High School Building Committee (HSBC) Meeting #54 Minutes

Thursday, July 10, 2008

Wayland Town Building

School Committee Conference Room

 

Attendees

HSBC members:  Lea Anderson, Steve Breit, Jim Howard,  David Lash, Mary Lentz, Cindy Lombardo, Eric Sheffels, Jennifer Steel

Absent: Josh Bekenstein, Dianne Bladon, Brian Chase, Fred Knight, Joe Lewin, Karen Talentino, Steve Tise

Ex Officio members: Joy Buhler

 

Call to order – HSBC Chairman, Lea Anderson, called the meeting to order at 7:45 p.m.

 

Owner’s Project Manager (OPM) Search -  Lea reviewed the progress on the OPM search:

• An information session was held on July 2 and was attended by 9 firms
• 26 firms have requested an RFS
• 2 firms have submitted proposals so far
• Proposals are due Friday, July 11 at 2 pm

 

The committee identified members who would be available to participate through the selection process.  They are Lea Anderson, Jim Howard, David Lash, Mary Lentz, Joe Lewin, Eric Sheffels, and Joy Buhler.  The schedule will be as follows:

• Friday, July 11 - Proposals delivered to HSBC members by 5 pm

• Tuesday, July 15 - Selection committee meets to determine short list
• July 16, 17, 18 - Selection committee checks references
• Monday, July 21 -  Selection committee interviews OPMs
• Tuesday, July 22 - Selection committee interviews OPMs
• Wednesday, July 23 - Full HSBC meets to approve OPM selection

 

The group discussed the MSBA requirements for rating the OPMs.  The assessment must tie to the minimum requirements and evaluation criteria as stated in the Request for Services.  Specifically HSBC members reviewing proposals must first determine if minimum requirements are met.  Any firms that do not are rejected.   Next the proposals must be rated on their adherence to the evaluation criteria:

• Relevant Experience
• Knowledge of Codes, Procurement, Green Development
• Project Approach
• Project Team
• Firm Qualifications/Capacity

Details are in the RFS.

 

It was agreed that any HSBC members who were not on the selection committee were welcome to review the proposals and provide their input.

 

Steve Breit offered to tabulate the results at the July 15^th meeting.

Mary Lentz offered to revise the interview outline to line up with the evaluation criteria.

Cindy Lombardo offered to revise reference check questions to line up with the evaluation criteria.

 

Designer Selection – MSBA has provided documentation required for approval of designers selected prior to July 1, 2007.  Lea has started to fill it out, but asked for help providing some of the information.  A suggestion was made to check updated references for HMFH as a way of showing due diligence and strengthening our case to the MSBA.

Given the passage of almost 5 years, it is important to know who is going to work on the project.

 

Enrollment – MSBA has provided their enrollment projection for Wayland through the year 2017.   This is a projection, not a design number.  The group discussed the MSBA numbers compared to Wayland students currently in the system and the New England School Development Council (NESDEC) projections.

 

Wayland students

currently in the system                           MSBA                            NESDEC

(future grades 9-12)                 projection 7/08             projection 10/07

 

Year

2008                     899                         894                              877

2009                     925                         899                              880

2010                     912                         870                              846

2011                     888                         828                              811

2012                     894                         834                              813

2013                     839                         779                              756

2014                     833                         778                              751

2015                     831                         781                              753

2016                     775                         746                              817

2017                                                    731                              702

      

MSBA and NESDEC projections are low compared with students currently in the Wayland Public Schools, even without taking into account the slight increase (cohort survival) we typically see from year to year in a grade.  Wayland needs to draft a response to MSBA and request a meeting to discuss enrollment.

Comments ensued:

• First we need to understand the methodology used in these projections.
• This is a 10 year projection, and does not address 25-30 year capacity.
• A long-term projection must include factors driving populations, trends.
• Do we believe this is true?  What is unique about Wayland?
• State is leaning towards lower numbers to keep costs down.
• Common areas must be sized right.  There is more flexibility with classrooms.

 

There was consensus that the School Committee should determine the right enrollment design number.  Dave Lash offered to work with Jeff Dieffenbach and Fred Knight to draft a response to MSBA.  It was agreed that the HSBC would review any response before it is sent.

 

Motion – A motion was made by Mary Lentz and seconded by Cindy Lombardo to approve the minutes of HSBC meeting #53 held on Thursday, May 8, 2008.

Vote – The motion was approved unanimously - 8 in favor, 0 opposed

 

Questions/Comments from observers:

·         At what point does OPM begin work?

·         Will he influence renovation and new construction?

·         OPM can influence major construction concerns such as building adjacent to new pool, location and storage of buses, hours of operation.  These are concerns of the neighbors.

 

Adjournment – The HSBC adjourned at 9:10 p.m.

 

Observers:  Harvey Montague, Sam DiSavino, Molly Upton