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TSBC Meeting Minutes – 10/19/2020

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10/19/2020
Tisbury School Building Committee
Meeting Minutes

2020-10-19_TSBC_MeetingMinutes

Tisbury School Building Committee
2019-2020
5:00PM, Monday, October 19, 2020
by Zoom Cloud Conference due to Covid-19 Restrictions

TSBC Members Present: Chair Harold Chapdelaine, John Custer, Sean DeBettencourt*, Peter Gearhart, Rita Jeffers*, Reade Milne, Rachel Orr, Jim Rogers*, Michael Watts
Others:

 

 Melinda Loberg,
Recorder – Marni Lipke,
Daedalus Projects – Richard Marks, Christina Opper, Amanda Sawyer,
Tappé Architects – Chris Blessen,
Town:

 

 Selectboard – Jim Rogers, Jeff Kristal, Larry Gomez
Treasurer – Jonathan Snyder
Planning Bd. – Elaine Miller, Ben Robinson
FinCom – Mary Ellen Larsen, Sarah York
Press:

 

 MV Times – Rich Saltzberg
Vineyard Gazette – Louisa Hufstader
  * TSBC members late arrivals or early departures.

1. Call To Order & Virtual Meeting Reminders

  • The Tisbury School Building Committee 2019-2020 (TSBC) meeting was called to order at 5:11PM.
    • (Recorder’s note: Discussions are summarized and grouped for clarity and brevity.)
  • Chair Harold Chapdelaine reviewed the protocol for remote meetings occasioned by the pandemic. The meeting was being recorded for posting, along with all background
    documents, on the Project website http://www.tisbury-school-project.com. All participants were welcome. In order to facilitate the technology he asked that:

    • microphones be muted to reduce background noise,
    • participants raise hands either by Zoom option or on video;
    • non-TSBC members turn off their video so members could be more easily identified.

2. Tisbury School Building Committee (TSBC) Attendance – was called.

3 . Review and Approval of Minutes from the September 21 , 2020 Meeting and approval of the Minutes from October 5, 2020

  • ON A MOTION DULY MADE BY MS. RACHEL ORR AND SECONDED BY MR. MICHAEL WATTS THE MINUTES OF THE SEPTEMBER 21, 2020 MEETING WERE UNANIMOUSLY APPROVED AS EXTENSIVELY REVISED: 6 AYES, 0 NAYS, 0 ABSTENTIONS: PRIN. JOHN CUSTER—AYE, MS. READE MILNE—AYE, MS. ORR—AYE, MR. PETER GEARHART—AYE, MR. WATTS—AYE, MR. CHAPDELAINE—AYE.

* Mr. Sean DeBettencourt entered the meeting at 5:14PM.

  • ON A MOTION DULY MADE BY MR. WATTS AND SECONDED BY MR. DEBETTENCOURT THE MINUTES OF THE OCTOBER 5, 2020 MEETING WERE APPROVED AS CORRECTED FOR A TYPO: 6 AYES, 0 NAYS, 1 ABSTENTION due to absence: PRIN. CUSTER—ABSTAIN, MS. MILNE—AYE, MS. ORR—AYE, MR. GEARHART—AYE, MR. DEBETTENCOURT—AYE, MR. WATTS—AYE, MR. CHAPDELAINE—AYE.

6 . Public Comments (See documents on file & website – Community Correspondence.)
* During this discussion Mr. Jim Rogers and Ms. Rita Jeffers entered the meeting at 5:26PM.

The Chair responded to a series of emails from Ms. Anna Edey about requests for information and protocol. The TSBC acknowledged her sincere desire to help and make it a better project, and hoped she would address the current schematic design.

7. Acknowledgment of Upcoming TSBC Meeting Schedule
(See below: Meetings/Events.)

The Town agreed the Martha’s Vineyard Film Center would be a good venue but further scheduling was postponed until after the October 20th joint meeting.

4 . Review of Schematic Design Cost Estimates and Updated Draft Project Budget
(See documents on file & below: Actions.)

The two independent estimates were within 2% of each other, and the proposed estimate was averaged between the two.

  • Construction costs were projected at $41,150,000 as a starting point, with an additional $1,640,000 in large scale photovoltaic not included.
  • “Soft” or ancillary costs were estimated based on similar projects:
    • Administration (legal, advertising, printing, etc.) $203,500;
    • Owner’s Project Manager (OPM) including an on-site representative $1,312,000;
    • architecture and design (including engineering) $4,345,000
    • miscellaneous (temporary facility with: utilities, permitting, moving, inspections/tests, etc.) $2,900,000;
    • furniture, fixtures, equipment (modest, but including building technology) $675,000;
    • construction and owners contingency (further contingency built into architect/design) $2,600,000 (5%).

For a total project estimate of $53,185,000, which was about $4,000,000 down from the previous estimates and below the $55,000,000 target.

  • Parents concerns focused on three issues:
    • does the plan meet the Education Plan;
    • how much will it cost; and
    • where will students be housed during construction.
  • A complete temporary school housing 300 students and 75 staff during 18 months to 2 years (essentially 2 school years) of the construction phase could cost up to $5,000,000,
    unless there was some mitigation, e.g. housing two or three grades somewhere else.

    • Both the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School (MVRHS) and Tisbury School were resistant to reprising the previous split.
    • The best solution would be to move to a different site, allowing both the School and the project greater autonomy, efficiency, safety and flexibility.
    • Mr. Richard Marks of Daedalus showed an example of a comparable, complete temporary school (no gym, no cafeteria) of used modulars suggesting that with transportation to the Island cost might go to $5,000,000. ‘Temporaries’ required normal safety systems such as sprinklers and were regulated as permanent structures if occupied over 180 days. Everyone was reluctant to pay 10% of project cost for 2 years of student housing—mirroring voter opposition and significant tax impact.
    • The TSBC and Selectmen were considering various alternatives and issues:
      • reducing the size of the trailers or “nice-to-haves”;
      • breakout temporaries from project 20-30 yr. bond for short term borrowing,
      • later Town use of ‘temporaries’, i.e. interim Town Hall housing, etc.
      • passing temporary modulars to the MVRHS renovation project;
      • options such as lease-to-buy—remembering short life span of temporaries.
  • Photovoltaic (PV) costs remained higher than estimated, but should be close to 80% (425 KW) and possibly net zero of school energy needs. One alternative was private investment through State recommended vendors, with payoffs usually in the form of electric bills ($250-300,000 per yr.), so although there would be an environmental benefit the cost would extend until payoff. Other alternatives included:
    • proposal as a separate Warrant article;
    • Cape Light Compact support/grants;
    • battery storage in case of power loss (expensive and short-term);
    • incorporation as part of environmental education.
  • As flexible furniture was part of the Education Plan it was suggested that soft cost estimate be tweaked up slightly ($30-50,000).
  • The TSBC explored whether a 5% contingency was sufficient. It was explained that there were various additional contingencies, e.g. a pre-bid 10% design contingency in
    addition to the post-bid 5% which included insurance, inflation, scaffolding, bonding, etc.) for a total “contingency” of about $11,000,000. However, it should be remembered
    that any unused/unspent contingency was town ‘savings’ in that it would not need to be borrowed.

    • A Construction Manager at Risk (CM@R) which set a fixed construction cost would reduce this, but increase up front costs. Tappé and one of the estimators strongly
      recommended this course, which involved the general contractor early in the process — tending to clear out unknowns.
  • The TSBC emphasized that at this point the discussion was entirely exploratory and speculative and asked everyone, including the press, not to publicize them as plans.

5 . Review of Agenda for Joint Meeting with Select Board, Finance Committee, School Committee and Parent Teacher Organization (PTO—Scheduled for 10/20/20 @ 5:30PM

  • Although this joint meeting would have upwards of 20 participants (before the public) it was agreed that personal cameras would be left on for transparency’s sake.
  • The issue of a project film was again raised. Covid-19 restrictions delayed videoing the building while in use (see below: Actions).
    • Tappé could craft exonometric drawings (including flyovers) and a virtual walkthrough that would allow the public to experience and visualize the building.
  • The temporary school would need to be part of this meeting’s agenda.
  • In closing Mr. Chapdelaine emphasized the hard work of the TSBC in reducing cost, while maintaining efficiency and the Education Plan, changing: the cafeteria and music rooms, repurposing open space, pressuring for net zero energy consumption. He expressed pride in their progress during difficult times.

8. Other Topics Not Reasonably Anticipated by the Chair Within 48 Hours of the Meeting – None

Adjournment

  • ON A MOTION DULY MADE BY MR. DEBETTENCOURT AND SECONDED BY PRIN. CUSTER THE TISBURY SCHOOL BUILDING COMMITTEE MEETING UNANIMOUSLY ADJOURNED AT 6:50PM: 6 AYES, 0 NAYS, 0 ABSTENTIONS: PRIN. JOHN CUSTER—AYE, MS. MILNE—AYE, MS. ORR—AYE, MR. GEARHART—AYE, MR. ROGERS—AYE, MS. JEFFERS—AYE, MR. DEBETTENCOURT—AYE, MR. WATTS—AYE, MR. CHAPDELAINE—AYE.

Appendix A: Meetings/Events:

  • TSBC/TSC/SB/FinCom/PTO – 5:30 PM, Tues day, October 20 , 2020 – Zoom

Appendix B: Actions

Ms. Opper /Daedalus – report Goodnow Elementary furniture information.
Prin. Custer/Daedalus – report annual School fuel/power bills re: PV pricing.
Mr. Chapdelaine/Daedalus – revitalize energy forum/workshop.
Daedalus – access previous video for “building in use” footage.
Mr. Chapdelaine/Daedalus – educate TSBC re: low bid vs. CM@R

Appendix C: Documents on File: Available at :
http://www.tisbury.mvyps.org / click on Tisbury School Project
(Official archive hard copies on file at Tisbury Town Hall & Tisbury School):

  • Agenda 10/19/20
  • Chapdelaine email re: TSBC Response to Anna Edey – October emails (3 p.) 10/19/20
  • Chapdelaine/Cohen emails re: Meetings for Municipal Presentations (2 p.) 10/19/20
  • Tisbury School, School Building Committee Meeting October 19, 2020 (8 p.)

Minutes respectfully submitted by Office On Call/Marni Lipke.

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