good morning everybody um today is the March is March 15th and this is the elementary school building committee meeting and see we have a quum although we we're missing several people so when they arrive I will uh not let everyone know that they are here too I'm going to call the meeting to order at 8:35 and my first task as people know is to make sure everyone can hear and be heard okay so Angelica won't be joining us she's out of the country um I'm going to uh call in names as I see them on the screen just let us know if you can hear us and we can hear you Doug I'm here yes thank you Jennifer I'm here good morning good morning Jonathan good morning Paul presant rert yes loud and clear and Simone yes so right now we're missing Tammy Allison and Elicia um oh so Alicia just texted me that she's not going to be able to join either so uh two people are confirmed not joining us so I am and Tammy has hi Tammy can you just let us know if you can hear us and we can hear you Tammy can you say hi just so we can know that you can we can hear you you're on mute than she's trying to figure it out okay well I'll wait for her to let us she you can just let us know Tammy if you can hear us you're up oh so morget I'm turning it over to you with the agenda um yeah and we're we're at a pretty exciting place in the school building yeah it is unbelievably exciting so let me first pull up the agenda and then we'll do my usual overview kind of three three month look ahead you know I think all the folks are in the construction World know that the typical on a typical construction site you do a one or two we look ahead with the contractor um this so this is what we're doing on a monthly basis is the three-month look ahead which gives you a little bit better perspective so am I sharing can you guys see the agenda yes okay so um call to order we're gonna I'm going to do the schedule overview uh we're going to talk about the early site package and we're going to talk about the groundbreaking event that's coming up denisco is going to give us an update on on permitting um we're going to give a report on the really great process that we just concluded with the playground equipment working group give an update on the design subcommittee there are uh a couple of invoices to look at so um I'm going to take that down and I'm going to move on to the three three month look ahead and I'm going to highlight a couple of things so um I mean hopefully everybody's familiar with us now um here's here's us this is this group so and here's today's meeting so um i' I've kept in here a couple of weeks past just to sort of comment on those items but looking forward our next meeting is April 26 which is the Friday after school vacation week then we have a meeting in May on May 17th um off the calendar but I want to highlight that both Kathy and have a conflict with the current August meeting date so we're going to bump that meeting to uh August 16th and you're going to see a change in your calendar as a result of that so I just wanted to let you know why we're we were doing that so um so on the what's the consultant team been up to so responded to msba comments um we have been working the team's been working on putting together together the pre-qualification materials which are going to be advertised shortly and I want to also thank Simone for hu and Bob parent for a huge amount of help they've given us with managing um the procurement of a testing and inspections agency which was just concluded and also for the their input on the pre-qualification process um in the meantime the design team is working towards doing what it's called the 90% set so it's 90% construction documents which you're going to the cost estimators late April and we're going to have a cost estimate reconciliation on May 15 and then we have a meeting with you um that Friday so the reconciliation is Wednesday the meeting is Friday so it will be short but hopefully we'll be reporting that we are on budget and then um right at the end of May we have to submit that 90% set to the msba um I'm going to leave it to cassa and Rick and Tim to talk about some more about the um the early site package what I'm going to focus on on this line is just talking about the fact that we with the with the contractor on site we have now launched a series of communications that are are going out to tell people about the pretty significant change in traffic on the site so those notices started in the in the superintendent's newsletter last week and are going to continue for the next few weeks but then we're sort of going to layer on several other items um from a The public's the broad Public's perspective I think one of the first times that many um people on the school committee School Community are going to be aware of this change is going to be next Tuesday when um the the consultant team is giving an update to the school committee about the about the project and we will include an update about the schedule the the circulation change at that point we're going to sort of amp up the issue because right now the change to the school traffic circulation is slated to occur on Monday April 8th which is it's very intentional the contractor will be ready to do it at that point it's going to take over the southern half of the site it's going to result in you know significant changes so I want you all um to be aware of that and if you have questions about it we're going to be posting materials on the website Angela is going to be sending materials out the superintendent's newsletter um other venues so um that's that's going to be a big event because it's going to make the mo the week or two after that and we do have the scheduled a week before school vacation so we're going to do it for a week we're going to fine-tune it we're going to come back the last week of April hopefully with it sort of tuned up um with any Lessons Learned the last week of March on Tuesday the 26 and you should all have an invite from me and your calendar is the ground bribing so we'll talk a little bit more about that in the course of the project but the groundbreaking is going to occur before this change in traffic circulation um permitting I'm going to let um denisco talk about that construction meetings um we'll come back to that and then design coordination this is just a heads up that um we had a very good building design subcommittee at the end of February we had um the last of our playground working group meetings this week and Tim and Rick will talk about that um again Tuesday this come coming up is the school committee meeting in addition to getting an update because many many members of the school committee are new they're also going to be taking a vote on the proprietary items and I think we're going to talk about that a little bit later in the meeting we have a building design subcommittee meeting probably the last last or close to the last and we're still trying to land um the proposed the the next sustainability subcommittee so um and then the msba is going to be at the groundbreaking um but their next kind of task on our behalf now that the the um revised funding agreement has been signed for the additional reimbursement their next task for us is the review of the 90% documents at the end of so I'm going to stop for a moment and just ask if there are any questions about all of that okay I'm don't see any hands I will say we are coming to the end of what's been an incredibly complex period of multiple tasks interweaving and with the permitting concluding and the construction underway and the construction documents the design phase the design pieces related to construction documents coming to an end it's going to calm down the schedule is going to start to look very predictable I believe so um I do just want to ask cassena to just talk a little bit um just at a high level about the construction process I think the first construction meeting was last week this past week right this week yep that's right thank you good morning so the contractor uh gagle Uchi um the early site uh package contractor has mobilized on site and has started doing some Preparatory work there's a bit of irony in the fact that the work they're doing now is very small compared to the overall construction process but it is by far the most intrusive piece of the work because what they're doing even though they're only tasked with the early site package work with uh site preparation they are essentially establishing the new physical reality out on site right creating the um environment for the new traffic pattern for the uh cars to public cars to enter and leave through the north driveway only and establishing the construction fence around the site it is this week next week maybe the third week out is probably the most activity that the school Community is going to see sort of beyond that fence and changes once that settles down most construction activity is going to continue inside the fence they're going to have their own separate entrance on the south side and it will stay that way for the most part throughout the rest of a project even when we hire the main contractor to come and start raising the building inside that perimeter so far what gag Uchi has done is and and and as Margaret said we started having our onsite uh or um in Emerson person construction meetings this week um they've cleared um some of the areas of trees where construction's going to need to happen um they started work on widening the north driveway to add a third lane so that there could be one lane in two lanes out with a dedicated Lane for a left turn um over they started putting in some erosion controls around the Far Far Side of the field away from the school and that's going to continue and move its way toward the school in the coming week they are starting to bring on site their fencing and set it up again starting far from the school and then moving closer uh they've kept the playground operational this week but today will be the last day although I don't know how rainy it is out there today um and how getting used but so start starting Monday there's going to be a fence that goes um uh a little bit south of the school um it'll leave the south parking lot um operational because that is part of the current drop off pickup scenario that'll stay accessible until April 8th which is when the traffic pattern changes over um on site you do now have every day that work is happening um answer advisories our Clerk of a Works your Clerk of a works his name is Lea Higgins and he is an extremely um experienced individual both with managing Field construction geotechnical environmental issues there is coordination happening with the Conservation Commission to make sure that the work that's being done is fully compliant as Margaret said permitting um all required permitting um uh applications have been submitted and or completed um in the next uh week or so uh there's week and a half maybe you're going to start seeing some more um Paving and curb reconfigurations in order to allow cars to turn around um in order to in the parking lot in order to allow buses to drive up into what is currently the basketball court and set up their pattern driving around the back of the school as a busway um again that's preparation for the April 8th change in circulation pattern um there is one um unexpected well un expected unexpected you you dig in the ground you always expect something to find something um there's a piece of enabling work that requires uh modifying some underground drainage pipes and one of the pipes that was uh uh looked at not touched yet is found to be as best as containing material it is nothing alarming it is not Frable material that means it doesn't um when you break it it doesn't turn into breathable dust or anything that leeches it's stable it's been underground completely inaccessible to the public of the kids um but we're are following the correct procedure uh you know in terms of Permitting and removal of that there is going to be a cost of a project but it's well within the parameters of a project budget um we've given them a not to exceed limit of $177,000 to move forward with that um I'm going to pause and give Rick space here to fill in anything that I may have not touched on um thank you g no uh we've worked with gagle adauchi uh before uh they're very competent and Cooperative contractor they're flexible their superintendent seems to be a a good guy and somebody who can interface on the as needed with issues it might come up with a school being cheek and JW next to what they're doing and just the the espb bestus concrete pipe the only thing that's different about the handling of that is that they wrap it when it comes out of the ground and they put it in a different dumpster so it's not a uh it it's not a real big deal it's just a little different on handling and where it's got to go uh and now that we found that here we we know where to look uh for the main project which we'll be taking more out of it and when we'll design that in so that's about all I've got to add RI can I just ask you to speak to the reason for the tree removal because that I think it would be helpful for the folks on the committee to know why the which trees were removed and why okay the trees that were there were trees that were removed that will be in the way of the uh building the new building first and foremost th those are the the ones that are on the driveway coming in the South driveway coming in uh There Were Trees removed at the North driveway because that is being widened uh to allow three W Lanes of traffic um in and out both as a temporary basis and what will ultimately be the uh final condition of the school driveway when when the site is all completed and those trees up on the uh and Southeast were reviewed during a tree commission uh hearing and were approved at that and one of them was a tree that the tree Warden felt would be diseased and would come down in a couple years anyway and then there were a half dozen Trees East of the existing School between the school and the play fields that would come down for the softball fields and the and the play Fields they were right in the middle of the playfields for the final condition but they were taken down now because there is a fear of them being a visual obstruction to bus drivers who will be coming down on the east side of the building with kids running between the building and the Playfield so that's basically all the trees that came down were in the way of final construction and everything that remained uh like the rest of the trees along the the South entry driveway are trees that will stay uh in the final condition um I just want to pause just for a second to uh say that Deb Leonard has joined us and Deb just if you could unmute to say so we can make sure we can hear you I am here sorry I'm late that's okay and I see rert has his hand up rert uh Rick um wait a minute Rick it's my understanding that the um some of the some of the trees that came down are are part of a plan to be uh reincorporated into the building a playground is that true good good good point rer yes our landscape architect incorporated into the rain Garden um sections of trunk uh both as round slabs and with some main limbs attached as features in the rain Garden uh and the uh forest floor areas uh that are out near the Eastern uh boundary of the site and those are put aside and will be incorporated in the final design by the uh main project contractor thanks rert so I think that's all in the construction update that we have at the moment any questions on that any part of it okay we can move on so the next item on the agenda was to talk about the early sight package which we we've covered quite a bit of um so let's talk a little bit about the groundbreaking event Kathy do you want to describe what's going to what we're going to do or would you like me to do that um I I can describe it so can Paul um as it we have a we have a and then you can add to it Margaret um we have an agenda with a series of speakers all of whom will speak quite quickly on you know and hopefully fairly coordinated topics Paul will be there to open it up I'll give an overview about how exciting the project is with some our journey there and key elements Doug will be speaking uh about education and kids Sarah Marshall who is chair of the school building committee will be there um along with Doug I I think we have um well Lynn gmer our council president um and uh the plan you know as we're starting to talk about content we want to give a big thanks to all the residents of Amis who have supported the school and the construction sign gives that thanks to them I believe we're going to be joined by Joe comford and Mindy Dom Paul um yes that's and um we'll have a representative come from msba so that that that's an agenda and then there'll be a series of photo opportunities with various groups so this includes Tammy kids from the school um any anyone and everyone from the building committee is invited and if you're there we will recognize you and there'll be uh either pictures by the fence pictures by the welcome sign um the school committee uh will be will all know about this state where on as Margaret said we're on she's on with proprietary autums on March 19th and the school committee is all invited as well so that that's the agenda and it really is a celebration of groundbreaking so it's not a um prolong set of talks I did did I leave anything out Margaret or Paul no that that was perfect okay I see Deb's hand is up yeah I'm again sorry I'm late I just wondered if there was thought given to to some of the uh community members who are um critical in getting the uh override supported um Matt Holloway and Kiren hird and those folks Deb I've I'm letting them all know about the date okay so the the effort that went into it um was very broad um so you know so um I know know several of the leadership people were asking about the date so we'll be announcing it again on Monday night as a council meeting so we'll be doing our best to let everyone know because it's a a people are it's basically an invitation to come and celebrate yeah thank you yeah you're back um so as this going to get pushed out to the pgos for the there's a superintendent certainly newsletter but the pgos have their own newsletters um yes it is okay thank you yeah we have I I should explain so we have a subcommittee Angela I think is on vacation today and not here but Angela myself and Tammy and Deb Debbie W Morland who are gonna sort of coordinate there there's multiple Tammy sort of rattled off a whole list of ways we have to push stuff out to the school Community um one thing I um would like to Circle back to um if if there aren't any other questions about the groundbreaking um I wanted to just ask I'm not sure in fact I'm pretty I'm I am sure that this committee hasn't seen the plan for the change to the traffic circulation which has been closely coordinated with the school so rert for rert and Tammy and Doug and Bob parent um this is very familiar but I think it would be good before we move on to the other items just to ex can Rick or Tim could you show the plan and just quickly walk their committee through what this change is going to look like and I apologize I should have asked you it's gonna take me a minute to pull it up but uh okay so while you're doing that I mean in a nutshell um in order to allow the contractor to operate safely and at the scale they need to on the southern half of the site starting on April 8th the only entrance into the site from the south is going to be for construction vehicles and all the traffic going to and from the school is going to go out of the north entrance so I think everybody already is aware that the traffic along Southeast Street is um you know is challenging at the times that of school drop off and pick up but um yeah Tim's GNA sort of explain this plan that's been developed to allow traffic the drop off and pickup to happen on the um on the north north end of the site only and Tim I've got it up on the screen so we could just talk about it thank you for looking for it Tim do you want to talk through it or do you want me to sure so all traffic is going to move to the north entrance uh with a widened uh what was uh the exit for the entire site so one lane will come in and two will go out and so as traffic comes in um as you get to the North End of the parking lot car parent staff traffic will turn South going through the parking lot staff little park and people dropping off uh will queue in the parking lot and with the help of Staff uh drop off in front of the building where the buses parked now in the existing drop off and uh pickup configuration uh as that turn was made from the parking area you'll notice there's an area for vans that will be taken out of Lu um and then that's how the parent and car circulation will work um going back to the North End of the site where cars turned right coming in buses will turn left they will stop at the playground north of the building and that's where students will be discharged and get off the bus um and then the buses will continue to circle around to the east of the building where some of those trees were removed to improve visibility and Fa safety and then they will circle around the south of the building and rejoin the loop and exit uh passing the building exiting at the North entrance to the site the vans that we talked about when we came to the South will take the same route as the bus but they will have that pull off area so that they are separated uh by Jersey barriers uh for a safe drop off condition separated from traffic in all directions uh as part of this circulation there's a little bit work that has been mentioned the widening of the entrance um tree removal um increasing the radius at some of the turns a cut through the existing median of the parking lots and repaving uh the back driveway that uh goes behind the building once this is in place uh no school traffic we'll be using the southern entrance to the site that will be construction vehicles only blocked off Margaret you're muted so any questions about that before we take it down we'll be talking about this again on um at the school committee meeting to start the Outreach about it I see Jonathan's hand is up and depths Jonathan at pickup I assume this would be very similar but just just to ask you to walk through uh if there's any difference in in how things would circulate at pickup time the circulation pattern are the same for pickup and drop off uh queuing will happen in uh the southern facing drive lane um so it will have to be essentially uh the pattern is the same and staff parking will happen after discharge so that there isn't the conflict between queuing cars and parked cars exiting leaving and pulling into the traffic lane then I should also note which I didn't I was walking through um this obviously does reduce the total parking count from the existing configuration so there are going to be some additional uh spots striped at the and then those will be access controled too because obviously those cars will not be uh allowed to leave while there are buses par there and children um going to and from them okay Deb um two questions for students who walk or um come to school on bicycles how does that fit into this flow pattern because it looks to me like they're going to have to cross where the buses are peeling off up there yeah that is true they will have to cross where the buses turn um and we do expect that there is now there will be staff out there to uh maintain control and uh ensure safety okay and and bikers as well indeed yes and then traffic management at the southeast intersection there is there is it just going to be the way it is now so um what we're gonna do Deb actually Cass can you take this down for a minute we're gon to um for the couple of weeks ahead of the um the change and you know through the process until it settles down we're going to use electronic signage um trying to get the right drawing here and use electronic signage from all the the various directions to sort of show people what this is going to look like you know to caution them that there's going to be um a change hang on one second here we go can everybody see this I'll try to make it a little bigger but you know here's so the issue as everybody knows is that this this part of um the the road system is is very busy now when there are when the school is going through drop off and pickup but we're going to deploy six signs starting um in just a week or two that are going to tell people about the traffic change that are going to point them to the website to indicate that there's um to to make let sh people know and use public Communications to get the word out so um I I think you this commit the committee members here can really help by um offering us any other sort of avenues that we can use um so I I'm happy to send around we do have a Communications plan that sort of lists what's happening each week to sort of start to get the word out but um yeah this this will be a big change and it will take a while for tra local traffic to adjust around it but I think what we can do is tell people early and often and um I I do believe it's the issue is going to be for you know an hour in the morning and an hour in the afternoon and those times are already challenging on this particular this particular part of the city circulation system so it followup dou Doug has his hand up also I think I might be able to clarify a question that that she was asking sorry they're doing announcements here so you may hear some background noise from me but but um so I think Deb was asking specifically at the southern end where the turn happens there'll be a stop sign there so in inside the campus when they come and they go to the southern end where the new cut through is yeah there'll be a stop sign there they'll also be staffed there to direct and control as people go to to do drop off or pickup in that area does that answer your question Deb not really no I mean that left so the left turn from Southeast onto Main Street gets backed up as it is and I've always wanted there to be like a staggered Green in each Direction going north and going south I don't know if that's possible but um between the buses turning and um I mean the pvta buses turning South on Southeast Street and people and students going to the university and turning left there um that's that that's my concern it's bad enough yeah well I will say that we did um when we started discussion a quite a long time ago with Guilford um from the DPW one of the things we found is that that particular traffic signal is an older signal that is not it's not easy to program for the kind and if you had a new traffic signal there you'd have more choices for programming and we don't with that sign so we've got to sort of create a projective sort of area around and just and tell people rert you have your hand up yeah I just wanted to um wait a minute there I just wanted to tell folks um uh that are concerned about that double line of cars queuing up for afternoon pickup on the west side of the parking lot um folks who aren't familiar that mirrors or or replicates an existing system that the uh Tammy and the folks at Fort River have figured out how to manage very effectively uh right now the double line of cars is in the south parking lot instead of the west parking lot but it's the same kind of activity the same kind of procedure and I think the parents uh will find it similar enough that it will not be that hard uh to adjust where the queue is and how to take turns to to pull forward to pick up kids so I think it'll work really well yeah and I I also just want to thank Doug and Tammy um and ret again because this was developed denisco developed this approach with a lot of input from them Doug the one other thing I'll mention for for devb is just on on Street um the police will also be there to help direct traffic especially in the early days as as as to manage people coming in and out um so I think that's another factor and and how and how long we'll need to have that kind of support we'll dep you know we'll live with the circumstance and see what we need but but you know at that sort of pull out and and the complications of those intersections there's going to be a a uh an officer there to help direct that does resolve my question thank you great okay well again you heard it here first um but I think it there's a lot of work that's gone into it which isn't to say it's perfect we're going to have to find tune it after we try it out for a few days but thank you to everybody in this group who's contributed to the solution and the roll out so um more to come on that so I wanna I think maret wa Paul's hand is up Paul yes can I just say add one thing I think the emphasis that we as committee and others need to say is that the traffic is going to be difficult there's a lot of construction going to be happening during this entire time there's a lot of truck traffic people if they're not going to Fort River School should avoid this area and seek alternate roots if at all possible because it's just going it's going to be you know especially during school and during rush hours um it's going to be difficult so uh there's construction on College Street there's other construction projects as well so I think to our friends and neighbors and you know people we talk with try to avoid the the area I mean one of the things that I like about this approach is that it is setting us up for the ultimate change that is coming with a new building which is that we are separating it's the beginning of the separation of buses and cars from you know North and South so it's it's sort of a a first step on the way to that final condition Jonathan has his hand up this is and you may already have this on your radar but um UMass so this is going to be kind of two-ended thing UMass will have their pickup day um for students and their their drop off day in September for students I think sometimes that lands on a Friday in addition to the weekend and just at some point someone should if they haven't already just kind of check in with UMass because they they like to redirect traffic that's part of what they do and some of that comes down route nine um okay we will check on okay Deb's hand went up again maret sorry so yeah I'm also telling um students in whatever way possible because that's a route to campus as well as a route home to um The Pike yeah all righty so I think we're going to move to the next item the agenda which is an update on permitting and um sort of an up an update also on the Corine surfacing and the waiver of liability that um denisco described at our last meeting so uh Donna Tim Rick do you want to start with that I can give an update on permitting um so essentially all of our hearings are complete uh we have not seen but we know that there's a draft uh set of conditions um the planning board um you'll recall that we've met with uh so board of appeals Conservation Commission uh uh design review board those meetings are now complete uh there is supplemental information that we will have to provide to them for example when the Corine decision is finalized we will have to uh file that with the Conservation Commission when we have the final sign for the signage that will have to go for the design review board uh but essentially that process is complete and we have all of the conditions and approvals that we need at this point we do have a meeting with Rob Moore next week to talk about building permitting and the specifics of that and there are some additional meetings that we need to schedule at the fire department and such just to review all the details but in essence we are at the point where most of the work of the permitting process is complete and we are in good standing with all of the boards that we have been um I don't know Rick if you want to talk talk about thean issue um no we're in the process of filing believe it or not a demo permit for taking down the outdoor toilet building and uh a uh building permit for the early site package because the building will ultimately sit on the dirt uh but those are in process and we'll be submitting them next week and then um subsequent to I can report the subsequent to the last meeting denisco Donna did provide as the leader of the firm a draft waiver of liability for the town to review Paul do you have any comment about that I know it's under review yes so the town her attorney I just checked in they haven't returned they haven't gotten back to us as whether that they advise us to sign that or not okay so I think that's everything we have to report on that but we can turn to an update on the playground equipment working group um which wrapped up its last meeting yesterday it was a great process so Tim do you want to sort of show everybody where we landed sure so after a series of uh very productive meetings with the playground working group um we arrived at a design uh that we feel incorporates uh a lot of the concerns of the members of the group that there was a range of uh activities that um were appropriate for all of the ages that will be using it from K through five um there was an appropriate mix of uh equipment that is fully accessible and challenging for all individuals um and then we were able to incorporate a lot of the specifically requested items um uh a lot of swings uh you can see in the foreground of this picture there are what are called oodle swings uh that allow multiple uh kids to sit on and then there are a lot of um devices that provide sensory input there's rer table actually I'm going to take this down and show you something that might be a little bit more illustrative um uh we have just a little bit of as you go through the pieces Tim I know one of the things Tammy had mentioned is the goaga pit and there is there is one so there is sorry it's taking so long look up what is a Gaga pit here we got this one see this a little bit better so starting with the Ood swings uh that multiple K kits can sit on there is a roller table right here which is actually uh a series of rollers that you can pull yourself through this tube and uh feel the um rollers on your back uh there is a fully accessible um weo round that you can uh be in and uh by turning the handle and sudden the entire structure rotates um uh there was a lot of discussion about the momentum of play in the working group kids tend to like to travel in closed loops and there are multiple closed Loops that are accessible and otherwise within the playground so you can go up the ramps and come down you can go up the ramps and Veer off onto other overhead climbing structures and bridges same as you get over here there are interesting rope climbing multiple types of slides musical Play Elements to the north of the playground and then uh a series of swings and then uh you know one of the other considerations that was widely talked about in the group was shade to make sure that that was there and we've even moved some site planting to the southern edge of the playground so that as those trees grows there will cover even more of the playground with shade throughout the day but in this video you can see the relationship of the playground uh just north of the cafeteria um and then there is some hardscaped area in between the soft surface playground and the building that will be painted with games and then to the west to the left of this view here are the basketball courts and to the right north of the playground are the athletic fields which will also be available for um students during recess and JY uh but you know after a series of meetings in a very productive process we are add a playground design that meets the budget um and the only decision left is uh how exactly will be procured um it is going before the school committee as a prioritary vote so we get exactly what is designed um another way we be to go to the sa Buist but that decision is yet to be made Deb uh just to be sure the overhead climbing structure is what I would call monkey bars yeah thank you yeah sorry you know I I um listened in on the uh a couple of the meetings and the final one uh first of all Doug Tammy you the staff you have you know this already but they're fabulous and they came and you know they were intensely involved from the gym the special needs kids and everything else on talking about the way this would work and one person um at the end when they were seeing this she was thanking the design team um for being so responsive and moving things around and thinking of the equipment and her summary was we're creating a magical play playground for kids or Playland for children um you know on a just the excitement of some of these um quite different than many of seen and as Tim just mentioned this this running up a ramp going over somewhere and coming down somewhere else there's there's a pattern where you can be constantly moving and you can be moving with other children you know there's room for two people doing it at the same time so it it's a it's an exciting it's an exciting development that just started with pieces of equipment um yeah it's been a great process so and it's done the slides that Tim has just shown um he I think he sent me a set either yesterday or this morning but I'll make sure that we post them in the packet for today so if anyone wants to go back and show this to others uh you you'll be able to show it as part of the um so it'll be today's meeting packet um for for the playground equipment all right thanks Tim so but back to you the next item was an update on the our last design subcommittee meeting U some background noise here I'm trying to mute it so we have a we did a meet uh last time uh basically confirming uh some color palets I don't have uh have to share because we have the subsequent uh design uh building committee meeting on the 26th uh day of the groundbreaking and at that meeting uh we will presenting a lot more some finalized exterior uh patterns and materials uh and then the full development of interior floor patterns uh color pallets uh that we discussing with the group yeah and I want to add um there was a good conversation at the end of the playground working group about how the colors of the playground equipment will be coordinated with accent colors on the building and I think it's actually going to be a really nice feature that is going to pull the whole thing together from a color perspective so the other thing we might want to do Tim just in terms of pictures as the community starts to say okay this is real this there's a whole layout of site design with some Trails rain Gardens you know a path around the the school so just I know you've sent us some of those pictures but I I I want to be able to show some of it so just as long as we have them in the packet that that as you said there's basketball courts there's Trails there it's a it's a site that um the kids during the day can be out and about but also the town and the community is is getting an asset that's quite exciting we'll make sure that in the packet so [Music] um last meeting I think everybody saw the list of proprietary items and they're in the meeting minutes if you want to refer back to them that we're going to be going you know as we said on Tuesday to the school committee um we're going to include cor Keen as a possible proprietary item for their vote and you know as a reminder as Rick pointed out last week the reason that's a school committee decision is because they are an elected body and this group is an appointed body just so nobody feels snubbed by the school committee being the ones that sign off on this um that is the reason that's the logic of it um so we've actually it's only 9:30 and we've gotten through the content of the meeting the next item would be invoices and then public comments so cassa can I turn it over to you to do invoices certainly we are very Speedy today here we go okay uh can everybody see that yeah okay so we have seven invoices on Top This is the February package of invoices of for February Services being presented to the payment in March it totals just shy of $400,000 with the bulk of AD being for design efforts um which are continuing so we focused a lot of today's conversation on the construction work that's kicked off but of course the design team is still still vigorously engage in finalizing the 90% um construction documents for the building um and that's what's happening here uh the owner project manager team our team is also somewhat ramping up efforts now that we've got on-site presence uh overseeing construction um so answer advisories invoices 4755 4.19 which is a 2% progression uh and brings us to 20% build of our contract which does include Construction phas Services through the end of a project uh the design team denisco has a set of five invoices the total $344,950 which is a 5% progression of their contract bringing them to 54% again their balance of the contract does include construction phase Services as well so their far more far further along than 54% in terms of building Design This is leaving space for oversight of construction and there is an invoice for a a consultant called uh precise or pray depending on who you ask um they are the folks that did a butter Outreach and send some letters to the um owners of our budding properties um they're at about 51% build and at the moment we think we may not need more from them we shall see um I will briefly before I move off this page any questions here before I just briefly flip through each page of each invoice nope um this is the answer invoice which includes staff time and um um our Market consulting services this is the sustainability consultant with many pages of daily notes from each person who worked on the project um this is the denisco invoice the bigger one and then some of the smaller reimbursable with backup can do stop me if anything picks your particular interest and this is the precise invoice for a better Outreach I'll leave it on this page for a second um for any questions we all of these invoices have been reviewed by our team negotiated revised when necess Neary which none was necessary in this round um we've certified uh these are okay to pay and um sound staff has had the opportunity to see them as well I stop sharing so um I make a motion that we approve the invoices as presented second second and by Doug um if there no other questions we'll move to a vote uh Doug yes Kathy say Yes um Jennifer Yes Paul yes rert that's a big uhhuh Dev yes Jonathan yes Tammy yes Simone yes that's unanimous Margaret with um three absent three absent so I you know people um as as just before I open it for public comments um when Margaret did the schedule she'll post that schedule again in the packet or send it around so people are reminded but that change on the August date I believe you put holds on all our calendar so just to change that I did there is a tentative date for the sustainability committee and that we're still waiting for some plug load analysis on budgeting and one of the things that Margaret is doing behind the scenes is we talked about um uh not necessarily artwork but it would be be exciting visual um some kind of a display panel in the school that would be wired um to show the solar the solar energy generated by by the solar panels or the energy used by it and that there's been some exploration of is anything like out there like that in an elementary school you know that this would be a visual that the kids could look at and there's different places that it could potentially be um put it would be as I understand it these are wired to the system so it requires some decisions and it's not that we've identified anything yet but there they've identified some places that have them and they're at a grade school level so they're they're colorful um and uh Change Daily to to to see what we've got because to make the building itself a part of the artwork of the building um so that's just a report on that's going on behind the scenes um with no nothing specific yet but a search for is there something that is already ready to go on some level and is exciting and before we did that we would bring it would be brought both to the sustainability committee but to this committee it would be part of the design of the building Margaret is that a no that's a good representation um Shelly uh Potter and Jacob brasen together with Kathy have been looking for examples to bring together and um that would allow um them to bring back uh some options for what that would look like and it's important to do this now because whatever we need in the way of data power monitoring in order to provide a display needs to be folded into the construction docum so and there there is a and Paul is well aware of this there's we do have a percent for art bylaw that potentially um allocates a budget and sets up a process for that that has not happened yet in terms of the process so that is a um waiting to be seen denisco in their designs have indicated some places where artwork could go um and be Vis visible um and if there's nothing there it'll be a nice wall exactly um so I'm looking for any other comments before I open it up for public comments uh I don't see any so we are now open for public comments and I see one I'm bringing you in to allow you to talk thanks can you hear me Kathy yes y uh hi Rudy Perkins from um having been involved with a few groundbreakings when in my housing project work uh we always tried to get anyone who was a representative of the major funders involved and I know you've uh we've gotten a lot of help from the state and I think it's so great that we're going to have Senator cumerford and representative Dome come but I'm wondering if I didn't hear mention of Representative McGovern's office at the federal level since the IRA is going to be a big part of our uh energy funding we're hope hoping and also maybe eversource um I maybe you mentioned them and I didn't make note of it but I think it might be a courtesy at least to to see if they want to make a brief word um so uh thanks thanks for that I'm really excited to come to the groundbreaking and I I hope Paul or Kathy you can mention the Net Zero aspects of this building and how this is our first foray into a building built under our Net Zero bylaw and the town's important contribution as a town to uh you know the climate uh mitigation so um I'm sure you would but I just wanted to underscore that and the other aspect of the school that I think is important to some constituencies here is the community playing field uh rehab and upgrade and so I realize that's a minor thing compared to the whole school but um it might be good to just underscore that that work is also being done and we'll have that to look forward to as a Community Asset so thanks so much for all the work you guys have been doing it's awesome thanks Rudy let me just see I don't see other other hands um Tim if you have it handy I can pull it up the um we we actually have a construction site sign that's pretty exciting um um and if you don't have it I'll just send it to everyone but uh it reminded me that the the sign explicitly says this is a net zero school and absolutely we will be featuring that in the opening comments as well as the fact that this is a community resource with Fields here here's the sign um and so it is it is highlighted um with uh with bicycles which is what I really like that we put bicycles on the playlot so that is um that's going to go up at some point by the construction site I'm not seeing any other hands up um we we we've been encouraged by our town attorney to have a motion to adjourn and a vote on the adjourn so I'm going to make a motion to adjourn second and I will now put it to a vote um Doug yes Kathy is a yes uh Jennifer Yes Paul yes Deb Leonard yes Jonathan yes Tammy yes rert I will succinctly and as briefly as possible say yes Simone yes and so we we are adjourned at 9:40 and uh I encourage you since we won't meet again until after the opening uh groundbreaking I encouraging everyone to come this is a moment to celebrate together and actually see each other other than just the heads on the screen so we are adjourned for today thank you very much