Gorham Building Committee

April 12, 2005 Minutes

 

Committee members present:                                   Central office Staff present:
Jean Tremblay                                                  Patrick Low, Superintendent
Bob Demers
Reed Lieberman                                                           Public in attendance:
Jo Anne Carpenter                                                       Keith Parent, Principal
Dennis Pednault
Kathleen Kelley
Jeff Hill
Joyce Scott

Meeting called to order at 6:30p.m.
Minutes were accepted as presented.

The Cooperative Planning Board has included $15,000 for building committee administration for the next fiscal year. There was some discussion around why the Cooperative Planning Board felt it important not to request funds for architectural drawings for the Ed Fenn school renovations at this time. The building committee felt the need to back off the full project as the Town of Gorham moved forward with their bond request for Town Hall renovations. The building committee also felt pressure to back off of the full project due to the Cooperative formation process.

There was no old business noted, and no new business added to the agenda.

Reed Leberman indicated that his commitments were making it hard to attend all meetings this spring as chairperson. At the next meeting the committee needs to identify a Vice Chairperson to facilitate meetings this spring.

The committee then began to prepare a report supporting the budget request for the $15,000. This report will include:
i) Organizational Information
(a) Mission Statement (renovate or replace k-12 facility on site)
(b) Culture or Ethos- All committee members want to provide the best value for the investment. We want to continue to demonstrate pride in the community as well as depart family values and capture what we are good at such as environmental education, community service learning and experiential education, at the same time improve on the access to technology and special education services
(c) Membership for the past year
(d) Past building committee reports and capital investments (during the fourteen years after the 1969 wing was added there was minimal investment in the GMHS building. And for the past decade only a 2% investment in capital has been made, so the town should not be surprised that the building is falling down around the children.)
(e) Desire subcommittees to divide some of the work load, but hampered by lack of enough people on committees

ii) Fact Finding Process
(a) Review new building methods and environmental issues
(b) Site visits to energy efficient buildings
(c) Reviewed consultant reports on the buildings
(d) Determined the basic condition of the buildings
(e) Walked through each building
(f) Discussed how Cost Estimating for these projects are done
(g) Read the NEASC reports and responses and the health report for the Ed Fenn

iii) Focused on Ed Fenn
(1) Reviewed in detail the Barker plan for the Ed Fenn
(2) Reviewed the revised wish list for the Ed Fenn as developed by the staff and principal
(3) Developed a request for design services from Kyle Barker to give the committee a better idea of the costs for renovating the Ed Fenn School

iv) Looking ahead
(a) New committee members and mission from the Cooperative Board will need to be transitioned
    (i) New Mission statement from Coop
    (ii) Members from all three towns added
    (iii) Walk Through and Fact review for new members
(b) Randolph and Shelburne towns people have not had experience with bonding of this size, so we need to transition these towns into this project
(c) Focus Groups could produce a better understanding of building needs and community desires i.e.

  • Does the community desire to have an elementary and a middle high school in the community?
  • Does the community want gym space for recreational purposes?)


(d) Committee needs to evaluate all outside reports concerning the building needs and the educational delivery systems desired (i.e. special education evaluation report and current NEASC communication)
(e) Consultant may be needed to determine the most cost effective solution for the Middle High School
(f) Local leaders need to explore collaboration with the Technology Center, CLL, NHCTC in light of the investment that the Federal Prison and Wal-Mart are going to make into the community
(g) Architect will be needed to finalize the design and cost estimate for the Ed Fenn
(h) Architect will be needed to finalize the design and cost estimate for the GMHS
(i) Bond vote will be needed to fund the project estimated to be between $10,000,000 and $15,000,000
(j) Construction must be completed by 2009 to maintain accreditation
Next meeting will be May 3rd 6:30 p.m. at the FRC-Board Room to complete the report to the Coop Board summarizing the Building Committee’s efforts to date and the request for funds. The following meeting will be May 17th 3rd 6:30 p.m. at the FRC-Board Room

Meeting adjourned 8:10 p.m.


Kathleen Kelley
98 Randolph Hill
Randolph, NH 03593