THOMPSON SCHOOL BUILDING COMMITTEE

Thursday, October 5, 2006

Thompson Middle School Media Center

 

Minutes

 

 

I.               CALL TO ORDER

 

David Johnson called the meeting to order at 6:30 p.m.

 

II.             ROLL CALL

 

Members Present:                                           Members Absent:

 

David Johnson, Chairman                               James Naum              

Laurence Consiglio, Vice-Chairman  

Suzanne Wargo, Secretary

John Rice                                                       

Joseph Adiletta          

Merc Robbins                                                                        

Jody Houghton                                  

Fred Wojick

William Witkowski                            

Robert Bentley

 

 

Also present:

 

Jim Beaudin, Fletcher Thompson

Pat Delaney, Gilbane

Peter Adamovich, Gilbane

Steve Kononchik, Gilbane

Michael Martin, Financial Director of the Town of Thompson

Bill Birch, Director of Facilities

David Deforest, Project Manager

Michael Jolin, Superintendent of Schools

William H. St. Onge, Town Attorney

 

Members of the public and members of the press.

 

III.           CITIZENS COMMENTS

 

Todd Dexter, resident of Sterling and a field representative from Bricklayers and Craftworkers Local 1 in Connecticut asked permission to present a news expose on the low masonry bidder, DπAgostino & Associates from December 2005 from Fox News in Boston.

 

Motion by Laurence Consiglio, seconded by Jody Houghton to allow Mr. Dexter to make a presentation. A roll call vote was takenãall members voted yes. PassedãUnanimous.

 

Mr. Dexter played a video from a newscast from Fox 25 in Boston regarding companies in Massachusetts who employ illegal immigrants as workers.

 

Luigi Torkill lead organizer for the union read several letters regarding the awarding of the masonry contract for the project to companies who hire undocumented workers.

 

David Coleman, a resident of Thompson stated he wants to make sure everyone is looking out for the best interests of the Town.

 

Steve Dahl, a resident of Thompson stated he feels it would be advantageous for the Town and school project to use union contractors.

 

Tom Paine, a resident of Dayville noted that union jobs he has worked on are always under budget and on time and they employ hard workers. He has a family to feed and taxes to pay and urged the Committee to get back on the team and get the union workers back to work.

 

Dan Roy, a taxpayer in Thompson, urged the Committee to use union contractors and noted there are a lot union people in Thompson.

 

Steven Snipes, 3^rd generation laborer reported Lighthouse Masonry has failed to perform any projects in Connecticut even though it was awarded a job in Middletown. The Middletown mayor and Building Committee imposed a zero tolerance for exploiting workers and using undocumented workers and required background checks be performed on Lighthouseπs employees. At that time Lighthouse withdrew their bid. In Plainfield, DπAgostino was fined for non payment of prevailing wages and has not bid on a project with Turner Construction since that project.

 

Joseph Abruzzinni asked the Committee several questions and asked the Committee to ask the same questions of Gilbane. (The questions were in writing and were distributed to the Committee).

 

Laurence Consiglio noted he has had experience with DπAgostino. Six years ago he worked on a job with them and the Attorney General became involved. Out of 70 workers only 7 were declared by DπAgostino. Work stoppages on the job occurred.

 

IV.           APPROVAL OF MINUTES

 

Motion by Suzanne Wargo, seconded by Fred Wojick to approve the minutes from the August 21, 2006 Building Committee Meeting. John Rice was listed as both present and absent when in fact he was absent. This correction will be made. PassedãUnanimous.

 

V.             REPORT OF THE FINANCIAL DIRECTORãMICHAEL MARTIN

 

Michael Martin presented the report of the Financial Director.

 

VI.           PAYMENT OF BILLS

 

The statement for secretarial services was provided to the Committee for its information.

 

Motion by John Rice, seconded by Merc Robbins to approve payment of invoice dated August 25, 2006 from RECON Engineers, P.C. in the amount of $981.88. A roll call vote was taken. All members voted yes. PassedãUnanimous.

 

VII.         REPORT OF THE CONSTRUCTION MANAGER

 

David Johnson reported Vikas Nagardeoleker was called up to active duty in the National Guard and will be leaving for Iraq shortly. Contact information for Vikas will be provided to the Committee.

 

William Witkowski arrived at 7:09 p.m.

 

David DeForest reviewed an issue with the steel bids in that Topper and Griggs Group, LLC placed the lowest bid but there was an error on the update statement for available work capacity. Gilbane determined Topper and Griggs would be unable to do the work based on the information presented. When the company was notified of the error they made a correction, however the next bidder in line, Steeltech is requesting the first bid be rejected since it was invalid due to the error. Eric Champagne as President spoke on behalf of Topper and Griggs and stated a clerical error was made which should not invalidate the bid and his company can provide the necessary work required for the project. William E. Kechane, President of Steeltech urged the Board to reject the bid as non-responsive. The State of Connecticut has developed rules and systems to regulate the bid process. There is a penalty under State Statutes in which the Town could lose the funding for the project and he encouraged the Committee to determine that the bid from Topper and Griggs Group, LLC as null and void.

 

David Johnson stated the issue will be investigated and a legal opinion will be obtained and advice of counsel will be followed.

 

David DeForest presented a spreadsheet containing the results of the recent bid opening.

 

The status of the budget based on the results of the bids packages was reviewed and discussed.

 

Lowering the grade of baseball field will result in the savings of $65,000.00 in that fill will not need to be purchased for use in other parts of the project.

 

Using all the bid numbers as they were received the budget is over $2,458,826.00. However, Gilbane has reviewed all the bid packages and has identified approximately $1,590,000.00 as an initial savings projection. After that is taken into account the projected overrun on the project is $868,826.00.

 

Gilbane suggested one way of possibly balancing the budget is to reduce the contingency from 10% to 6.6%. In addition, they will recommend that seven bid packages be sent out for rebid.

 

Steve Kononchik noted Federal Express delivered several bid packages after the deadline.

 

Robert Bentley asked where the alternates are in relation to the totals. David DeForest noted the alternates are not included in any numbers at this time with the exception of the $65,000.00 reduction for the baseball field which has been taken into account.

 

Peter Adamovich reviewed each bid individually and discussed Gilbaneπs recommendation on how to handle each bid such as rebidding or cost reductions that will be requested. The process for rebidding was discussed. The Committee has the discretion to reject any and all bids and rebid if they feel necessary. Changes orders could be used to reduce prices as well. The last resort to balance the budge would be a contingency reduction.

 

Steve Kononchik noted that revised and refined numbers would be available at the next meeting. The scope review will be completed on 90-95% of the project. Once the scope review is completed Gilbane will meet with Fletcher Thompson. The subcommittee will meet next Thursday to review status of where the project stands and therefore fine tuned numbers will be available for the October 16, 2006 full Committee meeting.

 

Jody Houghton asked how the issues addressed tonight will be handled as part of the schedule. David Johnson noted Fletcher Thompson and Gilbane will conduct the scope review and come to the Committee with recommendations at the next meeting. Contracts will be discussed and awarded that meeting.

 

Laurence Consiglio asked about Gilbane determined the seven packages to rebid. Some packages will be rebid due to change in scope. In addition, those packages with no bids or not enough bids will be rebid. In addition, several of the packages produced large amounts of questions from the contracts so they need to be revised to address those concerns.

 

Gilbane will come to the committee with proposed changes to the scope for approval.

 

Robert Bentley asked why with only two bidders in electrical that package would not be rebid. It was noted there is a challenge just to get bids on the electrical package. The location of Thompson makes it difficult to get licensed CT electricians.

 

The alternate of $65,000 reduction due to change in elevation of the ball field was discussed. The savings would be realized by not having to purchase gravel and sand for fill on project. The ball field will be a foot lower.

 

Motion by Fred Wojick, seconded by Robert Bentley to accept alternate number 12, revised grading at new baseball field for reduction in cost of $65,000.00. A roll call vote was takenãall members voted yes. PassedãUnanimous.

 

David Johnson discussed considering alternate number 8, elimination of the acoustic deck in the multipurpose room.

 

Motion by Fred Wojick, seconded by William Witkowski to accept the elimination of acoustical deck in the multi purpose room. Discussion was held. Robert Bentley suggested waiting until next meeting to see more definite numbers before this alternate is cut. Laurence Consiglio noted he is opposed to cutting this alternate. Discussion was held. A roll call vote was takenãall members voted no with the exception of William Witkowski who voted yes. Motion failed.

 

Motion by Suzanne Wargo, seconded by Laurence Consiglio to reject bids 6A, 8B, 10C, 11A, 11B, 12A and 14A. A roll call vote was takenãall members voted yes. PassedãUnanimous.

 

Motion by Laurence Consiglio, seconded by Robert Bentley to revisit, redefine and rebid 6A, 8B, 10C, 11A, 11B, 12A and 14A. A roll call vote was takenãall members voted yes. PassedãUnanimous.

 

David DeForest reported the process is underway for material testing and surveying.

 

David DeForest noted the identification of workers on the site would consist of a sticker with a number and the sticker would be affixed to the hard hat for any contractor. Any contractors entering the building would have to obtain written permission to enter the building. No background checks will be conducted. Discussion was held. John Rice asked that a procedure be put in place for the stickers to be returned once the contractor has completed his/her work. Robert Bentley stated he is more in favor of a photo identification badge system. The majority of the Committee agreed that photo identification of each contractor should be utilized.

 

Motion by Fred Wojick, seconded by Dr. Adiletta to direct Gilbane to proceed with obtaining photo identification for all construction workers. PassedãUnanimous.

 

David DeForest noted the on site trailer should be in place by October 23, 2006.

 

Future Meetings:

 

            Thursday, October 5, 2006, 6:30 p.m. Committee Meeting (at TMS media center)

            Thursday, October 12, 2006, 1:00 Subcommittee Meeting

            Monday, October 16, 2006, 6:30 p.m. Committee Meeting

            Monday, October 30, 2006, 6:30 p.m. Committee Meeting

 

VIII.       REPORT OF THE ARCHITECT

 

Jim Beaudin from Fletcher Thompson will be supporting the Committee and Gilbane through this effort and will be meeting to come up with ideas to get the project within budget.

                       

IX.           REPORT OF THE BUILDING SUB-COMMITTEE

 

 

X.             COMMUNICATIONS

 

The following communications were provided in the Committeeπs packets for their information:

 

Letter dated August 11, 2006 to David Johnson from Douglas H. McCloskey, PE. Of Michael Horton Associates, Inc. regarding completion of the review.

 

Letter to Dr. Jolin dated September 1, 2006 from Brian Mahoney of the State of Connecticut Department of Education regarding the reimbursement for the oil tank removal. Michael Martin noted the Town has received payment in full on this project.

 

Three public service alerts from the Laborers New England Region Organizing Fund.

 

Email dated September 12, 2006 to David Johnson from Vikas Nagardeolekar regarding the football field. David Johnson noted the dimensions of the field do meet regulations for a football field.

 

 

XI.           CHANGE ORDERS

 

None.

 

XII.         OTHER BUSINESS

 

None.

XIII.       PUBLIC COMMENT

Mike Sykes commended the Committee on requiring the photo identification of all contractors as a good step in protecting the children.

 

Luigi Torkill distributed questions for the Committee to ask of Gilbane.

 

Harry Coleman a Thompson taxpayer stated if he is going to pay taxes in the Town then the taxes should go to hiring a fair contractor who is above board.

 

Joe Ambrozzinio distributed documentation regarding DπAgostino and OSHA violations.

 

 

 

XIV.       ADJOURNMENT

 

Motion by John Rice, seconded by Fred Wojick to adjourn. PassedãUnanimous.

 

There being no more business to come before the committee the meeting was adjourned at 8:35 p.m.

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

Roberta Baublitz

Recording Secretary