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12/08/2015 01:40 PMSometimes it’s worth waiting a year to get what you want.
By waiting a year to bid out the schools window replacement work, bids received in November 2015 were lower than 2014 estimates, potentially saving the town almost $300,000 on the project.
Funding to pay for the window work at Daisy Ingraham Elementary School and Westbrook High School was authorized by a May 2013 referendum vote. That vote approved $1.92 million “for costs related to various improvements at the schools” including projects to replace school boilers and convert to natural gas, update lighting, and replace aging leaky school windows. The bonding resolution authorized an estimated $450,000 for the school window replacement work.
Unfortunately, the School Building Committee learned only after the town approved the referendum that a subcontractor tasked in 2009 to count the schools’ windows made a major mistake: The windows to be replaced were undercounted nearly by half. So the budgeted funds now were not enough.
Two pieces of good news make the project budget shortfall less painful that it might have been. A decision by the Building Committee last year to refurbish rather than replace rooftop ventilation units left $176,478 of the bonded funds for that work unspent, and then the year delay in bidding the work resulted in better bids that could save the town nearly $300,000 compared to 2014 estimates.
Yet, based on the Novemebr bids the town received, the Building Committee still faces about a $300,000 shortfall in authorized funds to pay for the window replacement work.
Six firms submitted bids for the window work. CREC, the project manager hired by the town to guide and oversee the school projects the referendum authorized, reported that the lowest technically qualified bid at $745,867 was submitted by Advanced Improvements LLC of Mystic.
School Building Committee Chairman Pat Labbadia said the committee at its November meeting voted to accept the bid, pending a successful scope review by CREC. With bid prices held for 90 days, the town would have to approve more project funding before the end of February 2016 to award a contract.
Finance Director Andrew Urban presented the window project cost and revenue sources to pay for it at the Committee’s November meeting. He explained that the Daisy Ingraham School window work will cost $350,000 and the high school windows, $399,200. On top of these charges would be $80,000 for some asbestos abatement work associated with removal of the existing windows. Finally, a CREC project management fee of 10 percent goes on top. This sets the total charge for the work at $912,120.
A May 2013 referendum already authorized $238,828 for the Daisy School windows and $200,000 for the high school windows. Also available is $176,478 in bonded school project funds not spent by the committee on the rooftop ventilation unit project. Adding all three funding pots together puts the funds available for window work at $615,306. That means that $296,814 more is needed.
Labbadia said Urban suggested $150,000 come from an appropriation from the town’s general fund and $150,000 from the school district’s capital projects reserve fund.
To authorize funding from the town’s general fund, the Board of Selectmen must vote to appropriate the amount for the window project, and the Board of Finance and Town Meeting must agree. School officials hope townspeople and the town boards support the request since the school district voluntarily returned nearly $500,000 in surplus special education funds to the town in October 2015. At that time, the Board of Finance agree with Urban’s recommendation to allocate $167,945 to a capital reserve fund for school projects and $411,444 to the town’s General Fund.
Another $385,506 in surplus special education funds the school district also returned was allocated to build a special education reserve fund. This fund was created to address substantial and unbudgeted costs arising from special education students with significant needs who arrive in town mid-year.
The funding request to fill out the window replacement project budget likely will be on the agenda of the next Board of Selectmen meeting set for Monday, Dec. 14 at 3:30 p.m.