Select Board: November 25, 2025

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0:00 When you are, sir. All right. So I will give you the absence of the chair. I will convene the meeting. The select board, uh, Illa business is to appoint a chair pro tem for today’s meeting. Um, motion to appoint Moses Rader, chair pro tem for today’s meeting. Is There a second? Second. Okay. All those in favor? That’s unanimous. All right. Thank you very much. This now session, uh, I’d like to open it up to initial public comment. Um, anything, anybody online that would like to make a public comment?

0:38 Do not see anyone online. Anybody in this meeting? No. Okay. We’d like to, uh, move to a vote, uh, presentation from the schools on, uh, on a contract, please. Someone up, So I Don’t Yeah, it’s better. It’s better to sit in the hot seat so the mic can, can pick you up. Excellent. Well, thank you very much. Pressure By my computer. Needs to be, uh, thank you very much for Scheduling this, this meeting. We would like to get the contract, uh, signed and executed and equipment ordered and an expeditious manner. We have, um, been told that it’s could be up to a six month lead time for HVAC equipment, and so time is of the absence. We, we, I do believe we have, um,

1:24 a little time built into this because the HVAC work will not even commence until sometime in July. Uh, it’ll be the, I wanna say the latter part of the project, but it will not be the first part of the project. Uh, so our OPM left field and our, the designer, Raymond Design Associates, uh, put a bid on the street. Uh, first we had to go out for filed sub bids, and well, prior to that, we had to pre-qualify all our bidders. So all of our bidders were pre-qualified. Uh, all the bidders were allowed to bid on it, were pre-qualified. Uh, we had filed sub bids for roofing, HVAC, plumbing, electrical, and there’s one more, I’m blanking, but there’s one more filed sub bid. Um, once those filed sub bids came in, they were given

2:09 to all of the general contractors who were pre-qualified and they were allowed to choose which, uh, file sub bids they wanted to go with. They all went with the lowest responsive and responsible bidder. And, uh, then they, they put their cost on top of that. Our lowest bid was by Homer Contracting. And, um, by, by statutory ‘cause they were pre-qualified and they had there been, uh, included all the required documents. Uh, it is, uh, you know, we’d have to take some extraordinary thing, not, uh, mean not to, uh, award the contract to them. Uh, the contract, or I’m sorry, the bid came in about $2.1 million under the construction bid estimates, which is great news for the town and for the taxpayers. Um, I will be working with Alicia on communicating how

2:57 that will affect the, um, appropriation that was done at last year’s town meeting, or the debt exclusion that was done at LA last year’s town meeting. Uh, so, um, that’s the construction portion all total, uh, that’s $8.97 million for the, uh, actual construction. The, there were other costs involved with the project, the OPM costs, the, or project manager and the designer costs and some other costs that are related to the project. Uh, right now we’ll probably come in somewhere around 12 million. Uh, but the approved budget was for 14 million, so we should come in around 2 million under budget at this point in time.

3:36 Goodness. Yeah. Very good news. Good news. Understand. Great. So I’m here today to ask, um, as one of the requirements is that the select board, um, authorized a contract as to form. The contract was drafted by, uh, in conjunction between, um, Lisa Mead’s office, uh, the towns council, and, uh, our OPM and Epic designer left field, NOD. And that’ll be available for signature by the chair. It will, it’s, it’s actually, it’s currently being circulated already for signatures because school committee approved it last week, had got, and there you go. From school committee Yep. To the CPO, chief Procurement Officer, and then to Lisa Mead’s office, and then to the town accountant, Chris Hoak, and then it would go to Mr.

4:21 Fog or, um, based on the motions that you will sign for the entire committee. Outstanding, outstanding. Uh, any, any questions from the board? I mean, we’ve seen this coming for a little while, so, uh, that’s great. What, what do you, just by way for information for people who may be watching, what’s kind of the, the timeline, um, you are, you know, roughly speaking. So we have, we’ve asked, uh, that no construction begin before graduation. We believe that that’s kind of a, a time when the seniors should have their Yeah. Their time without cranes and Yeah. Construction equipment. So, uh, they can start, um, mobilizing after graduation with no construction, starting before the last day of school. Yeah. And we anticipate that the majority of the

5:07 heavy work, the lifting and the cranes will be completed before students return to school. A again, weather. Other, other things could interrupt that. I do believe that the project should wrap up. Construction phase of the project should wrap up sometime in September or early October. So the kids will be back in school, but all of the heavy equipment will be clear of the, of the premise at that point in time. I think it’ll just be but button buttoning up at that 0.2 to three month de Oh yeah. It’ll be two to three months at least. Yeah. The expectation, I know it’s mentioned in the school committee meeting, it’ll be all done before the kids got back to school. And that’s quick to clarify that, that that is not the case unless they really move fast. Thank you. But It shouldn’t, just for clarity, it shouldn’t, um,

5:55 it doesn’t impact a return to school, it’s just the logistical completion. Correct. Okay. Just so people Understand getting the cranes outta there anyway. Yeah, that’s what I mean, just because at that right up front, It should, I mean, again, you always planned for the worst and expect the best. Yeah. I will also add that, um, the school committee put together a, um, a subcommittee, uh, that was chaired by Mr. Blada. And it, he was the only school committee member on the subcommittee. It was, uh, there were, there were seven of us, Mr. Blada, myself, who were not trade experts, but then there were five people from the community who, um, have expertise in contracts and construction roofing, HVAC, um, really appreciative to their work. They reviewed all the contracts, they pointed out some things that should be changed.

6:41 And, um, that committee will continue right through construction and they will, uh, advise the OPM and the designer on their concerns or anything that they see that if not happening as expected. Awesome. Yeah, I, I, I just wanted to say I didn’t, as, you know, might attend a number of the subcommittee meetings and, um, I’m, I’m thrilled that it’s a complete replacement. That’s how the, uh, decision came out. That’s, that’s, Uh, it’s a recover, not a replacement, Uh, recovery, I should say. Yeah. As opposed to the, the liquid, uh, Uh, restoration. Restoration Which would apply. And, uh, no, that’s a, a, a good decision. You, you expressed your concern at. Yeah. That, that, that’s, um, and I would just, I’m, I’m gonna speak out of turn, if that committee, uh, should have any, the, uh, advice

7:27 of Mr. Cummings, uh, that building is, ‘cause he’s kind of going through the same thing with two properties. And he, you know, what’s interesting is I think the decision for, um, widge Road was recovered, recover, but, um, the Jacoby was liquid replacement based on, um, but he’s gonna wealth of knowledge, so he’s just a resource that I’m gonna volunteer that I’m sure We wait for him to come back from a vacation before we assign. Right. Well, we have, we have a small moving project going on at veterans right now. Yeah, yeah. Um, and he has advising, he’s advising. I, I know he’s, so, he’s, He’s, he’s been a great resource. He’s definitely knowledgeable and, uh, great guy who’s local, who always steps up. So thank you. Yeah. Well, it’s great

8:13 to know you had a subcommittee held there as well, and so that they can interface with. I really appreciate it. That’s nice. Yeah. Smart. I’m not an expert in the Sure. That’s the money side, not the, uh, not the actual construction. Any more, uh, any more questions? Comment. Okay. So with that, I’d like to entertain a motion to approve the contract between the town and Homer contracting general contractor for the Marblehead High School roof HVAC project to Humphrey Street in the amount of $8,970,000. And authorize the chair to sign on behalf of the board. So Moved. Second. All in favor? Unanimous for the par. Thank you, judge. Thank you very much. I appreciate you, um, accommodating us on a Tuesday afternoon before the holidays. It’s our morning Tuesday morning. It’s our pleasure.

8:59 It’s a good time to do it. Thank you. Yeah. Appreciate it. Thank you. Yeah, have A thanks for Getting it done. Happy Thanksgiving. Awesome. Thank you. Happy Thanksgiving. Thank you. Yeah, you too. Additional business leave and, uh, athletes just announce any announcements. Um, just say happy holidays to everyone and everyone. Stay safe and has a great, Great. And with that, can I have a motion to adjourn? So moved. Second. Second, please. All in favor, just meet chair.