Thursday, February 14,
2008
Wayland High
School
Commons Conference
Room
Attendees
HSBC members: Lea Anderson, Dianne Bladon, Steve Breit, Brian Chase,
Jim Howard, Fred Knight, David Lash, Mary Lentz, Joe Lewin, Cindy Lombardo, Eric Sheffels, Jennifer Steel,
Absent: Josh Bekenstein, Karen Talentino, Steve
Tise
Ex Officio
members: Louis
Jurist
HMFH: George Metzger
Call to order – HSBC Chairman, Lea Anderson,
called the meeting to order at 7:40 p.m.
MSBA Status Meeting (2/13/08) Summary – Lea updated the group on the Massachusetts School
Building Authority status meeting held the previous day in Boston. Attendees from Wayland
were:
Gary Burton
Superintendent
Barb Fletcher
School Committee Chair
Fred Turkington
Town Administrator
Joy Buhler
School Business Administrator
George Metzger
HMFH Principal
Lea Anderson
HSBC Chair
MSBA attendees
were:
Ralph Wallace
Director of Capital Planning
Mary Pichetti
Director of Construction Management
Christine Nolan
Associate General Counsel
Sean Walsh
Project Field Coordinator
Brian McLaughlin
Legislative Liaison
George Driscoll
Deputy General Counsel
Ralph Wallace reviewed
the MSBA process from the 2003 moratorium, development of new regulations, SOI
submissions, facilities assessments through selection of 83 projects into the
capital pipeline (49 for Feasibility Study, 27 repair projects, 7 project budget
and scope). Ralph said that Wayland
is not unique in having produced a study during the moratorium. Half of the 49 feasibility study schools
have conducted some type of study.
Ralph
then asked Wayland attendees to talk about what we would like to see
happen. Gary and Lea reviewed
Wayland history and work done over the past seven years. We said that we would
like to work with HMFH on a revised study that adheres to the new regulations
and enrollment projection. We would
like to use the studies that have already been done and not start at the
beginning again. We would like the
HSBC to continue in its current make-up.
In
anticipation of topics that might come up based on our list of questions, we
handed out material that included a complete review of the Designer Selection
process we went through in 2003/2004, HSBC bios and selection process, the HSBC
Phase I Final Report, the Oct. 2007 Enrollment Report, Jeff Dieffenbach’s
presentation on enrollment, and the FY2008 Budget Booklet. We also left a CD with the 2002
Feasibility Study and the 2004 Preliminary Design Report. We drew attention to the four options
(including the stop gap) -that were studied by HMFH and Turner in response to
the Senior Site Review report that said “the group has not been advised of a
comparison between replacement or renovation plus school building
additions.” Ralph said that they
will review the study and the architect procurement information
carefully.
Ralph
said that the goal is to go from where we are today to the Project Budget and
Scope Agreement. He expects that
this takes 12 or 13 months when starting at the beginning. If MSBA authorizes us to use HMFH, we
could shave a couple of months.
Steps leading to a Feasibility
Study are:
1. Initial Compliance Certification must be
signed. This shows that Wayland is
in good standing regarding audits on previous projects, and that we agree to
move forward in a collaborative way.
2. School Building Committee formed. MSBA will review our committee to make
sure it is appropriate and that selectmen and finance committee are
represented.
3. Wayland must complete a questionnaire
for enrollment forecast. This
includes information on building permits, charter schools,
etc.
4. Enrollment projection must be completed
working with consultant IIC. They
use a 5-year cohort survival, building permit data, forecasted fertility rates,
live births, etc.
5. Procure Owners Project
Manager.
MSBA
will provide us with guidelines and scope of services. Wayland does the search on its
own.
6. Procure architect.
MSBA
will study our previous procurement process and give us a ruling on a
month.
A
Designer Selection Panel consisting of MSBA and town officials is the typical
arrangement.
7. Do the Feasibility
Study.
This
must include an analysis of renovations, build new options, and a “no build”
option.
We would
have to update costs, assumptions relative to new
regulations.
The
Feasibility Study must look at alternative solutions and then get to 15 or 20%
of schematic design of the preferred alternative so that cost estimates are
realistic.
8. Parties make agreement on Budget and
Scope including schedule, price, MSBA participation. After the Project Funding Agreement is
done, increasing the MSBA amount will be the exception, not the rule. Goal is to
spend $100k’s not $M’s to see if we should go ahead.
9. MSBA Board of Directors votes on the
BSA. Town has 120 days to get town
to agree on project.
Ralph
said that the minimum reimbursement rate of 40% is what Wayland should use to
plan for the high school project.
He said that it would be very difficult for Wayland to qualify for enough
reimbursement points to get from our “baseline” of 33.95% up to and above
40%. The base line is the number
that incentive points get added to.
The Feasibility Study will be reimbursed at the rate of 40%. It is possible that Wayland might get
some incentive points, but it is unlikely that Wayland would be able to add 7 or
8 percentage points above the base line to get above 40%.
Ralph
then laid out a hypothetical scenario for Wayland: a school for 930 students at 189 sq.
ft./student results in 176,000 sq. ft.
MSBA’s current estimate for hard and soft costs, OPM and architect
included, is $325/sq. ft. The
result is a $57M project with Wayland responsible for 60% of this cost. He said that cost numbers will have to
be adjusted for escalation.
Questions:
Several
of our questions had already been answered.
HSBC members commented as follows:
- The steps leading to a feasibility study seem more realistic than the
previous flow chart
- Is the funding approved at last year’s town
meeting ($300k) the right amount to get to what the MSBA expects in the
Feasibility Study? What do they
mean by 15-20% of schematics?
- To get
through schematics we are not starting from zero.
- Do we have to front the money for the Feasibility
Study?
- It would be nice to have an active participant from MSBA coming to our
meetings.
- MSBA “best case” timeline is probably too
optimistic.
Lea will
follow up with the MSBA on the following questions:
·
When does MSBA's
cost sharing of the feasibility and schematic design effort occur and what form
of agreement with the town is in place prior to the Project Funding
Agreement?
·
Will MSBA use the
pay as you go procedure for this portion of the project?
·
If the town's
funding request within 120 days for the PFA date fails, does MSBA still cover
its
share of the funds spent to
date?
·
Clarify whether
when you referred to 15-20% and schematic design effort you meant Schematic
Design at 15-20% of the project design effort or 15-20% of a schematic design
effort.
·
How will MSBA and
Sean Walsh, our project rep, work with the building committee during the
feasibility and Schematic efforts?
·
Will MSBA attend
building committee meetings?
·
What level of in
–progress submittals will MSBA require?
·
What will be the
nature of the approval of the revised feasibility study needed prior to
beginning the schematic design?
Field House floor and bleacher upgrade – Kim Keefer addressed the HSBC about a plan to
install a new floor and bleachers in the Field House with private funds. Kim had attended the October
18th HSBC meeting and
reported that there is a group of
people in town interested in improving the interior of the Field House and
increasing gym space. He said that
the goal is to return to the original Field House design of an open floor and
improve safety. Both the floor and
bleachers are well beyond their life expectancy.
Doug Sacra of Maple Hill
Architects then took the group through a description of the plan to install a
new floor inside the track that would be used for practice (3 courts or open
field house), competition, and Town Meeting. They would like to do this over the
upcoming summer and early fall.
Doug and Kim and Karen Vachon have met with Dr. Burton, Pat Tutwiler, and
Martha Jamieson. They are
approaching the HSBC now that the first meeting with the MSBA did not uncover
any reasons not to proceed. They
will next take their plan to the School Committee. They will have to meet with the FinCom
to show that the improvements will not increase maintenance costs. Doug stressed that the fundraising
effort would be low key and that the work is minimal. There is still a need to replace the
roof and windows, and provide handicap accessibility as pointed out in the
studies done in 2004.
The HSBC discussed the
plan. The group agreed that there
does not appear to be any negative cost implications on a potential high school
project. To the contrary, the group
agreed that this private effort will reduce the scope of the project. The HSBC took a sense of the meeting
vote on proceeding with the floor and bleacher replacement. All 12 members present approved. The HSBC thanked Kim Keefer and Karen
Vachon for this potential gift to the school.
Website – Lea asked the
group for comments on the new web site.
Two volunteers in town have been working with Fred Knight on the new
site. She thanked Fred, Claire
Seheringer, and Janet Correia for their work. The feedback from the HSBC was very
positive stressing the “user friendliness” and simplicity of the site. It was suggested that the picture might
be improved and that pictures of overcrowding are preferable to flooded walkway
pictures.
Next Steps – Lea said
that the ball is in MSBA’s court.
They are expected to issue forms that Wayland will have to submit
including the Initial Compliance Certification, enrollment, and the building
committee. The next meeting will be
scheduled when there is some action to take.
Motion – A motion was made by Joe Lewin
and seconded by Cindy Lombardo to approve the minutes of HSBC meeting #51 held
on Thursday, December 6, 2007.
Vote – The motion was approved
unanimously - 11 in favor, 0 opposed, 1 abstention
Comments from observers: There were no comments.
Adjournment – The HSBC adjourned at 9:15
p.m.
Observers: Janet Correia, Kim Keefer, Doug Sacra,
Claire Sehringer,
Karen Vachon, Lisa
Valone