001is live the meeting is yours oh thank you Mr Gilmer so I'd like to welcome everyone to our February 24th virtual meeting of facilities and operations committee and we will start with our Pledge of Allegiance I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all okay alrighty so first I would ask for approval of our meeting minutes from the January 27 2025 meeting could I please have a motion to approve so moveed second okay thank you any comments or questions hearing none all in favor say I I I None opposed motion passes thank you so we'll move right into items and is it Mr Slaughter or Mr Schneider presenting the items for work session
002or action uh I'm going to be presenting tonight uh director McMurry okay thank you Mr Slaughter you're welcome Mr Slaughter if I may real quick um can you hear me okay yes okay um I'm going to do this now as opposed to at the end of the meeting just because Mr Slaughter is actually driving the meeting so maybe Mr Schneider would want to turn off his camera and kick back and relax during his last fno meeting um but we do have a video prepared by our Communications Department and in particular Mrs Mary fakes honoring uh the distinguished career of our soon Tobe retired facilities and operations director Mr Tom Schneider Bob if you could roll that beautiful Bean footage here we go Qui update on the high school project tonight we bid farewell to Mr
003Tom Schneider the retiring director of facilities and operations for the north pen School District Tom started at North pen in 2010 as the manager of energy and operational efficiency and became the director of facilities and operations in 2014 after leaving in 2016 he returned to North pen in 2019 to once again serve in the role he departed throughout his time at North pen Mr Schneider changed the way the npsd looked at energy efficiency throughout the district with Innovative changes to the district's use of utilities Printing and more these achievements were recognized by the Environmental Protection Agency naming npsd an energy star partner of the Year several years in a row with many buildings also receiving individual energy star awards his efforts have saved the district millions of dollars and have reduced greenhouse gas emissions in
004the environment at the monthly facilities and operations committee meetings Mr Schneider provided provided detailed monthly reports of the complexities of our buildings equipment and the operations and long-term plans of the needs priorities and budgets needed to achieve these he oversaw major renovation projects to Crawford Stadium to Hatfield and nap elementary schools and the construction of the north pen healthc care center and over the last few years he played an important part in the planning process of the proposed renovations to North pen high school and now Mr Schneider as you embark on your new Journey to a more relaxing and Greener local we wanted to thank you for your Innovation and dedication to Energy Efficiency and cost savings as well as your deep knowledge of school facility management and construction over the past 15 years thank
005you for making North pen a better and Greener place what we're trying to accomplish is that people just realize when they need to use energy and when they don't they shut things off that's all we're trying to accomplish we need energy we need lights we need projectors we need to educate people and we need certain amount of electricity to be used but we don't have to wait be wasteful and just leave rooms [Music] on so first I I want to thank Mrs Mary fakes and Dom Deo for their efforts in working with Mr Gil in his Department to put that video together but also a sincere thank you to Mr Schneider for his commitment to the school district uh for his knowledge uh we get to see the way in which he battles behind the
006scenes on behalf of our community um always concerned about safety always concerned about efficiency and cost um Tom is a leader in that work and I was on the front lines to see it when we work with Architects with construction managers engineers and folks in that industry which quite frankly before I moved to central office was fairly foreign to me but you hear from people all the time Tom Schneider is the best uh so Tom is retiring with his wife June and their four-legged friends to West Virginia and we are so pleased that Tom uh was a part of the story here in North pen and we are better because of it Tom so thank you for all that you've done for us we wish you all the things that you want in your retirement
007well thank you very much and uh that video was very touching um I've had great experiences at North pen school district and I I want to thank the board the administration for all the support that they gave me through my whole tenure at North pen um it's been a fun ride I did a lot of uh had a lot of great experiences with a lot of great students and administrators and uh it's time to pass to Paton and I know that we have Bill Slaughter and ready to grab it and run with it and uh you'll be in good hands for sure I guarantee you that but um thank you very much and I as I said I really enjoyed my tenure at North pen it's been a wonderful experience and a wonderful place to
008work and enjoy having um relationships with other people thank you okay well Mr Schneider I would like to thank you for all you've taught me since I joined the board and been part of the facilities and operations committee and I'd really like to highlight your commitment during the covid crisis and your commitment to maintaining the building safely and the air circulation I learned a tremendous amount from you during that time frame so I wish you all the best and your wife and the dog is it one dog or two dogs it's two dogs oh that's okay well thank you very much all right alrighty so I forget why were we here just to honor Mr Schneider right okay right I'll get back alrighty so oh Mr Slaughter sorry it's you no worries okay thank you
009you're welcome uh items recommended for work session in the Action meeting uh the first up uh Mr Linsky if you don't mind bringing that up are uh we're seeking permission to advertise for an RFP for thirdparty testing and inspections for the high school phase one this is required testing that is in addition to the inspections that take place by the township so we're required to have third party to do concrete testing steel testing and other visual observations and provide reports that we turn over to the township okay thank you Mr Slaughter all right so could I please have a motion to advertise for the RFP for the third party testing so moved second okay thank you any comments or questions okay hearing none all in favor say I I I any opposed not hearing any
010motion passes thank you Mr Slaughter certainly thank you uh the second item we have uh for permission to advertise is multiple rfps as part of the facilities and operations and ual Services uh that we are seeking nine different types of rfps uh some are required by EPA some are required by NFPA uh others are required by lni uh some are preventative maintenance and outside contracted services including uh asphalt repair concrete sidewalk repair uh and snow removal services for above and beyond what our staff does not is not capable of handling uh the one thing thing that uh I did include in here is job source Contracting what that is is uh bidding for uh site and Construction Services on an hourly basis for our option to use or not use uh that will help in
011it for the high school project um for work outside of what our staff can't can not do or handle so those nine items we are seeking to advertise for uh rfps okay thanks Mr slutter so could I please have a motion to approve these multiple rfps the moved is there a second second okay any comments or questions I have one Mr Slaughter could you please um ex explain or help me understand a bit more about the two items six I believe it's six and eight or no I'm sorry six and seven um that uh look to the capital projects plan and that scope and um I guess the the work and the and the rating of it in terms of our qualitative factor I should say our factors for determination of where it falls in
012the project list project plan sorry certainly so item number six is for asphalt repair and replacement as required uh some of those repairs are going to be emergency repairs they might not necessarily be on the capital projects list but it would be for instance pothole repair and damage from the winter from freezing and thawing however there's some there are some other items that are on the capital projects list that are either seal coating uh of the paving or uh pavement repair and replacement uh those items would be bid by the square yard uh and we would take pricing for different footages uh obviously the larger the quantity the better the price we would expect from the RFB uh so that is for item number six item number seven I'm sorry do you have a question
013no I'm sorry please I'm sorry okay uh item number seven is for concrete sidewalk and curbing repairs again this would be some of it has to do with the winter heaving and uh cracked uh repairs and uh some of it also has to do with capital projects plan and uh some of the playground uh work as well uh with both of these items so uh a little bit of emergency repair little bit of uh trip Hazard remediation and uh some of the work that's on the capital projects plan so we would take square yard numbers for this as well okay all right thank you any other comments or questions from the committee okay hearing none all in favor please say I I all right any opposed hearing none motion passes thank you Mr Slaughter certainly
014uh item number we have is a recommendation to seek approval of a proposal we received from a Lutron lighting uh at Montgomery Elementary School we have a Lutron lighting control system that controls all the lights in the building through a main control panel uh that's software is outdated and in uh need of an upgrade so we are seeking to uh do that upgrade this summer it is on the capital projects plan for Montgomery and that's in the amount of 11,230 okay thank you may I have a motion to approve this um so moved thank you is there a second did I hear a second I'm sorry I didn't second yes okay thanks any comments or questions question I'm sorry Julia sorry um so we northan upgraded um Montgomery Elementary I believe in 2016 2017 right
015I guess the liks were not done they were not part of that project at the time so that was the original installation when this control panel was installed okay so this is just a uh that that software program that's in there is no longer supported and outdated so this is a firmware update to the panel oh it's a software okay yeah so it's software upgrade yes got it all right thank you just a quick followup to that too is this this is the lighting system that covers the entire entire building or just yeah covers the entire building okay thank you and last question we're just daisy chaining it now but what is the likelihood of the next time that we have to do a firmware upgrade or does this end that you know that type
016of pricing so the firmware upgrades are uh based upon the support that's received from the manufacturer uh I wouldn't anticipate having to do another firmware upgrade for approximately four years uh but at that time they could choose to issue another firmware update or no longer continue to support the panel at which time we would either uh look to hold on to it till it's end of life and replace it or we could choose to move forward uh from there thank you certainly okay Mr slauter Question with this particular item and the next one there are they the same scope of work yes the difference between the two in price is that W has more square footage and more fixtures so the upgrade is based upon the fixture count within the buildings what are we are
017we permitted to let's say combine these two to see if we have any Synergy in terms of even a lower responsible bid so uh we did put this out together uh they sent the proposals individually Lutron is not a company that is uh very enduser friendly um so uh we did ask the question but uh we were told that uh this was the price for the upgrades all right thank you for that all right so regarding this particular item um any other questions or comments yes okay didn't see it comment but um it interests me right from this uh Safety and Security space as it relates to facilities uh Mr Slaughter that U the proprietary systems I mean it it's something that's to me is rather honorous as a taxpayer and as a Schoolboard director
018right it's 20th century model and I understand there are other systems that we just have to pay to maintain but will that educate us are there guard rails that we can put in place for the high school or any Renovations going forward that has open firmware and the ability to integrate across uh you know cross functional systems U for operations yeah that would be correct so we are trying to use open protocol systems in in throughout the district So currently the district has five Lutron systems these two were the only two that were available for a firmware upgrade the other two are no longer supported and a new panel is uh required uh so we have engaged uh are looking to engage Snider Hoffman to do a non-proprietary single classroom Standalone system that we can
019buy off the shelf at any electrical supply house love it h thank you and I was confident that was the case and this isn't a criticism of any particular company or certainly not the administration and and our approach this is a shift in models and I'm just happy to hear that U where enough to recognize that and prepare going forward thank you certainly a full replacement for uh schools like Montgomery and Hatfield would far exceed the dollars that are the firmware upgrade so it was a conscious cost-saving issue to recommend this understood thank you thank you any other comments or questions okay hearing none all in favor say I any opposed hearing none motion passes thank you uh the last item on the uh items recommended for work session and action is uh a is
020uh sorry uh D and that is the same uh Lutron software upgrade at Hatfield Elementary School uh that one however is in the amount of $853 because it's a little smaller platform uh but the same issue it is a software update for an existing lighting control system okay thank you Mr SCH Slaughter Al righty um may I please have a motion for this um for Hatfield some moved okay I he first in a second okay any comments or questions from the committee okay hearing none all in favor say I please any opposed hearing none the motion passes thanks Mr sler certainly uh that moves us on to informational items uh our first informational update is the high school project and we have Mr Colin case from cha with us tonight who is going to make
021the presentation uh this update is what has happened since our last meeting in January Mr Case y thank you hello everybody conat as a reminder make sure you turn the lights off when you head out of your office tonight Mr case we're having difficulty hearing you can you guys can you hear me now much better thank you okay hey I just wanted to say congratulations to Mr Snider tonight it looks like I'm having microphone issues here oops how can you hear me now perfect that's very okay there we go I gotta talk louder sorry about that okay thank you Mr Slaughter um if you want to um move over to the next slide okay so some some upcoming uh events we've had a lot of progress being made on the high school project uh we
022have our first we had our first Planning Commission on on 122 um we have received a a comment letter from cks and um as early as 218 a few weeks ago um and the building phase one code review is review is underway um for zoning we have some really exciting updates on zoning this month uh we submitted a few items for for the zoning hearing board um we're targeting the April meeting so there's three critical items that we'll be tackling at that meeting um as far as Pico the team from Schneider Hoffman has been working on communicating the new electrical requirements for the project with Pico and that's very important as we continue to progress with procuring of key electrical equipment particularly for the phase one edition out back for the new classroom Wing um
023we did receive some comments back from Pico and this process is is well underway um as far as North pen Water and Sewer Authority um we did receive some legal documents back that's currently being reviewed by North pen water uh this is some critical work that's relative to some of the water meter pits that we'll be installing on the site and then also uh the conveyance of the existing water lines on the property um this is a really good item that we're we're diligently working on and we're very very close to closing out um mainly because where the existing water meter pit is it's very close to the New Foundation line on the addition in the rear of the project so you know the plan is over the summer in bid package one would be
024to um install those new water meter pits and then be able to um deactivate the existing meter pit as well as some Associated waterline work um to be able to do that um thank you some upcoming events um as far as the mpdf I'm sorry as far as the mpds permit we received conditional approval for the enns permit this allows us to do some of that critical utility work that we've been talking about in preparation for the addition and the later bid pack phase for phase two of the project um we've already received this back from the Conservation District which is excellent this is one we were not expecting to get this quickly so we excited when we saw it come in and I believe that came in the door last week so some really
025good things there as far as pendot um the team from tnm and Associates have been working with the township as far as um if we need to add another round of traffic counts for the project as well as if we need to do a formal uh traffic impact survey for the project and we're waiting on Township approval to do that um for SUNY toown Pike the township has requested that we do a study on uh SUNY toown Road and if a pedestrian crosswalk is suitable for that location um it is a busy road so we're not quite sure what the um what the study will find but we have our um we have our suspicions um that proposal um is on the February work agenda and I I think Mr Slaughter I believe you presented
026that earlier tonight uh no that was approved at the last meeting sorry y thank you Mr Slaughter um as far as the Conservation District items they've requested some some additional survey work to be done as well as some additional infiltration and cores to be tested on the site um this is one we weren't quite expecting to have to do it's a new requirement um for Montgomery County Conservation District um and I think we're in the works on on getting that um that work started and be able to get some data from that infiltration test thank you keep going down as far as ongoing activities um we were able to get the um notice of intent out and even more exciting we were actually able to issue the notice that predes this morning and this afternoon
027to the to the uh four Prime contractors for bid pack one um I know we presented those bids at the last meeting um for phase two um we have the 50% design development documents as well as the 100% set our team is starting to work on constructibility reviews for that 100% set and obviously I've been working diligently on the phasing plans um last last meeting we presented the idea of splitting them up into two separate bid packages which did revise the phasing um and schedule for the rest of the project um we've been starting to get in more detailed meetings with the uh mechanical electrical and plumbing systems in the building to make sure as we go from phase to phase we're keeping the lights on we're keeping HVAC on in other phases so we'
028been working through some of the challenges that may come up why we try and do that and um so far so good we hasn't been anything too unexpected nothing that the team hasn't been able to overcome pretty quickly as far as you know putting different requirements in the phasing plan to make sure things are staying active um additionally with phase two we're starting to look at the site packages for those projects and exactly how the site phasing will work you know where staging areas will be where fencing will happen um the timing of some of the key summer work we're going to have a lot of busy Summers on this project um when staff and students are you know away enjoying summer break we'll be doing a lot of work on on the on the
029site work uh in particular you know there'll be less parking needs at that point so we can get a lot of work moving during the summertime and we intend to take full advantage of that uh for the transportation building um we're continuing to work through design and layout of that building um we're we're progressing in into the design development phase Mr Slaughter's been working with the team over at Transportation they've been reviewing they've been giving lots of feedback to the team at Shader group as far as their wants and needs in that building um at this time we had a a real challenge of battling the existing grade at the back of transportation and where the new um site will grow kind of into the tree line um we're able to kind of drop those
030grades eliminate that challenge and that's going to allow us to open up that Transportation building before we're able to Dem uh demolish the new one and keep things active without any real major site work um to the existing parking lot to make the new building operational so that's just a little challenge um we're working obviously on a separate um State contract with gordian group um and we're working on getting that out sometime in mid-march um to that team to review uh the AM radio tower Dem demo and design um we've been uh doing a lot of work on this one so we have that bit package out um to the team we're going to have our our pre-bid meeting tomorrow afternoon so we're really excited to get that one out be able to start that
031work this summer get those towers down and that way we can keep the um the AM Radio Service operational and it'll also allow us to be prepared to um start construction of that staging area in the back of the site so we've been working with Mr Gilmer to make sure we're um phasing in the requirements of you know which tow is operational which Towers will be coming down um and you know we've been making some changes last minute and that's also helping us tackle some of these zoning um hearing board challenges that have arose so we've been we've been working on that um we have some addendums going out for this um and we're excited to kick the pre-bid off tomorrow so just a quick schedule update for phase one um so we have uh
032sorry can you scroll down just a little bit more Mr Linsky thank you so we have notice proceed so that was issued um a little bit ahead of schedule that was out this this afternoon to the team um we have work scheduled to commence on um the auditorium first starting in late May early June and then the followup work on kpod would happen over the summertime which you know as we all we we talked a few times we'll be working on construction uh constructing temp classrooms throughout the building that gives us the ability to empty the third floor of kpod and work top to bottom on that project um we have some some critical summer work that's included in that project we have the fuel tank removal scheduled for the summer of 2025 um the
033relocation of the propane tank um pending Township approval and that's kind of ties into the whole zoning hearing board meeting coming up in April uh we have some strategic site work planned in uh summer of 25 like I mentioned um earli in the project we talked a little bit about those water those water meter pits and utility line relocations and we're going to get those operational and ready to go this summer so we're prepared to work on the um next section of the project for phase two um and k-pod like we said this is a quick brief update as far as how the floors will begin and finish and um so we'll be starting k-pod on the third floor that'll finish in November we then transition to the second flooor of Renovations that'll finish in
034in March and then drop down to the bottom floor and that'll continue through the summertime some ongoing activities um so for phase two part of the project uh Sher group and um Mr Slaughter and the team from the district are continuing to work on um end user meetings with stakeholders and areas of the building we've had some meetings this week on the gym layout we're continuing to talk about the auditorium um the team from tnm is continuing to work on that ke mpds submission and um we're hoping to get that permit hopefully here in the fall and that's still tracking um abatement bids uh real quick for abatement so we're going to be bidding the abatement packages for phase two part of the project that'll be bid at the same time as the rest of
035the renovations so those will be going together and then same for bid Pack 3 when we split the building so we'll essentially have two abatement contractors you know one for bid Pack 2 one for bid Pack 3 um we're looking at how we're going to tackle the courtyard Windows um there is some some critical abatement that needs to occur for the existing area of um of apod as we build the addition there's some Courtyard and some windows on apod that will need to be Abad um in the winter time and uh in the in the spring of uh 2026 so late 25 early 26 and as far as phasing uh for abatement in the in the rest of the building we have some things that will be happening in the summer of 2030 some something
036like the gym so those later areas back in the project you know batement will kind of continue throughout the whole project so for phase three um we're looking at as we said we we SPL these bid packages up we're looking at moving fpod gpod hod um into phase uh into phase three of the project so this is essentially the auditorium the um the wrestling room the aux gym the gymnasium itself the teched wing as well as the central plant um those areas hone well to be packaged together since they're fed mechanically from the central plant so it was an easy way to break up the building from the classroom pods and tackle some of the open um common spaces in a separate bid package and since it's all fed from the central plant it hones
037well for a separate bid and renovation of that area by itself um phase three abatement like I said would kind of happen with that so as bid package three goes out the abatement would happen with it we'd have an abatement contractor along with the four Prime contractors and they would flow through the renovations ahead of each renovation um to take care of any abatement that needs to occur before the pods can be renovated or phases can be renovated excuse me uh as a quick update um phase two site renovation and building renovation so this is essentially just a real quick breakout of how we have the pods and how we're going to break these two bid packages so for bid package two we're going to have aod Edition that'll begin in the fall of 2026
038and continue through the next year from there we then move to the aod renovation so we' go right next to it continue top and bottom Renovations in a pod um and then we jump to the second floor of B so there's classrooms on the second floor with the cafeteria and kitchen below we'd start upstairs with those classrooms then we drop to the bottom level we do the cafeteria and the kitchen um and then from there we'd move over to C pod renovation that would we that would be be an area where we take top and bottom floors at the same time um it's nice because we we can move the students and and staff out of the out of that pod and take both floors at the same time it's a nice chunk of the
039project that we can take in one shot from there it goes to a little more challenging area which is DN pod renovation from there we kind of split d& um make like an L so we can continue student traffic around that area and then also you know as we renovate top and bottom and then switch to the other side for phase three uh like I mentioned this would be fpod um addition and renovation so this would be the auditorium and music Wing um Family consumer science there's some office spaces in there there's a few classrooms the main lobby so fpod is a nice chunk of this of the project um and that would um kind of happen a little together so you know there's some overlapping renovation phases but um and and then of course
040the addition from there we jump over to jpod so there's a a renovation and addition of that of that area of the project um we're looking at maybe it may not be a renovation we're still we're doing a study on if it makes sense at this point to demolish jpod entirely and build a smaller addition to take care of the fitness room and we're doing a cost analysis on that now and um some of the challenges we found in jpod was there was some very challenging um structural Shoring challenges that we found when we were looking at at jpod structurally um it's not your common Construction in that area um and looking at that challenge as we cut in openings and things like that it may be more cost effective to actually demolish it completely
041and build a small addition and uh we're doing a cost analysis on that we'll be able to share that with the team um from there we go over to um to H and G so the gym and then the central plant and teched rooms and that would be towards the back half of phase three and the back back half of the project and this is my my work of art so this is the overall phasing scheme for the building um been working very hard at this with the team getting lots of feedback from the district team as well as uh Shader group and all of their Consultants so this is just a clear uh layout of the phases so this is the first floor so you can see you kind of have a break line
042of bid Pack 2 and bid package three and you can see the various phases and um and how they would flow through the project so Mr Case can I ask a question so the two I think it's two slides the previous two slides when you mentioned about um doing analysis to determine whether it's a new jpod or the renovation um can you explain what jpod what the function of jpod is right now I I certainly can explain that it is uh currently okay sorry Mr case I guess it is a yeah no worries that's that's the round pod right in the front in between kpod and the gymnasiums um and we utilize it right now as a space for uh art classes primarily and some health classes Anatomy no I was looking at that this
043afternoon when I was walking so would it okay so you're looking at it providing the same function or you might take the opportunity to do something else and I can speak to that or Dr bar you can either way no go ahead Pete um so we are looking u m m Mery to to utilize that space one way or the other as our uh updated fitness center currently our fitness center is on a balcony overlooking the gymnasium and it is completely inaccessible um anyone who has any Mobility needs can just simply can't get to our fitness center so um any weightlifting any workout facility up there um and now uh that the renovation is happening with ADA compliance we're not allowed to have any programming on that balcony so we're looking for a space to
044move that fitness center um and jpod would be that spot so whether it's in its current um you know current form its circular form with some additions as infill around it or as Mr K said if it's a demolition and a new renovation that will be the the final result for that space okay it it is unique I mean from the outside it is very clever looking um so when would you anticipate bringing this discussion regarding specific to jpod back to would it be to fno or would it be to the full board a work session just curious and and the timing yeah so right now we're doing a cost evaluation there have been some schematic designs what a revised uh jpod would look like uh so those were transferred from Shrader group Architects to
045uh cha for a cost evaluation I would expect by next month's meeting we'd have a cost evaluation and uh a a recommendation or an advisement to which way to proceed there okay thank you thanks Mr K thanks Dr Nicholson yeah sorry M McMurry and Mr Slaughter I my laptop just shut off completely on me in the middle of your question so I apologize um was everybody able to answer it I didn't quite hear it it was right in the middle when you were perfect timing for you to come back on we're all good okay I apologize keep it going okay awesome you're awesome okay so jumping over to uh I think if we hit the second floor and then the third floor so that's just an overview of the phasing okay okay as far as
046a budget update so we wanted to provide a budget update um for bid package one and then as well as the rest of the project so obviously we have bid results in for the first bid package we're starting to break out um the rest of the budget accordingly um we have a number in for transportation now obviously we have k-pod and an auditorium and then we have phase two Renovations and site improvements and then what we'd like to do from there is work work with the team as far as how we break out phase two and phase three of the project as well as the site work now since we're splitting it into another third bid package now we have to look at and strategize how we separate the site for the project so obviously
047bid package two contractors will be there and this is just an an easy example of you know how we would break it out bid package two contractor would be there they'd construct the staging area up on the radio tower Tower site then we have to work on how we actually phase bid package 3 contractor because he's going to be there for another two years after this so then it would be a prime example for him to come back in and restore that site and turn it to a ball field um an athletic field so we're still working on the exact split where do we split storm water out front where do we split some of the paving um from there we can break the budget out into another colum which would cover base three okay
048I have a question Mr case I think it's for Mr SC I mentioned in a previous meeting about the soft cost and possible um review of them and I believe that we had said it could happen in the March time frame to see if there was any Synergy with the acquisition of um Dewey by Chi is this the time frame that we can start looking at that to see if there is synergy and a reduction in these costs Mr scy um I don't think the acquisition really has any impact on the soft cost Miss MC Mery because we're under contract with a Dewey now CH so the contract doesn't change anything with regard to their soft cost however with the bid results from package one cha did revise their overall cost estimate not only with
049the actual bids now but the soft costs were also revised for phase one okay that's a little bit different I think from your question because yeah it is a little bit different because we were when we heard about the we were given the information if I recall and the other committee members can can correct me please I thought that part of the benefit of the acquisition was the systems for the work order system the HR System the planning systems that um that cha had would benefit and and and also the timekeeping would benefit um possibly us going forward just from that you know ability to use that and work more efficiently I I think it does allow cha to work more efficiently but we have a contract so um unless the folks at Cha would
050like to amend the contract lower we are at the same pricing that we were prior to the acquisition okay and and again so so I appreciate that and maybe is that something that is possible for us to do to discuss with Cha about any additional reduction in our soft cost due to just those things that they discussed and I just sort of reiterate it in an awkward way well again I'm not sure how Cha's internal efficiencies translate into a change in soft cost uh I don't know if Mr Case has anything to add to that but part of their contract is soft cost but we're under agreement so their internal efficiencies doesn't have any impact on our contract with cha oh and and please if if it's say I'm not implying for one second about
051renegotiating of any contract whatsoever I'm just discussing just that aspect of it not to go back and request anything I'm not looking at that it is a signed uh committed to contract so that's not my intent hope I'm not confusing probably Mr case we cannot hear youor can you hear me now try again okay no no unfortunately I can jump in Jamie Lynch is here sorry colins covered for me since I'm uh in the car this evening but thank you very much for the question Miss McMurtry the first the first component I might identify is that phase one came in uh significantly under budget so that's the first bit of savings and we're looking for savings each and every um in each and every phase for the district um Mr scra's Right is that we
052have negotiated a contract based on our level of effort that's on the job and the number of months and years that we're on the job site for you and the work that Mr case and I and others are doing in order to support the district and so we'll look for savings every step of the way but we have a rather detailed fee uh assembly that's in the contract that identifies the number of hours that people would be on site and the duration of the project has not changed and so the duration of our level of effort at this point has not changed we have a great company behind us that's supporting us every step of the way but as Mr scroy said yes that doesn't necessarily reduce the number of hours that we need to
053apply for the project but we'll look at it every step of the way with you okay thank you Mr Casa I appreciate this explanation I I just think it's important for the community the board the administration and our partners who've helped us get this far um to make sure that we have the honest conversation uh I've learned a lot from what you just shared I think we um I don't think I know that we value uh this relationship but we also honor the contracts it's just important for us as board members to recognize you know coming from the private sector um what it means I I've been part of major uh mergers and Acquisitions and uh the efficiencies do benefit the that private entity no matter what and that's great we are speaking about one
054of the largest renovation if not the largest renovation projects in the state of Pennsylvania and it's just important for us to ask these questions to ensure that it's not just about the hourly but where you do have those efficiencies that's great if you gain those and that adds to to the margin but if there's any that you can give back to the taxpayer it's our duty to press for that and try to ensure as much as possible uh that taxpayers get the best return on investment so thank you thank you the questions are are absolutely valid and um the board should always ask questions if they need information and yes we are your fiduciary agent and that of your taxpayer and so we don't mind these questions and we're used to getting them in all
055of the public school districts that we serve so thank you very much okay thank you Mr Case are you back I think so I'm I'm you sound good keep going yeah okay there we go looks like we worked it out you did awesome all right so I I think that was it for the budget update Mr Linsky and it was jumping over to questions so again sorry about the microphone tonight that's fine anyone else on the committee have questions for Mr Case okay all right seeing none Mr case thank you very much and um for working through the the audio issues but it was a great update this evening thank you Miss McMurry be more than happy to answer any questions if they come up Okie doie all right okay the next informational item is
056item number B the 10-year Capital Plan update uh there were no updates to the 10-year Capital plan since the last presentation in January uh under public uh the content there you can see the current projects that are underway and the projects that are upcoming uh that we're out seeking pricing on and or uh design uh fees for those projects there are any questions on the capital project plan okay the next informational item is item number c that is the pre purchase of the electrical gear uh we finally got a response from Pico on uh January 23rd and then again on February 18th confirming all the information that we need so we have this information back out to our vendors to revise their pricing we will then submit all their proposals uh for review to Snyder
057Hoffman and we would like to uh present this to the board of directors on March 20th at the uh board Action meeting for approval of the low bid for the pre purchase of the equipment any questions on the pre- purchase electrical gear Mr Slaughter so I understood about the the configuration issue from last time but then there was another issue yeah there was another issue with um throwing a blank I apologize that's okay but I guess I thought that this was moving along but we we sort of lost almost a month again yes yes so we got the we got the YY configuration uh on that then there was another issue I believe that we asked about the primary Transformer uh that we were waiting on a response from Pico for again that emails a
058couple times a week and we finally got an answer once I reached out to our representative and got the answer on that so that's back out to everybody again so my question is going to be this is not now going to end up being critical path right it won't be an issue still we're still in a good space terms of uh length of time to receive this yeah all this all this equipment is for phase two so we feel uh that we're in a good spot for this right now all right you don't have to expedite anything yet right no nothing needs to be exped I don't believe you could expedite any of this equipment I don't think you could either right sorry take that was not one of my better crazy questions so strike
059that no problem any question other questions on the pre- purchase equipment okay great moving on to the next item I wanted to provide an update for the HVAC HVAC system that serves the data and network room in the high school that serves the network for the entire School District so for a while now we've been having problems with that system we've been repairing it bringing it back up to speed um but we experienced a a small failure again in that system again we um brought out the Liebert rep got that back online so we are now making plans um to pull this out of the construction project move it up in the timeline uh and get this out to bid ourselves outside of construction and not only install a new unit for the existing unit
060but install a backup system so we just wanted to uh get give you an update on that uh we're going to get get numbers for all that and the backup systems the first thing we're going to install we're going to do that through the co-stars program with multiple proposals then we're going to request permission to receive bids for the replacement of the main unit uh just in the last week alone we've probably spent uh about $1,500 in refrigerant it's an old R22 system and it's at the end of its life expectancy so uh this W you know this was originally supposed to be part of the construction budget but due to the urgency we're going to move it up and take it out of the project uh it would still be paid for with construction
061funds but uh we're going to do it ourselves outside the project Mr Casa thank you uh this seems to be quite proactive uh also not like we have much of a choice however I I'm wondering how this fits into a larger continuity of operations plan and so that it's we may have redundancy on site at the high school but since it's for the entire district am I missing something about additional redundancy so this is the main Hub so all communication funnels out of the high school to the like a spiderweb to the entire District so if this hub goes down it could essentially take down all the buildings so there there need so there needs to be redundancy there with cooling obviously servers generate a lot of heat the UPS backup systems generate a lot
062of heat so air conditioning is critical to the failure of of servers and the network switches so um with this being uh a problem over a consistent amount of time probably a year and a half or more is my understanding of that uh we feel the need that uh this needs to be accelerated timeline wise and get this done uh and considering it's been a heroic effort uh just like all the rest of the systems at the high school and within the District of our facilities Department to continually keep all of our systems operating it's just amazing what we've been able to do and when we have to machine uh and solve our own problems because the equipment doesn't exist anymore because there wasn't planning 20 years ago for for right the Aging out of
063these systems I'm just wondering in the 20y year 10year fiveyear Horizon do we have something that's more Edge based cloud-based hybrid not you know centralized on just this one site so I would defer to Dr Landis for that probably real answer to that question uh I can tell you you know that some of their systems are cloud-based now and uh but I think you would ask her if they're at capacity there's still going to be some onsite network devices yep and that's that's what this is set up to handle so I think once we replace this system we're going to be good for another 20 to 25 years but in the 2045 uh time frame we would look at you know looking to replace this system again so understood not questioning at all the plan
064or what's being done currently just trying to learn more about that the options perhaps going forward thank you Mr Slaughter Mr Slaughter if I may uh just to give a concrete example of um this system you may recall Mr Kasa and other board directors uh last year we had a Sunday evening where I sent an email out to the community that we might not have school the next day um because of a failure in that room actually that Mr slutter is talking about um we were able Mr Schneider and his team heroically recovered with the technology department Dr Landis but yeah security systems cameras Network and we do have off-site Network redundancies through the IU as well um so there are cloudbased there are uh redundant systems through the IU and then of course this
065like Mr Slaughter said is the main hub for the district as a whole so but there were questions at the time like why just because the high school's down can well it that's where our Network system is that feeds the entire District everything from swipe card access to telephones to intercoms to everything so and and Dr Bower when when Dr Landis uh made her gave her budget presentation last week or maybe it was earlier this last week she did mention about in the future that type of redundancy separation that would require well it's it's Hardware but that would be a much bigger cost correct so we'll look to that in the future yes that's something she talks about quite often I bet okay thank you any more questions on the uh HVAC for the network
066operations center okay moving on to the last item I'm sorry next to the last item uh as Mr CH Mr Case had talked about out uh our recent comment review back from the Montgomery County Conservation District indicated a new uh type of testing that they would like done and this is basically the drilling of some of the Bedrock to calculate the underground infiltration basins and how water permeates into those uh projects uh this was not part of the original scope this is a new requirement that mccd is uh requiring of their jobs so it was not part of the original design work uh so we are out right now we have a plan issued for uh pricing from a Drilling and environmental contractor to provide a report uh as soon as we get that price
067back we will be back in front of you to share that with you uh for approval any questions on the additional borings all right moving on to the last one pardon me um so I was asked to present a plan uh that we have on our natural turf fields at the high school including baseball softball uh for varsity and JV and the soccer fields up there so we have implemented a a Turf program uh there there's already been some in place but we went back to uh one of our our partners that uh do this with us H actually it's two partners so we we kind of threw ideas around we brought the best of both of their plans together and came up with a plan so we're going to do five overall rounds of
068applications which include herbicides it includes insecticides it includes fertilization airation top dressing seeding uh routine maintenance to ensure that the natural turf fields will take more wear and and provide a better uh surface for what we have so those time frames are early spring spring summer early fall and late fall uh this will require us to shut down the the fields for a period of a day or two they are weather dependent and we've tried to get that information out there to the coaches so uh it wouldn't come as a surprise we're going to work with them not to interrupt their schedule but to find a convenient time that we can perform this work the weather cooperates and it's not putting out the sports teams um so again what I had said is that um
069sorry the more detail on those five applications are fertilization at five times of the year one application of pre-emergent weed control four applications of broadleaf weed control crab grass and nut Edge uh one application for that uh P control in one application which is uh adding uh some type of chemical TP typically gypsum or lime to get the ph balanced in the fields grub control as needed uh that'll be something that I look for uh in the grass as we go through the year once grubs have become uh visible uh then we treat for them otherwise we don't do it as a preventative maintenance because it's costly and it's not really necessary so we want to make sure that we have an issue uh and and that's usually like how many grubs per square foot
070before we try and create an application and then ation and over seating three times a year and top dressing once a year uh some of the other things that we're looking at since the uh the the baseball and softball fields uh have been um a a bit of a people have concerns over how we're going to address those fields so right now we are looking at uh above ground irrigation I'm a waiting on cost for uh from Watson irrigation for that wheel uh we're also looking at below ground irrigation uh hmer sports turf is working on a price for that right now for us we did invest at field lighting and that cost was $570,000 per field if we were to install lights for night games at each field uh field bleachers I am meeting
071with them on Friday to go over that again uh for baseball it would be on the first and third base sides obviously buil into the hillside on third base first base would be on the ground level uh the softball fields would both be bleachers on the ground level area and then we're also seeking uh pricing for Turf not just um artificial turf not only just the infield but will get a whole field price as well so we'll have lots of prices to create a budget that we can uh work from and I am meeting with them on Wednesday uh to go over this work so lot of work going on some of it to maintain the natural grass other for future potential projects that we could have budget costs in and know exactly what we're
072getting into should we choose to pursue that is there any questions on the turf management plan thank you Mr Schneider for presenting that level of detail I appreciate it certainly that is all I have for informational updates okay oh miss miss director stole yeah sorry I do have a question and I don't want to put anybody on the spot but I was just kind of wondering um about the Middle School Fields do we do anything similar for them yes we do uh it's it's a it's a slightly reduced program but uh they are also uh on the fertilization the pre-emergent and the broad leaf control at those fields as well great thank you certainly all right so I I have to ask having coached on some of those fields or or watched is there any
073increased uh work in terms of on the Middle School field ensuring that um not just the weeds are on the running paths but for softball and baseball fields that we have the edges um safe enough to reduce risk in terms of ground balls hitting lips uh right um making sure that we roll the fields and and do what's necessary as well so uh rolling the fields is really not great for turf grass although it is good for the infield areas uh that's typically done when you put the field to bed in the fall um we are going to move forward with a plan we're trying to reduce some of the work that the grounds crew is doing just cutting grass and possibly expand the Contracting so that the focus of the grounds crew can be
074on that specialized kind of work where we are doing more infields and getting to the middle schools sooner rather than later so that that is part of our plan for the uh later this year uh happy to hear that and um thank you you could tell I'm like 20th century you know ball field type of person but when it I also want to make sure that we commend the facilities team that we have there's anything that I learned from Mr Schneider over the years it's how efficient North Pen's grounds crew and Facilities crews are I think it's through work buddy right we're able to track all the work that needs to be done what gets done and the cost of doing it like by unit and North pen is at at some of the lowest
075uh costs when it comes down to protecting the taxpayer from just paying for vanity projects these are not these are investments we're talking about so that students simply have fields that are up the par average at best and that's what we're looking for so that that across any of our extra curricular activities there's at least a consistent expectation of right the the the surface and and the the the arena so to speak of what any of our students might be participating on and I appreciate that effort and this is once again no criticism at all of our facilities team and staff this is about adding the proper bandwidth and managing them so that we're even more efficient but most important that we are effective in ensuring that we have fields that all of our students
076and families can be proud of when it's when it's time to participate at the middle school and high school levels so thank you certainly that is all I have for informational items director McMurry if you would like to okay thank you Mo on all righty uh we do not have any students on tonight right Mr Gilmer thanks that's correct yep all righty so we'll move into public comment does anyone have any questions regarding going once going twice regarding the informational items a lot of great updates tonight M Mr SCH Slaughter thank you alrighty does anyone in the audience want to make public comment Mr Gilmer yes we have two in the audience tonight okay I'll read the disclaimer individuals attending this meeting virtually and intending to speak to the committee should be aware that they
077are being recorded in order to meet the requirements of Pennsylvania Sunshine Law it is necessary to record the names of all CI citizens who speak to the committee during the meeting to assure compliance with this requirement it is essential that those planning to address the committee raise their hand electronically and state their name and municipality members of the audience are asked to limit their questions and comments to matters being discussed at tonight's meeting or matters that may come before the facilities and operations committee members of the audience are asked to limit their questions and comments to three minutes and this is in reference to board policy 903 okay thanks Mr Gilmer okay up first is Matt Chartrand Matt I have enabled your microphone so when you're ready to begin please state your name and municipality
078for the record and begin your comments please hi my name is Matt Chartrand I'm uh a res of tal Menon Township sorry if you can hear in the background there my dog is working on a squeaker um anyway I I missed the first part of the meeting I apologize I I missed about the first half hour or so but jumped on I did want to you know thank you all and thank Mr Slaughter for the detailed information in regard to what's being done and the pricing that's being put together for the baseball and and softball fields uh at the high school and and beyond that to the middle school so um certainly appreciate the fact that you know our continued conversations are starting to you know get to that point like we talked about earlier
079of um trying to get a plan in place for this just wanted to kind of give you guys some feedback from what we've received so we reached out uh independently to a company Local Company um they are approved or certified I guess as part of the co-stars program that does a lot of this type of work Keystone Sports construction um just to try to do what it sounds like exactly what you are already working on um we just had some preliminary conversations with them to kind of get some ballpark numbers together and I think a lot of what what Mr Slaughter noted is accurate or you know seemingly at least within the right ballpark here um the area that we have really started to focus on a little bit more in the discussions and they
080putting together some pricing detail pricing for us as well which we'd be happy to share if if the uh District would like us to um is the idea of turfing the infield and and maybe the infield only um you know it's obviously something that could be expanded in time to include the whole field but the infield pricing that we received at least from a ballpark perspective was somewhere between maybe 300,000 to a high end of 400,000 uh which is obviously a lot less than than the whole which we heard could be upwards of a million dollars um and that would just so everyone's aware that would also include the areas of where all the dirt is on the field so all of that would become turfed it would obviously become different color you'd have you
081know the grass areas would be green the dirt areas would be brown but it would all be Turf so from it from the aspect of Maintenance um you know obviously there'd be no need for irrigation in those areas there be no need to be able to you know to have to drag the fields afterwards there be no need to have to roll them in the fall like was talked about overseed them those sorts of things so we think that that's something that that again hopefully we can have some more discussion with the board about um but it might be something that's that's more easily attainable and would have a huge effect on our ability to to keep those fields playable thank you Mr chartron okay up next is Jason laner Jason I've enabled your microphone
082so when you're ready to begin please state your name and municipality for the record and begin your comments please uh Jason one a Lansdale um wanted to touch Bas I mentioned this sometime ago um reming regarding the communication system and the networking system and the power to to uh Drive such a system uh is is when you're building these at least in the power distribution aspect of it is instead of going for redundancy meaning uh your total requirement times two so you have your total requirement and you have a redundant of a whole second system you do it in a scalable way so you take your power distribution divide it by three and you have 3/3 will give you your entire power distribution system in all the distri in all the power and Communications can
083uh work with one another well then you add another third to it so you end up with four thirds of what you require and this does two things one it keeps your system up should part of it go down and it's not catastrophic and it also reduce reduces the energy consumption of everything online because the less bandwidth or less energy let me say the less each thing is doing individually the less energy it takes to to cool it down less energy is used in consumption this is all very scalable it's all very uh it's it's been done for years a lot of in Telecom Communications and things and when you're talking with whomever is going to be installing this that type of n plus1 redundancy should be in the conversation because this is a way
084of not only up making sure communication stay up but it also means less power consumption you have more things on requiring less power and therefore less cooling is going to be needed uh and just as just bring maybe bring that into conversation when you're when you're when you're talking about reducing um replacing the entire networking system uh and I'll leave it there thanks thank you Mr lenier um Dr Boward did you want to comment please uh sure I'd be happy to so for both public comments uh thank you Mr chartran for your continued advocacy for our baseball and softball programs in the fields um just shoot me an email you had mentioned wanting to meet with some members of the board maybe we could uh schedule a time to chat with Mr Slaughter and myself
085and Miss McMurry uh as not only board president but chair of this committee if you'd like um and then for Mr lanir Mr laner you are outkicking my coverage there for sure I I can't speak the lingo with the power and systems the way that Dr Landis or Mr Slaughter could but I'm sure they'd be happy to engage with you about that so sorry Miss MC merry my I'm limited when it comes to th those specifics in those Weeds on the Power Systems and networks that's why we have a team um you have a great team all righty um so thank you Dr power seriously uh Mr Slaughter back to you regarding a summary of the items that are now recommended for work session or action please certainly the first item we have for uh
086the summary of recommendation is permission to advertise for the third party testing and inspecting for the high school project phase one the second item we have uh is permission to advertise multiple rfps for miscellaneous services for the North Penn School District for the 2025 2026 budget year the third item that we have is recommendation I'm sorry recommend permission to seek approval of the proposal for the software upgrades to the Lutron lighting control system at Montgomery Elementary School and the last item is permission to seek approval of the proposal for software upgrades to the Lutron lighting system at the Hatfield Elementary School okay thank you Mr Slaughter so before we close out the meeting i' just like to mention too that miss this is Mr scra's last facilities and operations committee so thank you for attending
087them Mr scroy and thank you for providing um responses to questions as they come in just like you did tonight and you always have so thanks again thank you so welcome all right back to our agenda so our next facilities and operations committee meeting will be in a virtual format on Monday March 24th at 7 p.m and I'd like to ask Mr Schneider to please make the final motion for the end of this meeting please well thank you Miss McMurtry and uh I would like to ask for a motion to adjourn this meeting so moved all the best thank you everyone good night congratulations Mr conations Tom pleasure congratulations good night everyone thank you Mr Gilmer bye everybody all right good night Dr