Joint Building Committee
February 21, 2002

RE: Joint Building Committee Meeting Minutes

The Joint Building Committee held a meeting at the New Franklin School in the Conference Room on February 20, 2002 at 7:30 a.m. Attending were School Board Chairman Kent LaPage, City Council members Joanne Grasso, Laura Pantelakos and William St. Laurent, School Board member Nancy Novelline Clayburgh, Robert Iafolla and School Business Administrator W. Peter Torrey. Absent School Board member Carvel Tefft.

Also attending were Dan Bisson and Daniel Bragg of Team Design, Gary Bertram and Wayne Blais of Hutter Construction, PHS Principal Rick Gremlitz, NF Principal Connie Carmody City Council member Harold Whitehouse, and Joel Harris of Foster’s Daily Democrat.

1. Meeting Call to Order and Role Call

Co-chair Grasso called the meeting to order at 7:30 a.m.

2. Approval of Minutes of January 30, 2002 and February 6, 2002

Motion: Co-chair Grasso called for a motion that the minutes of the January 30, 2002 meeting and the February 6, 2002 meeting are accepted. Mr. Iafolla moved, Mr. St. Laurent seconded. The motion was unanimously voted.

3. Project Status – New Franklin School

Mr. Blais stated that he met with Rick Hopley, Building Inspector, regarding sprinkling the New Franklin School. Mr. Hopley is looking for a commitment from the JBC that the New Franklin School will be completely sprinkled. Mr. Blais indicated that a building permit could be issued with a letter of intention by the JBC that the school would be sprinkled. Mr. Blais explained that there are two types of sprinkling systems that could be used:

• Wet system for $52,000; pipe continuously filled with water. In order to keep this water from freezing there would need to have enough insulation in the roof to prevent this. A discussion took place by the JBC regarding the condition and age of the roof areas of New Franklin School.
• Complete dry system for $67,000; no water until sprinkler head is activated. The dry system would need more electrical work for approximately $3,000-$4,000 more.

Mr. Blais recommended that the Portsmouth School Department consider using the wet system and add any necessary insulation to the roof. Mr. Blais stated that the installation of the sprinkler system could be installed this summer with the work being done at night until completion. Team Design will have the roof as well as the insulation assessed. Mr. Blais stated that a new roof would cost approximately $40K.

Mr. Torrey stated that, with the inclusion of the additional costs for a complete sprinkler system, the bottom line of $1,750,000 is not affected. Mr. Torrey further noted that there is a contingency of $75,000 built into the budget.

Motion: Co-Chair Grasso called for a motion to approve sprinkling the entire New Franklin School. Mr. Iafolla moved, Mrs. Pantelakos seconded. The motion was unanimously voted.

Mr. Bisson stated that a letter from the JBC notifying Mr. Hopley of the decision to go forward with a sprinkler system (whether wet or dry) for the New Franklin School would, hopefully, satisfy the code issue and a building permit would be issued. Co-Chair Grasso recommended that Mr. Torrey write this letter on behalf of the JBC.

New Franklin Contract Progress:

Mr. Bisson stated that the City Attorney is waiting for the drawings and specifications, which will be delivered on 2/21/02. Mr. Torrey indicated that a meeting is anticipated by the end of this week with the City Attorney so that Hutter will have the full go ahead to begin construction during the February school vacation (2/25/02 – 3/1/02). Mr. Bertram stated that Hutter is ready to begin the foundation at NF on March 1, 2002. All concrete reinforcements are currently on site and ready to go. After a discussion by the JBC, it was decided that construction couldn’t begin until all elements of the contract have been fulfilled and agreed upon. Mr. Torrey stated that the contract is a public document and if any of the JBC members are interested in looking through it to please contact his office.

Co-Chair Grasso indicated that a groundbreaking date would be determined at the next JBC meeting. Co-Chair LaPage stated that the Superintendent of Schools will notify all the parents by mid-March. Mrs. Carmody stated that Dr. Tracy has set up a meeting with all parents on March 13, 2002. Mr. Blais informed Mrs. Carmody that the electrical work is scheduled for Wednesday, February 27, 2002 and that the power will be off for 3-4 hours. He further stated to Mrs. Carmody that the food in the freezer should not be affected.

Mr. Torrey read a letter to the JBC from the New Franklin Building Environmental Quality (BEQ) Committee regarding the lack of ventilation in the older part of the building and the lack of air exchangers in that part of the building. The request from the NF BEQ is to have the engineers working on the NF project to look at the system and make recommendations back to the School Department for capital funding.

1. PHS Progress

Mr. Bisson stated that Team Design has received all necessary "sign-offs" on the second and third floors. Mr. Bisson stated that the remaining "sign-offs" should be within the next couple of weeks. Areas remaining are Nurse and Guidance (95% done), Athletic Office and Special Education.

Mr. Bertram stated that he is waiting for the mechanical drawings to prepare the GMP and once those are received he would have a GMP by two weeks from then. Mr. Bragg stated that the mechanical drawings should be done by February 28, 2002.

Mr. Bertram distributed a PHS budget as of 2/20/02, which he feels is high and needs more time to develop a more accurate number. Mr. Bertram stated that Team Design has not reviewed this budget, and there are a number of items that need to be thoroughly looked at. Mr. Bertram did indicate to the JBC that this budget is more complete than any of the previous budgets as they have received more extensive information on finishes, steel, concrete and siding from Team Design. Mr. Bertram further stated that the vocational area of the school has changed with many more partitions than originally designed. Mr. Bertram further reported that the anticipated $150,000 cost savings from foodservice equipment is back in the budget due to needing all new foodservice equipment. Mr. Torrey stated that the equipment is the original equipment from when the school was originally built and is unsalvageable. Mr. Bertram stated that the bathrooms and corridors in the building were originally going to be constructed using abusive resistant drywall and has recently been changed to porcelain tile, a more durable product, which added an increase to the budget. Mr. Bertram stated that the budget as it stands right now is at $32.4 million as compared to the budget of 12/3/01, which was $29.9 million. Mr. Bertram did express that he does not expect any surprises to the mechanical and electrical items. Mr. Bertram stated that this budget includes the large group instruction room and air conditioning. Mr. Torrey stated that the JBC would not sign-off on the GMP until they are comfortable with the budget ($36M for PHS and $2M for ES). He further indicated that if the JBC accepted a $32M construction budget with $4M for soft cost and $2.5M committed to engineering that there would not be enough money left for furnishings.

Mr. Iafolla stated that once a project goes to the design and development phase the budget changes quite rapidly. Mr. Iafolla recommended that the sub-committee of the JBC have a work session with Hutter and Team Design to review items on the budget to finite all increases. Mr. Iafolla further stated that recommendations from this meeting would be made to the JBC.

Co-Chair Grasso stated that the sub-committee was formed to help facilitate some of the finite, day-to-day decisions.

Motion: Mr. St. Laurent moved that a motion for a meeting with the construction manager and architect state that this meeting is to include the entire JBC. Being no second, the motion did not pass.

Motion: Co-Chair Grasso called for a motion for the construction manager and architect to meet, and review in detail, the latest revisions of the construction budget, then meet with the sub-committee of the JBC and with any other JBC members, to review the various elements of the budget with recommendations back to the JBC. Mr. Iafolla moved, Mrs. Pantelakos seconded. The motion was voted, 5 in favor, one opposed.

Mr. Bertram and Mr. Bisson arranged a meeting date and time for Friday, February 22, 2002. The JBC will be notified of a date for the work session. Mr. Bertram indicated that he would have a much better understanding of the budget at the March 6, 2002, regularly scheduled JBC meeting.

Mr. Torrey reviewed a proposal from R. W. Gillespie & Associates, Inc. for geotechnical services at the new athletic building site. Mr. Torrey stated that with the approval of this proposal, the drilling would be done on February 25, 2002.

Motion: Co-Chair LaPage called for a motion to approve the proposal from R.W. Gillespie & Associates for geotechnical services at the new athletic building site in an amount not to exceed $2,800. Mr. Iafolla moved, Co-Chair Grasso seconded. The motion was unanimously voted.

Mr. Blais stated that the trees are scheduled for removal at the PHS site during the February school vacation. Mr. Blais indicated that the cost of tree removal has increased due to the metal used in the trees from the ropes course. Mr. Blais stated that the trees could go into the chipper because of this metal. It was generally agreed that tree removal shouldn’t begin until all elements of the contract have been fulfilled and a construction budget has been agreed upon.

Co-Chair Grasso reported to the committee that Ms. Silke Psula, Solid Waste Foreman – City of Portsmouth, would like to address recycling with the JBC in regards to the design and layout of the cafeteria. Ms. Psula would like to incorporate a design to facilitate and encourage recycling. Ms. Bisson stated that he would need to know of any re-design to incorporate into his drawings. Co-Chair Grasso will invite Ms. Psula to attend the next JBC meeting.

5. Asbestos Removal – Athletic Building

Mr. Torrey stated that a proposal from Scott Lawson Group, Ltd. has been received for the second encapsulation at the Athletic Building. After a brief discussion, it was stated that the asbestos removal also shouldn’t take place until all elements of the contract have been fulfilled and a construction budget has been agreed upon. The Scott Lawson Group, Ltd proposal will be held for a future meeting for JBC action.

6. Clerk-of-the-Works

Mr. Torrey reported to the JBC that there were four responses to the RFQ for Clerk-of-the-Works. After a brief discussion, the JBC decided to have Mr. Torrey and Dr. Tracy meet with each respondent to review all aspects of their RFQ. It was further suggested that Mr. Torrey try to negotiate a lower cost per hour.

Motion: Co-Chair Grasso asked for a motion to have Mr. Torrey interview and negotiate a lower cost per hour closer to $25/hour (not including any reimbursables). Mr. St. Laurent moved, Mrs. Pantelakos seconded. The motion was unanimously voted.

7. Other

Co-Chair Grasso notified the JBC that the City Manager would like to have a meeting to discuss the athletic field usage during the construction and renovations at PHS. This meeting would be a follow-up to the meeting previously held at the City Manager’s office on February 11, 2002 and would include the same representatives. The City Manager wants the use clarified so that there are no conflicts. Co-Chair Grasso stated that she will be responsible for setting up this meeting and will contact the appropriate representatives.

Mr. Bisson would like authorization and confirmation to use the athletic utility building plans as previously submitted to the JBC. Mr. Bisson indicated that he needed a formal release.

Motion: Mrs. Pantelakos moved that the JBC authorize Team Design to use the athletic utility building plans as currently designed and proceed with this design upon Mr. Gremlitz’ review and approval. Mrs. Clayburgh seconded. The motion was unanimously voted.

Mr. Bertram stated that he would go out and bid a separate packet for this utility building. It is Mr. Bertram’s understanding that this building will be built as soon as possible.

Mr. Bisson distributed a report from R. W. Gillespie & Associates, Inc. indicating a radon concern under the existing slab in the new construction area. Mr. Bisson further stated that PVC piping under the existing slab to move the air so that the radon does not collect and would correct this situation. Mr. Bisson also indicated that this "fix" should take place during construction, as it would be costly to fix afterwards.

Motion: Co-Chair LaPage moved that at the R.W. Gillespie & Associates report and recommendations be incorporated into the design of the PHS building. Mr. Iafolla moved, Mrs. Pantelakos seconded. The motion was unanimously voted.

8. Financial

Mr. Torrey submitted manifest #16 (PHS) for approval in the amount of $985.00 to Scott Lawson Group, Ltd. for the IAQ final invoice

Motion: Co-Chair LaPage called for a motion to approve manifest #16 in the amount of $985.00. Mrs. Pantelakos moved after properly vouched. Co-Chair Grasso seconded. A roll call vote was taken. The motion was unanimously voted.

Mr. Torrey submitted manifest #17 (NF) for approval in the amount of $9,859.28 to Team Design for the New Franklin Project; $2,389.13 for NF additional services outside of contract, $2,278.86 for NF reimbursable expenses per contract, $3,841.29 for NF additional services per contract, and $1,350.00 for NF progress billing.

Motion: Co-Chair LaPage called for a motion to approve manifest #17 in the amount of $9,859.28. Mrs. Pantelakos moved after properly vouched. Co-Chair Grasso seconded. A roll call vote was taken. The motion was unanimously voted.

9. Next Meeting

The next meeting of the JBC has been scheduled for Wednesday, March 6, 2002 at 7:30 a.m. in the Little Harbour School Boardroom.

6. Adjournment

Motion: Co-Chair Grasso called for a motion that the meeting be adjourned. Mr. St. Laurent moved. Mr. Iafolla seconded. The motion was unanimously voted. The meeting was adjourned at 9:25 a.m.

 

 

Respectfully submitted,

W. Peter Torrey, Clerk for the Committee

TO: MEMBERS OF THE JOINT BUILDING COMMITTEE:

Co-Chairs: School Board Chairman Kent LaPage

City Councilor Joanne Grasso

City Council Members: Laura Pantelakos and William St. Laurent

School Board Members: Nancy Novelline Clayburgh and Carvel Tefft

Citizen Member: Robert Iafolla

Ex Officio: W. Peter Torrey, Business Administrator

Also: John Bohenko, City Manager

Cindy Hayden, Community Development

FROM: W. Peter Torrey, Clerk for the Committee