek discusses the draft drawing of the parking lot as the members of the Committee look at the drawing.  Bob Blazek states that the only thing missing from the drawing is that there is a notation on the north side of the parking lot for a twelve foot buffer for trees and shrubs and that was part of the Planning and Zoning conditions. Jeff Zullo wants to know about the island area on the drawings and notes the type of trees noted on the drawing.  He would like to know if the row of trees is being kept there.  Bob Blazek states that it is.  Jeff Healy, Chair states that the drawing note the trees that are in place now.  Bob Blazek states that it is a total of one hundred and eight spaces.  The drawing is discussed by the members of the Committee.  Discussion of the email from Land Use Administrator, Matt Speck is discussed including the discussion of the extra thirty spots.   Jack Healy, Chair will check with Matt Speck again on the specific requirements. 

Stacie Kavle arrives at 7:28 PM

Jeff Zullo would like input from the Board of Education and the Administration to find out what their priorities are.  He doesn’t think that the Committee should make these decisions in isolation.  William J. Buckley, Jr. agrees but adds that the final decision is up to the Building Committee.  He also states that at the Capital Improvement meeting last Wednesday, they voted to approve a recommendation to the BOS and BOF for $300,000.00 for the parking lot in the 09/10 fiscal year.   Jeff Zullo and William J. Buckley, Jr. both mention that the advantage of funding the parking lot through the school project is the forty percent reimbursement from the State.  Discussion ensued.  Jeff Zullo states that the BOF saw the advantage of doing the parking lot as part of the school project.  He states that estimates should be gotten over the winter for the parking lot plus the additional spaces.  Bob Blazek states that the parking lot is a benefit to the community since it is used for so many community events.  Discussion of the proposed traffic flow changes ensued.  Jack Healy, Chair discusses the fact that the Administration has the immediate problem of no parking on Constitution Way from now on.  A. Brooks Fischer states that changing the traffic flow now would result in having to go before all the town land use boards and the State and that it would be a long lengthy process.  William J. Buckley, Jr. again states that it is his suggestion the traffic flow not be changed until the project is completed because of the issues with the sign off of the architect and the expense and time to get it approved again since it was already paid for once by the Committee and shouldn’t be paid for again.   Discussion ensued on the fact that the staging area can not be used now for parking. George Graikoski will be given the drawing so that he can get an estimate for the parking lot.  William J. Buckley, Jr. will call CCA in Brookfield.  Discussion ensued.  Leo Paul, Ex-Officio member states that putting the money into capital planning was a gesture and does not suggest that either the Building Committee or the BOE asked him to do that but that it was done in case it is needed for building a parking lot at a future date.   He states that this could be adjusted when it goes before the BOS or the BOF or in the town meeting process.  Jeff Zullo states that the BOF wants the parking lot to be part of the school project.  Discussion of the bonding ensued.  William J. Buckley, Jr. states that it is difficult because in the end it will be what expenses are more important and would be best to be bonded because of the twenty year span that needs to be considered when using the bonding money.

Leo Paul, Ex-Officio member leaves.

Jack Healy, Chair states that the real purpose of this meeting tonight was to go over the budget but because of the number of emails that have been circulated over the last two weeks it is necessary to formulate a plan on how to go forward to come to a conclusion on the project.  He states that he spoke to Richard Munday of Herbert Newman and Mike Brennan at O&G on Monday.  He states that they had a working session last week and they will be having another working session next Thursday with that he would like a few members of the Committee there to help make decisions at that meeting.  Jack Healy, Chair states that Jeff Zullo has been working on the budget and that he has been working on the Building Inspector’s report with HSN and that other members of the Committee may want to work on other areas of the project as well to move the project forward.  Discussion ensued about the issues of finances with Cynthia and Jack Healy, Chair states that he gave her an estimated ending date of the middle of next year.  Mac Bramley wants to know where they stand on the TCO’s.  Jack Healy, Chair discusses the email from John regarding compliance.  He reported that John is looking for an action plan to get the items ironed out to get him the certifications that he was looking for.  He states that he did forward that information on to Newman and O&G.  Jose A. Hernandez speaks to the members of the Committee about the solution to the TCO compliance issue and states that the discrepancy in the language in the statement of professional opinion and the provision of the Statutes that relates to the certificate of occupancy has been worked out and it will be taken care of by Newman.  He states that he is going issue by issue in each school with John and that the TCO’s and their time frame are determined by the Building Inspector.  He states that the only issue in the Intermediate School was that the report that was sent to Newman implied that the fire pump had not been tied into the fire alarm monitoring system.  George Graikoski states that the form is incorrect because the boxes were not checked and should have been because it is tied into the system.  He states that they will be coming back next Wednesday to verify and double check everything and get the correct form.  The pump is discussed.  The issue of the expiration dates of the TCO’s is discussed.  The issue of getting the final CO’s is discussed. Jack Healy, Chair states that a lot of these issues will be resolved at next Thursday’s meeting.

Jack Healy, Chair asks for a motion for a temporary recess.

Motion:   Jeff Zullo moved to have a temporary recess.          

So moved.  Seconded:  Bob Blazek

Discussion:  None.

Vote:

Absent:  Leo Paul, Ex-Officio

Objection:  None.

All Ayes

Motion Passed. 

Jack Healy, Chair calls the meeting back into session.

Budget (O&G)

George Graikoski of O&G hands out to the members of the Committee the following reports for the High/Middle School and the Intermediate School:  Monthly Progress Report #14, November 2007; Summary Data, November 2007; Construction Manager’s Monthly Cost Control Report, November 2007; Change Orders By Trade Contractor, November, 2007; Project Commentary, November 2007 and Phasing Plans Summer 2007 and September 23rd Schedule.

Jack Zullo states that he sent an email out to all the members of the Committee this afternoon and that George Graikoski made adjustments to the budgets that are valid, that he reallocated some of the negative amounts back into the expended amounts and that they are still carrying forward the $350,000.00 contingency in LIS and $160,000.00 contingency in LHS from the FFE account.  George Graikoski goes over the budget report in detail including the changes that he made to the report from last month.  Discussion ensued.  The Spectrum line item is discussed and the O&G line item of the report is also discussed.  William J. Buckley, Jr. is concerned because the invoices are not matching the report and doesn’t understand why it is not correct.

Jack Healy, Chair wants a report on the change order requests.  Jose A. Hernandez states that Newman has received four hundred and seventy nine change order requests and has acted on four hundred and forty three of them and that thirty three need an additional review.  He states that he assigned Brooks A. Fischer to work with Peter Bowman to address these thirty three.  Jack Healy, Chair wants the process to get done because contractors are contacting him and he does not want any lawsuits.  He also discusses the fact that he is getting calls about when the punch listing is going to be done.  Jose A. Hernandez states that the action plan is that Newman will come out and look at the entire project and make a list.  He states that his company does not want to be perceived as obstructionists and the review of the COR’s is very serious to them.  Jack Healy, Chair states that Newman is the Committee’s quality control on the project.  Jeff Zullo states that he sent out an email this morning to the members of the Committee regarding the COR’s and that George Graikoski stated that there are fifty that have been returned by Newman for follow up and there are twenty-five that have been approved by HSN and are awaiting a sign off for pay applications.  Jose A. Hernandez states that Newman has no payment applications in their office.  He states that any pay applications have either been approved or rejected and sent back to O&G.  A very lengthy discussion ensued between George Graikoski and Jose A. Hernandez about the missing papers and the procedure that will be followed to get the CO requests done more efficiently from now on.  George Graikoski states that there are one hundred and thirteen change orders that can not be accounted for from Newman.  A discussion ensued over merging Newman and O&G’s lists to see which ones have not yet been approved or received by Newman to get them done quickly.  A. Brooks Fischer states that they keep a log of all of them.  Jack Healy, Chair wants the two companies’ logs compared and wants them cross checked by next Wednesday.  He states that this should be a very easy process.  George Graikoski wants Newman to circle the ones that they don’t have and to have a weekly meeting with Newman to go over these change order requests to get them done by the end of January and A. Brooks Fischer feels that the meetings are not necessary to go over all the requests and that the only ones that should be gone over are the problem ones.  Jose A. Hernandez agrees.  George Graikoski states that having a meeting is easier to come to an agreement and to sign it right then and there rather than go back and forth with emails and phone calls.  Further discussion ensued.  Jeff Zullo is concerned because Newman says that there are only thirty three and O&G says that there are one hundred and thirteen. He states that both companies have to come to an agreement on the process and to get this done quickly.  After this discussion between the two companies, no resolution occurred.  William J. Buckley, Jr. is upset that so much time has been taken this evening between the two companies and feels that they should come to a compromise and get this comparison and the change orders done.  He states that this work should be done by the end of December and that both companies are highly paid and that this issue should be resolved.  Jose A. Hernandez states that there are a number of change orders that can be resolved without a meeting.  Jack Healy, Chair orders that the process is defined by next Wednesday and that he wants all the COR’s processed by the January 17^th meeting.   William J. Buckley, Jr. feels that a month is too long and that he has no confidence that this will be done.  Jack Healy, Chair will talk about having a special meeting at next Thursday’s workshop meeting.

Peg Perusse has a report entitled Soft Costs – 12/20/07 handed out and is shared by the members of the Committee to review. She states that the FFE line item is not correct.  The members of the Committee look over the report.  Discussion ensued over the difference between George Graikoski’s report and this report.   George Graikoski will compare the two reports.  Jack Healy, Chair asks Jeff Zullo to work with George Graikoski and Peg Perusse and get these reports married to one another.  William J. Buckley, Jr. states that he thought this meeting was to go over the budget with the entire Committee and that he feels that breaking off into little groups and then coming to the entire Committee is not working.  He states that if it was done line by line then motions can be made and the issues resolved once and for all.  He states that he is tired of having the same issue discussions every meeting.

Jeff Zullo mentions the issue with the safety gate for the stairwell and the ramps at the high school and is upset that the Building Committee is only finding out about this issue now and that these issues have never been on the issue list.  He states that he feels that Newman has condoned what is being built by not communicating with the Building Committee and that their silence is concurrence with the construction as built.  Jose A. Hernandez states that the gate is a building inspector issue.  Jeff Zullo is upset that at this late date he is hearing about issues that have never come up before.   A. Brooks Fischer states that they have been battling the gate issue with O&G for over a year now.  Some of the members of the Building Committee state that they were aware of this issue. 

William J. Buckley, Jr. leaves at 9:32 PM

Jose A. Hernandez states that William J. Buckley, Jr. is correct and that there are going to be issues that O&G will be advocating the contractor’s costs and that Newman will not be agreeing with that and that Newman will be coming back to the Building Committee with their recommendations.  Further discussion ensued.  Gary Waugh is very concerned that there is no accountability for Newman’s mistakes and that they have not taken ownership for the resolutions of the costs and sites the counters in the library as an example.  He feels that Newman has to take responsibility for their errors and has seen the opposite of that throughout this entire project.  He states that he is tired of the Building Committee having to pay for errors by Newman.  Jose A. Hernandez states that he will take his comments back to Richard Munday and that this can be discussed next Thursday.  Jack Healy, Chair will talk to Richard Munday about this issue.

Schedule Update (O&G)

Jack Healy, Chair states that there will be a meeting next week on the schedule of the project.  The TCO for the media center is discussed.  Jose A. Hernandez states that as soon as they get the corrected report from O&G it will go right to John Worthington with their letter.

Intermediate School Media Center & Cafeteria Completion (O&G)

They are waiting for a TCO.

Wall Panel Update (O&G and HSN)

George Graikoski states that he spoke to Allied and this will be completed by the end of January.

LHS Ceiling Replacement, Noise Attenuation and Noise Levels (HSN)

George Graikoski reports that the tile and the materials are in and Gar-San is scheduled to start the work within two weeks.  Gary Waugh states that it would be easier for everyone if the work could be finished while the students are out for the holiday break. George Graikoski will talk to Ernie and Gar-San.

Credit Update (O&G)

None discussed.

Issues List Review (HSN)

A. Brooks Fischer states that it is ongoing and will send another one out to O&G for their mock-up.

Jack Healy, Chair discusses the fact that the ventilators are not working.  George Graikoski states that they are not working the way they should be working and that there is a meeting on Thursday with the Vice President of Titan Mechanical to resolve this issue.  George Graikoski discusses the procedure for getting this resolved next week.  Peg Perusse states that there is a problem with the insulation in the Intermediate School and that some areas are twenty-nine degrees.  George Graikoski states that this will also be looked at next week.

Alternative Options List Review (Lynn Chapman)

None discussed.

Maintenance Building

None discussed.

6.  FINANCE COMMITTEE – Take actions as needed

Soft Cost Budget (Jeff Zullo & O&G)

None discussed.

Finance Committee Report

None discussed.  The Finance Committee did not meet.

Approval of Invoices

Jeff Zullo hands out to the members of the Committee the list of the invoices to be approved. 

Motion:  Jeff Zullo moved that the following invoices be forwarded to the Chairman for approval subject to his review of each to make sure that the proper certifications are there.

So moved.    Seconded: Kent Gilyard

Discussion:  R&R Windows is discussed.

Absent: William J. Buckley, Jr. & Leo Paul - Ex-Officio

Abstention: Jack Healy, Chair and Mac Bramley

Objection:  None.

All Ayes

Motion passed.

Motion:  Jeff Zullo moved that the following invoices be forwarded to the Chairman for approval subject to his review of each to make sure that the proper certifications are there.

So moved.    Seconded: Kent Gilyard

Discussion:  None.

Absent: William J. Buckley, Jr. and Leo Paul - Ex-Officio

Abstention:  Mac Bramley

Objection:  None.

All Ayes

Motion passed.

Motion:  Jeff Zullo moved that the following invoice be forwarded to the Chairman for approval for a total amount of $271.60.