001Okay, we're good to go. >> We are on. >> Yes, we're recording. >> Okay, thank you. Good evening, everyone. Welcome to the Board of Education's Facility Committee meeting. Today is Wednesday, May 27th. The time is now 6:01 p.m. And with me this evening, I have board member Garrett Oliver, board member Nellie Cole. I also have uh Deputy Superintendent Sandra Feoese. I also have William Hurdahl, our Facilities Director, and we will have our consultant and staff um momentarily as everybody's >> I see him as one of the panelists. >> Phillips from CSG. Thank you. So, this evening, um we will be going over some few items. Um next item on the agenda is the minutes. Are there any questions, concerns, or updates? Nope. Can motion to approve the minutes? >> So moved to approve. >> Thank
002you. Seconded by? >> I'll second. >> Thank you, Nellie. All right, so minutes have been approved. And now I will transfer the meeting to Sandra Feoese for the evening. >> Thank you so much, um Facilities Chair Carpio, and hello uh Facilities Committee. I believe that this is the last meeting for this calendar year and uh for this academic year. And uh we are very pleased to just be able to provide you another update on our school construction projects along with our um HVAC project. And then we're going to be able to discuss some summer projects that are going to be happening and finally I wanted to revisit the conversation that was put forth by Chris Rivera band director at Norwalk High School in terms of naming um the band storage facility at Andrews Field. He
003wanted me to make sure that we are not renaming Andrews Field. We are renaming a storage facility that they currently um term the greenhouse. So, that is going to be our agenda for today and I would love it if um Dan Phillips from Construction Solutions Group could get us started on some updates. Dan, are you able to share or do you need me to share? >> Yep. I can share. Let me >> Thank you so much. >> share the presentation quickly. All right. Can you see my screen all right? >> We can. If you could enlarge it just a tad, it would probably Yeah, perfect. Thank you so much. >> good. All right. We'll jump right into it. South Norwalk Elementary School. As you know, the school was occupied in August of 2025. Uh just
004a the first floor and a portion of the second floor. This summer we do have some work planned. We were able to get the uh PV solar system rooftop system approved for reimbursement. So, that went out to bid earlier this year. Previous meetings uh that was approved and that's scheduled to begin over this summer. Uh there's some other >> I just interrupt on the South Norwalk School? Um also just a reminder that this Friday we're going to be having the renaming ceremony for a Dr. Ruby Shaw and um I believe that many of the board members that are in this meeting will be attending, but we also had some landscaping done ahead of that meeting. So, thank you, Dan. >> I do apologize for not referring to it as the Ruby Shaw Elementary School, but
005as far as >> It's not It's not yet, so don't It's okay. Yes. >> And I do know the the state reimbursement uh to avoid any confusion, any correspondence related to this project will remain South Norwalk just for state reimbursement reasons. >> And And on that note, just for clarification, because we're seeking reimbursement, these presentations will continue to say South Norwalk. And then the Dr. Ruby Shaw official naming takes place after July 1st because the state does not at midyear change a school's name just for data purposes, at site purposes. So, those So, just so that you we have some of that. So, thanks. >> Yeah, it's really to avoid confusion when it they just think it's a different school. So. And part of that, we sent in a letter to extend the closeout on
006this project. Normally, we would have closed it out earlier this year, but with the addition of the PV solar system, we're asking for that to be extended through uh winter of this year so that we can complete the summer work and close out all the financials for the project. Norwalk High School, there's uh from the outside, it looks very much the same over the last month or so, but there is a lot of work going on inside. On the inside, we have uh areas of the building, primarily the Norwalk High School and P-Tech wings are receiving sheetrock and other finishes. We'll have some photos in the uh presentation here. But, um that includes painting, ceiling grid. Um bathrooms are starting to receive wall tile. We do have some uh resinous flooring going in in some
007of the bathrooms as well. That's an epoxy flooring, resinous flooring. Uh electrical switch gear, which is a major milestone for the project, has been installed and inspected, and we're currently coordinating with Eversource for our uh permanent power, which we're expecting to get uh sometime early this summer. And this project, the building itself, uh scheduled to be completed to be occupied in the fall of 2027. And then the total project completion is uh fall of 2028, and that's the the second phase, which includes the demolition of the existing school, completing the parking lot, uh football field, tennis courts, concession stand, field house, uh all of that work. So, even though we will be in the school in 2027, there's still quite a bit of work to to go on this project. Uh here is a exterior
008elevation of the Norwalk High School wing. Uh just a general schedule going into fall of 2027, the the phase one. This is really the um schedule showing until occupancy. Here is a aerial view. I believe we showed a similar or the same one last time. To the left again is the Norwalk High School wing, to the right P-TECH wing, main entrance canopy in the front here uh with the media space above it, and in the background, we have really this the back half of this building is primarily the performing arts, the gym in the middle, auxiliary gym uh bumping up on the right and in the back right would be the pool area. And I have included a photo. It's a little bit different on this end. This is This photo was taken the same
009time frame, but as you can see there's more exterior work going on at this far end of the building. To the right here is the band space. The left is the pool, auxiliary gym to our left here. Auditorium uh kind of middle right. And then the main gym is this center area here. Um but it it's progressing from the side closest to the high school back to King Street. And for reference, you can see the Naramake softball field over here. >> And I'm I'm sorry to interject. I just Uh when you refer to the band, does that include like the orchestra and choir or is that is there a separate >> It would all be part of this performing arts area. There's a It's It's not just a single room. It's an entire network of
010rooms. >> Yeah. >> Entire complex. Okay. I I just wanted to clarify. Like I know the band is the main, but there I just I'm cuz I know that was a big thing when they did the expansion on the main uh or uh back in 2003 and 2000 or 2004 and 2005 where they finally you know I was so glad when they finally uh were able to add an actual room for the uh kids in the orchestra to practice in as opposed to uh having to uh uh put on coats and I try and do rehearsals during the uh winter in the giant auditorium where the heat didn't quite get in. Um, sorry. >> No, thank you, Nellie. No, this is a whole everybody gets a lot of dedicated space. It's really a whole arts
011wing. >> No, which is wonderful. I mean, the the arts I mean, I I have a I have a sort of uh I I have a very nostalgic uh view of the of the music program at for the from the time that I did go to North High, and so I I'm really glad to see this for the new generation. >> All right. Uh just moving forward on the high school. Uh here's the common area stair that comes off of kind of the uh cafeteria serving area, and then the clear story that goes up several floors and provides natural light to the center of the building. Here's some of the the bathroom wet wall tile. This will be a a wall that receives sinks. Uh just showing some of the finishes going in throughout the
012school. Uh resinous flooring. Uh this looks like a a single use bathroom. Uh toilet will be over here, but uh continuous resinous flooring up with the wall base. Not the most exciting photo, but um we have a a classroom with finishes. You have finished paint on one wall. The floors have been prepped, uh ready to receive finished flooring. Ceiling grid is complete. Um and as they uh move forward and finish up some of the above ceiling finish fixtures, they will start patting out these ceilings and start to really look like a finished space. This is one of the corridors, interior corridor. You can see the ceiling grid is also in place and we have wall protection. I don't know how clearly your image is, but you can see the wall tile in the hall hallways.
013This is our wall protection. Uh which goes up I believe 5 ft on the sides. Um and that's what we have for the Norwalk High School photos. If there's no questions about the high school, >> I can roll roll right into the uh I I unfortunately wasn't able to do the last uh walk-through. Will there be another walk-through um because one of the things that I just want to make sure is for accessibility issues. Um what is the situation on like elevators {slash} ramps? Um Uh >> Dan, do you want to explain the elevators? How many there are? >> Yeah, there's uh five It's one, two. There's three elevators. Uh one basically at the Norwalk High School wing, another one at the P-Tech wing and they're closer to that cen- center commons area. Um and
014then there is another one in the uh I guess we'll call it the um north side of the site closer to King Street and that's off of the um kind of the pool I want to say the the pool vestibule entrance area, which is close to the uh the gym as well. The the main gym, but there are three elevators spread out as far as ramps and ADA compliance around the building. There's not too many ramps getting into the building, really only at the loading dock area, but all of that's designed to be ADA compliant and I mean it's a a new building built to the recent code requirements, so there shouldn't be any accessibility accessibility issues. >> then Nelly in the in the front it's just it's like a ground level, so you can
015just access the facility. >> Okay. >> Mhm. But but Nelly on a separate note, if you if you want a tour or if anybody else does, we can ask we can ask Gilbane or or somebody if they could take us, okay? >> I would really appreciate that. Thank you. I'm sorry for interrupting constantly. >> be sorry. Just email and and give me some dates so that then I could shop it out to them, okay? >> That sounds wonderful. Thank you. >> Awesome. Mhm. >> If there's no other questions, I'll move forward into the HVAC upgrades. Starting we have the listed the different schools that we're working in. Uh Brookside, substantially complete. Uh we're still working with uh Board of Ed to resolve some boiler complications. This work's being done under warranty. It's within a year
016of the project being complete, so we continue to iron out those issues so that um can eventually be turned over 100% and uh hopefully be problem-free in the future. Uh Roatan, uh ongoing work inside the building. Uh we have electrical switch gear installation uh should be starting now end of May. Uh we're working up in the attic space. We've done over the last few months including April break uh some work at the exterior of the building. We placed the transformer pad and vault at the new transformer location. We've run underground and we've uh done a little bit of um landscaping out there. Trees have been installed um to get ready for the completion of the project. Um then the target for Waite is to be uh have the transformers landed uh sometime this summer and
017the upgrades to be running by the uh fall when students come back this year. Brien McMahon there's uh new outdoor chillers. If you've been to the backside of Brien McMahon High School, you can't miss it. There's a large wall and large chiller units. Um Two of which have um been installed. They are undergoing commissioning right now. I believe the building is under the It was switched over to cooling and is being cooled by the chillers. Um as part of the commissioning and the startup uh there are some ongoing troubleshooting, but that's uh the construction manager is on top of that and providing updates to to Bill and his team as needed as they progress. Silvermine, another project that is uh further along. This is substantially complete. Uh closeout is underway. We did add a a
018significant building control scope to that project that will uh take place over this summer and this helps uh facilities manage and kind of incorporate new and existing systems so that they can view this remotely and help the building run more efficiently. Naramake there's second shift work ongoing over there. Uh a lot of it is roof work with uh conduits and and other rough-in work going on. The uh air conditioning units that were installed in the classroom. There's still some ceiling modifications ongoing to trim in and finish those. And we're working with Eversource uh to finalize an easement that's required uh for the new primary service to the transformer that uh will be delivered uh planned for this summer. And once that transformer's in place, that'll be uh required to power the new air conditioning improvements
019that have been installed. Marvin is uh kind of lagging behind some of these other projects, but they are working on second shift roughing in some of their controls wiring. And right now we're we're planning for future work, confirming the RTU delivery dates for that project to make sure we I don't run into any procurement issues and uh in the coming months once uh school ends, more work will be happening over at Marvin. And the right here is just a a photo looking down the middle of the two chillers that have been installed. You can kind of see the significance of the piping, uh the size of everything. I don't know if there's Yeah, there's in the uh update, there are the overall project schedules for each job. Uh relay in some of the things I
020talked about, the transformer pad that went in, the underground work that went in out there. Uh I don't know if I have photos for every project. Is there a couple? Brian McMahon, we also installed uh insulation on the existing duct in the Yes. Uh >> I think Dan has a visitor. >> Here. >> All right. All right. It's Yeah, my my son needs my attention at the moment. I apologize. Uh so, the insulation on the duct and then um on the right here, this is above the chillers, there's sound attenuators that are installed and that helps to muffle the noise from all the fans on each of the units. Um and near a map, some of what we I talked about the AC units that are installed and it's really just modifying the ceiling to
021to trim in some of these uh units. And that's all we have for photos and projects for uh the public schools work. >> Any questions on the HVAC work that's happening? >> Uh I just want to make mention, thank you, Dan. Uh he showed the picture of the gym. That's existing duct work, which is now insulated, so for the first time in the history of Brian McMahon, the gym will now be air-conditioned. Uh so, that's a great benefit um and that's included in this project. Just want to make mention of that. Thank you. >> Thank you, Bill. That's wonderful news, but I wanted to say thank you for all the hard work and everything that's going on at these schools um with this HVAC program. But um I'll be happy when if we ever do
022another graduation at Brian McMahon in that gym. We're working on the We're working on the auditorium, too, okay? >> Absolutely. If there are no further questions from Dan for Dan, Dan, you could actually go go tend to your son because uh the rest of the updates have to do with us. So, thank you so much for joining us. >> Great. Thank you. >> Yeah. >> Thank you, Dan. >> Have a great night. >> So, what I would um like to move on to if it's okay with you, Chair Carpio, is the request for us to move forward, a request to the city around the renaming of um the Sorry, I'm trying to share. Um it's currently called the greenhouse. >> Mhm. >> And I'm sure that you're familiar with it and um it's located in
023Andrews Field and it's the build it's the band storage. So, the proposal is to honor recent retiree uh Doug uh O'Davids who taught band here for 38 years and that is the proposal. And um the proposal did come from the community. Um Mr. Rivera had sent us several statements that the community had made um to him and to to discuss why this was important to that band community. Um I have just a a brief bio. Uh so, Doug O'Davids is a native of Norwalk. Uh he was a solo soprano player with Connecticut Hurricanes for most of three decades. Um Mr. O'Davids then moved to a staff position and had been a visual instructor since 1997. He originally played soprano horn with the Norwalk Hot Shots Junior Corps um from 1960 to 1969. He had been
024visual instructor for Norwalk High School band since 1988. And Douglas, or Mr. um Oravez, has impacted thousands of Norwalk High School marching band students over the past 38 years as an instructor with the band. And this is what is motivating. This is the actual facility that they would like that the band um community would like to rename. And um again, the request is for us to be able to move this forward to land use committee. And um I bring it before this committee to see if this is something that we can support. >> Well, on my end, I think 38 years of dedication is very, very um long time. And yes, his name has been coming up a lot in the community and the requests coming through. Um you know, we as the committee we're
025not making the final decision, but I am okay with moving it forward to um the board and the city for renaming. >> I support that 100% as well. >> Uh honestly, I I Chris knows as much as uh anything uh what's important to the band community. And so, I I'm I yeah. I agree with everyone. >> Okay, so that seems like it's unanimous vote to move that forward, Sandra. >> Thank you. So, Chair Carpio, would I move this forward to the full board, or do I just >> Um I would move it to the full board. >> Absolutely. I'll have Janette add it. Um I believe that the June 2nd >> Mhm. >> agenda um may not yet have been published, so I'll try to get it to then. And if not, then maybe we
026could just make a a motion to add it, okay? >> Yes. >> Thank you so much, Chair Carpio. With that, I'm going to stop sharing and then turn it over to Mr. Hodal for some summer forecasting and updates of projects that are coming up. >> Thank you, Sandra, and thank you, committee members. So, I may have mentioned some of these projects last time we met, so I have a a quick update as we prepare for the summer, which actually 1 month from today is the last day of school. So, 1 month from today and 1 day, we can start our work. And starting off with Wolf Pit Elementary School, uh we finally received approval and um received bids back to do the air conditioning electrical upgrades. Uh turn out that it's the same firm who
027did um Tracy Elementary School last summer. Uh they did uh same project to our satisfaction, so I have drafted a resolution, and that goes to the land use committee next Tuesday. Um so, we hope to receive approval from that. I can't see any reason why they wouldn't. That will go on to the following weeks' uh Common Council uh for final approval and to have the Mayor Smith generate a contract. So, we hope to have that in order by June 10th. And by uh the end of the um s- s- the uh school session, we can start that project a a from now. Uh the next two projects I've spoken to you, we already have approval and the group is ready to start as soon as we graduate. And that also is the locker replacements at
028Ponus and also at Nathan Hale. I was at Roton this morning. Uh, we did those lockers last summer and they're very happy and very pleased. The lockers here at these next two schools will be very similar. And uh, we hope that the uh, students and especially the parents who receive all the complaints that a book bag can't fit in an 8-in locker will now be able to fit in a 15-in locker. Much wider and much better use for for the things they put in their lockers. In addition, there are some blank areas in the schools which we plan to fill in so the students have lockers closer to their home room and they can't use the excuse that they were late to class because they had to walk to the opposite side of the school
029and um, grab their book bag. So, the administration is very at both schools are very happy uh, that we are doing that. In fact, it came from their request. So, that's happening. Uh, in addition, we have uh, received um, uh, I should say uh, you know, uh, somewhat approval from the state to do 46 Concord to remove the underground storage tank. So, we plan to do that as our last underground oil storage tank. You've been hearing from me for years now. This is I think tank number 19 and the last of all of the tanks. And um, with the way we are planning this, it may not happen until the fall time. And this is again is at the family center, the new family center at 46 Concord. So, we will be doing that while
030the building is occupied and um we hope to have that approval with state reimbursement at 60%. Uh so that's the major projects that are happening this summer and uh that is quite a busy summer. And we plan to do that again starting in 1 month from now. >> And there will be countless other regular things that we do like stripping the floors and um getting the schools ready and addressing other projects. >> All the custodial duties duties as well. Yes. >> You know, it's amazing um all the work that goes in through the summer and you know you know there's that misconception that um staff gets breaks during the summer. Yeah, that's not true. If anything, everybody gets uh >> It gets busy. >> Yeah, busier because the buildings are empty. >> Yes, and then
031come mid-August we get a little panicky because we know the clock is ticking and we need to be ready real soon. >> Absolutely. >> And we and we also, you know, juggle with vacation. So there's a lot going on with the amount of staff we have. >> Mhm. >> But by and large we get it done. >> Yes, you do. Thank you. Are there any questions regarding the summer? >> Nope, not at this time. Thank you. >> Well, that's all that we had uh Chair Carpio for our agenda. >> All right. Well, thank you very much for giving us all these updates. I will be you know, looking forward to a couple of months of uh downtime on our end because we've been going going going. I know that policy will probably still continue, but
032as um we wrap up our committees we'll be up and running back again in September um unless there's any special meetings that we will have to have. But with that being said, it's been a pleasure working with everybody and thank you. Any comments or questions from the rest of the board? >> Just want to say thank you so much for all the hard work. We really do appreciate it. >> Thank you. Guys are really incredibly supportive. Thank you. I'm sorry, Nellie, I cut you off. >> I I was just going to say and for me as well. Thank you. >> I know I know the kids and the teachers and all of us appreciate it. >> Absolutely. All right. And that being said, a motion to adjourn? >> Motion to adjourn. >> Thank you, Garrett.
033Seconded by? >> I'll second. >> Thank you, Nellie. All right. Have a good night, everybody. >> Thanks, everyone. Good night. >> Bye. Thank you so much. Bye-bye.