Franklin Matters

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Live reporting - School Building Committee presentation

H. PRESENTATIONS/DISCUSSIONS - Model High School
Sean Fennell, Jim Jordan, Tom Mercer

meeting since the fall of 2008

2005 NEASC - accrediting agency cited failures and put on warning status

ADA compliance
safety concerns with science labs
lack of a sprinkler system

Fall of 2006, study on feasibility of renovation of the high school completed. Moratorium on school building projects by state in effect from 2003 until 2007

Oct 2008 - appointed the current School Building Committee

Sean had worked on Keller Sullivan, Fire Station, DPW, the Senior Center and the Horace Mann complex

3 members of the Franklin Committee went with the MSBA committee to select the architect for the feasibility and schematic design

Castle Boos was the 3rd choice and ultimately came under contract after the other two choices could not reach an agreement. Savings of over $500K by signing this contract (compared to the prior two).

Worked to develop 3 options for presentation to the MSBA with one recommended.

Option 1 - Limited renovation and addition
Option 2 - Gut renovation
Option 3 - A new design and built school

Option 1 - $86M
Option 2 - $96M
Option 3 - $97M

At this time, the model school program was raised but it was by invitation only (from the MSBA)

Presented all 3 options without a recommendation and attempt to see if they could get an invitation
Requested to meet with facilities assessment subcommittee of MSBA

June 29 - MSBA Executive Director, Catherine Craven came to tour FHS
after the tour, the invitation to the model school program came

August 2011 - toured all four of the model school samples
interviewed all four architects in Sep 2011
after the interview process, Ai3 was chosen for the Whitman-Hanson model

design cost for a new building run 10% of the total project
for the model school, the design costs are between 4 and 4.5%, a substantial savings for the community

Space summary voted on in Nov 2011 and presented to the MSBA in Dec 2011

FHS is unique as it is the single largest model school project
the most exciting project he has worked on in his years

The Whitman-Hanson building and design was selected as a "model" after it was built and evaluated
The top performing high school in energy savings and water reuse
less than one half of one percent of change orders during the building process

Display of key points of the Ray Memorial Library features of Greek Revival

Discussion of how those elements were incorporated into the design of the new building, very well done!

The rounded corner is the administration area of the school
The tower sticks out to provide a distinct target for how to get in to the building, come here it says

20% more sq feet of educational in the new building MORE than in the current building

Existing field house is 27,000 sq ft - a square foot print with a slopped wall. Some of the space is not usable due to the slope. The new gym is 17,000 with another 6,000 of waling track for a total of 23,000 sq ft of usable space

Enrollment designed for 1650 students

Reimbursement rate before incentive points = 50.79%
Incentive points = 8.73%
Total reimbursement = 59.52%

reimbursement rate started at between 30-35% in 2008

MSBA chosen the total enrollment number from our data (cohort studies, birth rates, etc.)

8 additional classroom, each 200 sq ft bigger

Additional 1.73% granted at Jan 4, 2012 meeting. This increase came from the performance of our current building maintenance. The norm is .9%, we received 1.73% Hence, our building maintenance process gained us additional savings

Choosing to go with a 2% LEAD Silver rating, no financial gain in going higher (i.e. gold)

4.5% contingency on the $100M project - already built into the budget to account for some issues encountered along the way.

There is an additional $2,688,274 contingency also built into the total
This is a 'turn key' total, includes all the furnishings, new fields, site prep, demolition, etc

The $47 million number for Franklin cost is the high cost, it could be as low as $45 million

What is not reimbursable?
The State favors money being used for the building and leaves out the site work from their reimbursement factoring

Debt exclusions retiring in FY16 Remington Jefferson $15, FY 24 Keller Sullivan $50, FY 25 Horace Mann $50

The amount even with an approval this year, construction this year, and opening according to schedule in the Fall of 2014 would not really hit the tax bills into FY17

Proposed date March 27th

Wording of the ballot question is set by State law, in the case of a debt exclusion the dollar amount is not listed.

Live reporting - License transactions

F. HEARINGS
none

G. LICENSE TRANSACTIONS
1. Change of Manager – 99 Restaurant & Pub
motion to approve, passed 8-0

2. Transfer of License – Diavolo, Inc. d/b/a Bellino’s
motion to approve, passed 8-0

Live reporting - Town Council - 2/1/12

Present: Mercer, Dellorco, Kelly, Powderly, Pfeffer, Jones, Bissanti, Roy
Absent: Vallee

A. APPROVAL OF MINUTES

B. ANNOUNCEMENTS
The meeting is being recorded by Verizon, Comcast and Franklin Matters

C. PROCLAMATIONS/RECOGNITIONS
none

D. CITIZEN COMMENTS
none

E. APPOINTMENTS
Master Plan Committee - Christopher Vericker, Jay Duncan
motion to approve, passed 8-0

Franklin Community Garden Committee - Richard Clause
motion to approve, passed 8-0

Wadsworth Diary - Feb 1, 1858

Very Pleasant & Cold, at sunrise 8 above zero grew much warmer towards noon. Commenced and split 5 ½ hours 1 ½ cds and cut part of Mrs. Wrights wood Jos went to Mr. Cooks & in afternoon, he helped Wm Miller draw lumber from the mill. Went to the sing at Mr. Deans with Sarah & Mrs. Richardson in eve.

In the 1850s, on a busy working farm in the southern part of Franklin, a man named George Wadsworth started writing in a journal about everyday events. When he filled that journal, he bought another, and filled that up too. Two dozen journals, and 27 years later, he had written about almost everything that can happen in a small New England town. His words were lost to history until 1986, when town resident Gail Lembo came across some of the journals at a yard sale.

From the Franklin Historical Museum website
http://www.franklinhistoricalmuseum.com/p/wadsworth-diaries_30.html

Note: The vote to continue was close but positive for continuing: 13 for, 10 against. The diary skips Feb 1892 and picks up again in April. What I have done to keep with the February period is go back to one of the earlier years in the diary, 1858.

"scheduled to decide tonight"

School Building Committee Chairman Thomas Mercer and Town Administrator Jeffrey Nutting gave a presentation about the high school building project to Finance Committee members last night. The Long Range Finance Committee also unanimously endorsed the plan to replace the school at its Monday night meeting.

When asked what would happen should voters not approve the debt exclusion, Nutting said, “The problem doesn’t go away; the costs go up.”

The high school’s accreditation status could drop from “warning” to “on probation” without a new building, and any plan to renovate or rebuild the existing facility using state money would have to start from scratch, Mercer added.

Read more: http://www.milforddailynews.com/news/x1192852660/Franklin-Finance-Committee-gives-thumbs-up-to-new-high-school#ixzz1l7rPzncL

Related posts on the Town Council meeting agenda for Feb 1, 2012

The latest design photos for the new high school
http://www.franklinmatters.org/2012/01/fhs-updated-design-photos.html

Budget Monitor: Analyzing the Governor's FY 2013 Budget

Having trouble viewing this email? Click here

BUDGET MONITOR:
The Governor's FY 2013 Budget

Last week, the Governor filed his budget proposal for Fiscal Year 2013. Today, MassBudget releases our Budget Monitor, which tracks the impact of the Governor's proposals on each major area of state government, from health care and education to public safety and the environment--including information on tax revenues.

With the Commonwealth facing a preliminary budget gap of approximately $1.3 billion, the Governor proposes balancing the budget with three strategies:

Cuts and savings of about $550 million
Modest tax reforms and other revenue initiatives that generate about $215 million in ongoing revenue
The use of about $545 million in temporary revenues, mostly from the state stabilization fund (the "rainy day fund").

Our Budget Monitor shows the impact on every line-item in the budget, comparing proposed funding for FY 13 with recent funding history.

READ THE BUDGET MONITOR

* Regular readers may note that we have redesigned the Budget Monitor. We are very interested in your feedback. Click here to send an email telling us what you like and what you think we might improve.

MassBudget provides independent research and analysis of state budget and tax policies--with particular attention to the effects on low- and moderate-income people.