School Board Members: Al Letizio, Barbara Coish, Bev Donovan, Bruce Anderson, Beth Valentine
Superintendent: Dr. Frank Bass
Business Administrator: Toby Eaton
WHS Owner’s Representative: Glenn Davis
Building Committee: Mike Joanis - Vice Chair, Dan Sheahan, Rick Horrigan - Chair joined the meeting at 7:05pm, Bernie Rouillard joined the meeting at 7:10pm
Harvey: Anne Dodd, Bill Stevens, Mark McLaughlin (Chief Estimator)
Lavallee/Brensinger: Lance Whitehead

Al Letizio called the joint meeting of the Windham School Board and the Building Committee to order at 7:00pm.

Glenn Davis stated that bids for the following trades would be discussed; Drywall, Fire Protection, and Elevators. Glenn is comfortable with the subcontractors that Harvey Construction is recommending, and further stated that the lowest bidder is the recommended subcontractor with one exception.

Anne Dodd from Harvey read the recommendation for the Drywall bid as follows,”Harvey Construction is seeking approval to award the contract for Drywall to Gemini Construction Company, Inc of Hollis, NH for the estimated total amount of One million, five hundred and fifty seven thousand, seven hundred and sixty four dollars ($1,557,764)." 

Al Letizio asked if there was any information anyone had to share regarding the subcontractors that would necessitate going into non-public session. The general consensus was that there was not.

Discussion on Drywall
Glenn stated that he has worked with Gemini in the past and was comfortable with them, and supported Harvey’s recommendation to award the bid to them. It was noted that Harvey removed tack boards and marker boards from the bids because Harvey felt they could get better pricing elsewhere. Harvey explained that the large variance in bids from the drywall subcontractors was due to how aggressive the different firms were and representative of their overhead costs. This was not atypical.

Bernie had a technical question for Lance that they would handle after the meeting.

Motion by Barbara Coish to award the Drywall bid to Gemini Construction for $1,557,764 as recommended by Harvey.
2nd by Bruce Anderson. Yes 5-0; Bev Donovan, Bruce Anderson, Barbara Coish, Beth Valentine, Al Letizio 

Anne Dodd from Harvey read the recommendation for the Elevator bid as follows,”Harvey Construction is seeking approval to award the contract for Elevator to Stanley Elevator of Merrimack, NH for the estimated total amount of Sixty Seven thousand, nine hundred and fifty dollars ($67,950)."

Discussion on Elevator bid 
Glenn stated that there was a lower bidder than the one being recommended by Harvey, however that subcontractor did not bid against the specification. Because of that, there was consensus amongst Glenn and Harvey to eliminate that subcontractor. Bruce asked for clarification. Discussion ensued.

Motion by Barbara Coish to award the Elevator bid to Stanley Elevator for $67,950 as recommended by Harvey Construction.
2nd by Bruce Anderson. Yes 5-0; Bev Donovan, Bruce Anderson, Barbara Coish, Beth Valentine, Al Letizio

Anne Dodd from Harvey read the recommendation for the Fire Protection bid as follows,”Harvey Construction is seeking approval to award the contract for Fire Protection to Hampshire Fire Protection Co., of Londonderry, NH for the estimated total amount of Three Hundred and Thirty –three thousand, five hundred and eighty four dollars ($333,584)."

Discussion on Fire Protection
Glenn stated that he was comfortable with the recommendation by Harvey. Mike Joanis asked for some clarification on other subcontractors. Mike asked if Harvey was comfortable that the exclusions listed in the FP bid were covered by the other trades. Anne responded that she was comfortable and stated some examples of who would cover the exclusions.

Bruce Anderson asked Mike Joanis if he supported the recommended subcontractor’s bid. Mike stated yes, he supports awarding the the bid to the recommended subcontractor.

Motion by Barbara Coish to award the Fire Protection bid to Hampshire Fire Protection Co. Inc for $333,584 as recommended by Harvey Construction.
2nd by Bruce Anderson. Yes 5-0; Bev Donovan, Bruce Anderson, Barbara Coish, Beth Valentine, Al Letizio.

Glenn received the Kitchen Food Service and Doors, Frames and Hardware bids but did not have a chance to provide the info to the school board in advance of the meeting. Because of the nature of the bids and the time sensitivity of awarding the bids, it was agreed that the school board and building committee would recess, review the information and if comfortable, would award the bids after the recess.

AL Letizio called a 15 minute recess at 7:30pm.

Return from recess at 7:45pm


Anne Dodd from Harvey read the recommendation for the Kitchen Food Service bid as follows,” Harvey Construction is seeking approval to award the contract for Kitchen Food Service to Boston Showcase Co., of Newton Highlands, MA for the estimated total amount of Three Hundred and eighty -four thousand, five hundred dollars ($384,500).

Discussion of Kitchen Food Service
Al Letizio asked why there were so few bidders for this trade. Mark from Harvey stated that they heard from a few other subcontractors that chose not to bid because of internal issued within those companies.

Rick Horrigan asked what the building was using for fuel, and what the kitchen was using. It was stated that the building would use oil, the kitchen would use propane.

It was stated that with this particular bid, because it is essentially a listing of equipment, the potential for misinterpretation by bidders was minimal – it is pretty straight forward.

Motion by Barbara Coish to award the Kitchen Food Service bid to Boston Showcase Co for $384,500 as recommended by Harvey Construction.
2nd by Bruce Anderson. Yes 4-1; Bev Donovan, Bruce Anderson, Barbara Coish, Beth Valentine. Al Letizio abstained.

Anne Dodd from Harvey read the recommendation for the Doors, Frames and Hardware bid as follows,”Harvey Construction is seeking approval to award the contract for Doors, Frames and Hardware to Kelly Brothers of Hudson, NH for the estimated total amount of Six hundred and eighteen thousand, seven hundred and eighty one dollars, and ($618,781)."

Discussion on Doors, Frames and Hardware

Glenn agrees with Harvey’s recommendation of awarding the bid to Kelly Brothers.
Bruce Anderson asked for clarification on some of the bidder’s submittals. It was stated that there were several questions from bidders and Lavallee/Brensinger issued addenda to the bidders to clarify.

Mike Joanis asked if the bidders performed their own counts on items and if Harvey felt comfortable with the bidders understanding of the scope of the bid. Anne replied that Harvey was comfortable with knowledge level after L/B issued clarifications.

Motion by Barbara Coish to award the Doors, Frames and Hardware bid to Kelly Brothers for $618,781 as recommended by Harvey Construction.
2nd by Bruce Anderson. Yes 5-0; Bev Donovan, Bruce Anderson, Barbara Coish, Beth Valentine, Al Letizio.

Anne Dodd stated that including the bids awarded this evening, just under 70% of the contracts for the hard costs of the building has been awarded and that we are looking great with respect to the budget.

Rick Horrigan asked what trades would be next. Anne stated that the bids for theatrical, windows, and roofing are the next grouping of contracts to be awarded.

Discussion ensued regarding school board meeting schedules. It was decided that the Business meeting for Nov. 6th would remain as planned, and that the bids would be awarded that night in conjunction with the Building Committee. 

Bruce Anderson made a motion to adjourn. 2nd by Barbara Coish. Yes 5-0; Bev Donovan, Bruce Anderson, Barbara Coish, Beth Valentine, Al Letizio.

The meeting adjourned at 8:45 pm

Minutes submitted by Beth Valentine