Members present were Chairperson Perry Cornwall, Melvin McOmber, Peter Kalousdian and Kathleen Bagley, Director, Recreation and Parks Department. Also present at the meeting was Architect, Jim Bell and Engineer Anthony Maisano, Town Manager, Bonnie Therrien and a representative from LTC Construction, Joseph Virgadula.
Jim Bell reviewed the bids with committee members. Ms. Bagley reviewed the budget report with the committee. She reported that Town Manager, Bonnie Therrien, asked Ms. Bagley to contact the state regarding the status of the grant money. Ms. Bagley talked with David Stygar a representative from DEP. He explained that as long as the town made a "good faith" effort to get the project done in a reasonable amount of time that the state funds could be used for the project even though the project would not be done by the stated deadline of March, 2005.
At this time, Town Manager, Bonnie Therrien, arrived at the meeting. Chairperson Perry Cornwall welcomed her to the meeting and introduced her to the Architect for the project, Jim Bell and Engineer, Anthony Maisano. Mr. Bell reported that after his review of the bids, it appeared that the mechanical and electrical work on the project came in at a very high rate. He suggested this area may be one to look at to help reduce costs. He suggested working with the two (2) low bidders, Cutter Enterprise and TLC Construction Company in order to do some value engineering on this project to try and reduce costs. Mr. Bell asked Town Manager, Bonnie Therrien, if this was appropriate for the next step. Ms. Therrien felt that this was an excellent suggestion and the committee should pursue it to see if there are ways to reduce the scope of the project. Committee members then discussed possible options for reducing the scope of the project. Some of these options included eliminating the back porch and foyer, using VCT instead of linoleum, changing heat pump system to electric cooling/gas heating system, eliminating the specialty lighting and evaluating interior demo.
A representative from TLC Construction was present at the meeting. He asked Chairperson Cornwall if prevailing wages needed to be a part of this process. Ms. Bagley reported that any project utilizing state funds needs to follow prevailing wage requirements. Town Engineer, Mike Turner, had explained to Ms. Bagley that any project over $100,000 required prevailing wage. She will double-check that amount with Mr. Turner, but recollects that was his information. Ms. Therrien suggested the committee review their options and tentatively look to go to the Town Council meeting, September 20 with their proposals.
Ms. Bagley reported that the roof needs to be done this fall and it may need to go out as a separate bid. Each vendor bid had a different amount for the roof and this could be a good topic of discussion with the contractors. Ms. Therrien suggested Ms. Bagley contact Mike Turner, since a roof project is already going on in town and check with him about costs for the Moeller Home roof. The committee determined that it is important that roof work is done this fall.
A discussion was held on going forward with the asbestos work. Ms. Therrien asked committee members to wait until Monday, August 23 and she will confirm with Town Council to go ahead with the asbestos removal at the Moeller Home.
Committee members reviewed with the architect their priorities for the building. Chairperson Cornwall reported that the committee still wants to develop a first class facility. Possible dates for a meeting with the contractor will be Tuesday, August 24 or Wednesday, August 25 in the afternoon at 1:30 p.m. Ms. Bagley will notify members about a meeting date and location. Mr. Bell reported that he checked the references on the low bid, Cutter Enterprise. He said that all the references were good for this construction company.