AI-generated transcript of City Council Committee of the Whole 01-14-25

[Bears]: Test 1, 2. Medford City Council, Committee of the Whole, January 14, 2025. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.

[Hurtubise]: Councilor Callahan. Vice President Collins. Councilor Lazzaro. Councilor Leming. Councilor Scarpelli, Councilor Tseng, President Bears.

[Bears]: Present. Six present, one absent. The meeting is called to order. Action and discussion item tonight is paper 24510, the loan order for school HVAC infrastructure and roof bonds. We did discuss this in December and approved for first reading and also requested a committee of the whole to have a further discussion about the project. And with that, I'm happy to recognize folks from the city and school administration who are here tonight, unless councilors would like to ask any questions or make any statements beforehand. Councilor Scarpelli.

[Scarpelli]: I know one of the key pieces I was asking for is the mayor's plan for capital plans and projects that are slated. I know that from what I hear and from the state, Metro wasn't on the list of 10 so far for the MSBA for the new high school. But it'd be interesting to see before we vote on such a large money order and understanding what the MSBA has already shared and what's coming down the line. So I know that's not pressing, but again, I requested a report And I haven't seen anything, if you can enlighten me, but I haven't seen anything.

[Bears]: A report on the MSBA process?

[Scarpelli]: We talked about adding this project, the scope of this project, in front of this council. I think it's important that we know what's ahead of us and how we're planning on funding all of these projects. And it's a little disheartening as well, Mr. President, I know that we talked last week and when I conferred with an attorney, it's nothing illegal to ask for a financial breakdown of the process with the superintendent. So it's a little disingenuine when you come here in front of this council and it's a $5 million, but when you ask for a simple question, for a breakdown of financial matters that happen in the school department and we hear nothing. So those are the two big things that I'm a little curious about before we move on. I move on to thinking about influence. So thank you.

[Bears]: Sure. Thank you. Councilor Scarpelli. Any further comments by members of the council? Seeing none, I will go to the assistant superintendent, climate planner, and you can call up any of the project experts as is helpful.

[Cushing]: Good evening. Thank you very much for having us here tonight. We also do have, as was mentioned, our project management team, as well as our designers here with us as well. I have a presentation that I will share with you. Excuse me.

[Bears]: Thank you.

[Cushing]: So this evening, we're here before you to discuss the significant HVAC project at the Freedom Way Schools, the McGlynn Complex, and the Andrews Middle School. So these schools both opened in 2001. The HVAC system, similar to other building systems, they have a lifespan. Many people think of these as still the new schools, but they are approaching 25 years old. And at 23 years old, at this point, we're well beyond the lifespan of these building systems. We've operated under a deferred maintenance or fixed when broken maintenance budgeting for a significant period of time. We're currently working very diligently within the public schools to change this by instituting preventative maintenance contracts and to really look at how we're functioning in a way that will preserve systems for longer than their expected life moving forward. Building HVAC systems should be recommissioned every five years. Systems have only been recommissioned once, and that was in 2010. We have annual startup and repairs that have been handled internally with our maintenance team our maintenance team comprises three individuals who do this work, and we also have HVAC trained technicians who come in through our vendor service programs. Systems are currently in various stages of failure in both schools. The McGlynn, about two years ago, we conducted a study of the Andrews. And because we thought that was the system that would be more pressing, it turns out that the McGlynn is actually the more pressing situation right now. But both schools are in significant states of disrepair and failure. Building construction and commissioning have involved in the years since construction, just commissioning systems bringing them online is a much more involved process that really involves training of on site staff, making sure that schools facilities, understand what it takes to manage these systems. Pandemic health and safety measures have illustrated the overall challenges with these systems as we tried to install upgraded filters that produced more tax on the systems because the airflow wasn't what the systems were designed for. And these systems are built on obsolete R22 refrigerant. And it would be extremely cost prohibitive and expensive to repair, if even possible, with this outdated and now obsolete refrigerant. Brenda Pike is here as well. She will take over for our next slides.

[Pike]: So I am the Climate Planner in the Planning, Development, and Sustainability Office. Alicia Hunt wanted to be here, but she's at a traffic commission meeting tonight. So currently in these schools, we have gas boilers for heating. We have water-based chillers for cooling the classrooms. And we have air-cooled condensing units for cooling the gym, cafeteria, and administrative areas. We have many split heat pumps for cooling the IT rooms, because those need cooling all year round. And we have a building automation system to control all of those. So it's a, you know, a multi-pronged system here that we're replacing. So what we're looking to move to is air to water heat pumps for heating and cooling the classrooms. Condensing gas boilers for heating during the coldest temperatures. air to air heat pumps for heating and cooling the gym, cafeteria and administrative areas, the new controls for the new equipment, not fully replacing the building automation system, and new heat pumps for cooling the IT rooms. And I wanted to point out here that this is not fully electrifying the buildings. I'm the climate planner, I would love to fully electrify these buildings. But when we looked at the first costs and the operating costs for this. And we realized that it would be significantly more expensive to move to a geothermal system that would would fully electrify them. That's because of a lot of things in with new buildings, it's much easier to do a geothermal system and much more cost competitive. But when you're retrofitting a building like this, you need to go in and replace the distribution systems as well. So that's all the piping. That's the what you would think of as radiators in the rooms. So it's a lot more disruptive. it's a lot more costly and it takes a lot longer. And then of course you would also have to be digging the boreholes, you would have to deal with anything that you find while you're digging the boreholes. And so that's a more expensive process. It's a longer process in terms of years, not months. And it would be a lot more disruptive to the students. And so the design that we landed on here is really a compromise that will get us to 39 to 58% emissions reduction and modernizing these systems so that they will, you know, continue to function for decades. while still taking into account the cost considerations here and the considerations of the failing equipment and disruption to the students too. So we looked at a lot of outside funding sources. Most of them I would say didn't match up with our timeline. And so that's true of the Green Communities Grant that we have listed here. Although in speaking with the state, our state, our regional coordinator for this grant, we did identify that this might be a great option for retrocommissioning the elementary schools, which I know is a priority. That's true of the accelerated repair program through MSBA as well. That was actually paused for a significant period of time and just reopened this week. And we're going to look into this some more, think that it's not going to be match up because accelerated in this case means within two years not within months as we're looking at here. And then also the green school works grant is something that's opening soon but but doesn't exist yet. We are taking advantage of mass save rebates, we're estimating those are going to be $2.2 million, but those are rebates that we are reimbursed for, they're not upfront payments so we do need to appropriate that money ahead of time. In terms of federal funding, we are looking at the elective pay, or you may have heard it referred to as direct pay tax credits. These are essentially refunds for nonprofits and local governments. It's a relatively new thing. In this case, the only one that would really apply to this project is the solar tax credits if we do include solar on the McGlynn as part of the project. So we will continue to pursue that. We have looked at the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant, but that is based on population. For Medford, we received around $100,000 from that. And so that's much more appropriate for a small project like the lighting replacements here at City Hall. And then the Renew America Schools Program was a large grant program that required participation of at least 10 schools to apply for. And I know that Alicia and Mayor Brianna met with Greater Boston Labor Council, Metropolitan Area Planning Council, and other municipalities in the area multiple times in 2023 to try to figure out a way that this would work. Unfortunately, because of the way it's a phased grant program, it would mean that it would be years before we even were aware of whether we were going to receive funding for construction. The first years are really focusing on design. And so that was true for many municipalities. And so the coalition determined not to pursue this one. And there are lots of other grant opportunities that we considered as well. These are just the ones that we thought were most appropriate for this and really dove into, but we're always looking into potential grants.

[Cushing]: Thank you, Brenda. So past work in November 2023, an HVAC option study that was conducted by the district through B2Q for the Andrews Middle School was delivered to the public schools and that really helped to inform our work. That process was about an eight to nine month process to really get an understanding of the options available to us. We've been providing ongoing updates to the school committee, particularly in warmer weather periods when students, staff and families are concerned about the temperature in the buildings. June 20th of 2024, our Owners Project Manager contract was signed. About eight weeks later, the designer contract was signed. In August, late August, we commenced weekly design meetings. We have been meeting weekly, with the exception of the holiday break, since August to make sure that this project moves forward. Myself, Brenda, the team behind us, as well as Paul Riggi on the city side, and other individuals as necessary to be a part of that. On November 1st, a schematic design for Andrews was completed. December 9th, we pre-qualified four construction managers. We currently have that out for bid right now. December 11th, McGlynn schematic design was completed and on January 13th, just yesterday, we had our first meeting with principals at the Andrews and the McGlynn, as well as our communications director, so that we can understand if there will be any academic impacts as this project comes right up to the start of the school year, and as we hope to do make ready work in the spring. So we want to make sure that our principals are well informed, that our principals are involved. So if there are any disruptions, they are well ahead so that it does not significantly impact teachers or student learning. So our projected work is we expect in January, the Inspector General will approve our application for construction manager at risk for this procurement. In February, we'll contract for following interviews with the construction manager, and then we'll begin pre-purchasing equipment. Some of the equipment has up to 20 week lead times at this point. So it is critical that we sign that contract and the construction manager has the list of equipment to purchase and we are ready to move so that we can be prepared for the start of school. In March, we could have a budget estimate for the next bond approval. April, construction documents will be fully completed. And spring of 25, preparation for construction. might be removal of boilers, other make ready work to make sure that once summer hits, we are ready to move as quickly as possible, as efficiently as possible. In the summer of 25, it will be disruptive construction. These buildings will be offline for any summer activities. All right, we will be removing them from our summer programming. We'll move those programs to other buildings across the district. But these are the types of preparation that we need to make for buildings at this stage of their lifespan. So classroom heating and cooling is expected to be available by the end of the summer, which is critical because that's where we're getting a lot of reports of really sweltering conditions affecting student learning. And then in fall of 2025, we'll finalize construction. It'll be commissioned. That's been a significant area of discussion for us to make sure that these systems are commissioned properly and that our staff on hand are well-trained and that our maintenance contracts are in place for up to three years following this project. So acting now, acting now and having this bond in place is critical for that pre-purchase of equipment. It's absolutely critical so that we have, we can really achieve our goal of providing classroom cooling for the start of school. That is still achievable and realistic. Approving funding now allows the equipment to be ordered, allows for the construction manager costs of about $300,000 to be ready. And then that construction manager is able to purchase equipment with those encumbered funds. As I said, this is three months. In our most recent, we're somewhere around 20 weeks for some equipment. Impending federal tariffs have a concern for us on this project. So that could cause prices to increase, cause our budgets to increase. So by purchasing these early, we're hoping to avoid any challenges with the allegedly incoming federal tariffs. It's an unknown variable at this point, but it is something that we are taking into consideration. Phase 1 funding is $5 million through a 12-16-2024 request of this body and a previous request through the school committee. This will allow us to complete the construction documents. An early bid package helps complete our owner's project management services. I'm sorry, not complete, continue our OPM services, CM, construction manager, pre-construction services, and then as has been mentioned at least four times already, making sure that we're purchasing that equipment so that it can be onsite and ready to be installed. Phase two is in the neighborhood of approximately $23 to $26 million, where we will be back before this committee, the school committee, and then this committee in the March-April time frame. The construction manager is the one who will bring on their cost estimators to give us the most accurate information. Also, the McGlynn roof replacement slash refurbishment Our plan right now is to go with a refurbishment similar to what was done on the Andrews about four years ago. It's called a, I believe the actual name is called a White Knight application. They'll come in, they'll fix any weak spots in the roof, and then they will apply a film, for lack of a better term, that has the same life expectancy of a roof replacement of 20 years. So we looked into what the cost savings would be on energy to do a full roof replacement and the difference in cost versus the savings. It's not economically, not viable. It's not economically prudent for us to do a full roof replacement with what we would get from the White Knight application. This would also fund construction. And then a tentative solar installation at the McGlynn, the Andrews project is moving forward at this point for solar. So, solar installation will be at both schools, but under this project, it would just be the McGlynn for fiscal impact.

[Pike]: I would add that the solar is being included in here as an alternate to see if we can get better pricing through a larger project like this than we could as a standalone project. If we can, it would be a good use of funds to do it through here.

[Cushing]: So here are our budget numbers. Initial design costs include the OPM and our designer through design development for $1.56 million. That was granted through ARPA funding. Phase one pre-construction, what we're here tonight for is a $5 million bond authorization from school committee to city council. And that is OPM through construction documents of $90,000. Designer through construction documents of $750,000. construction manager, pre-construction fee of $300,000, owner soft costs contingencies of $388,000, and equipment pre-purchase of $3.1 million. These numbers are through our preliminary conceptual project budget based on December 16th, 2024 cost estimations. Then when we move into construction, we're looking at $21.8 million for those construction costs associated with the labor of installation and any other equipment purchases that may need to be done. Owner construction contingency of approximately $687,000. It'll pay for a designer through construction of $1.3 million. OPM through construction of $484,000. Our soft cost contingencies are $2.4 million for contingency. And then you can see our other costs. We have the commissioning of half a million dollars. we're looking at. ADA upgrades when when buildings have projects that exceed 30% of the assessed value of the buildings. The assessed value of these buildings is just shy of $70 million. It is not the replacement cost. It's the assessed value. So when you exceed 30% you need to do a comprehensive look at your All right, starting tomorrow at the McGlynn or the Andrews? Both. All right, we're gonna start at both tomorrow. So they'll be there with our buildings and ground staff to conduct this assessment. And we've set aside those funds based on known repairs that we have to do to the front entry plazas. But where these buildings were built in 2001, we're extremely hopeful that they're still significantly ADA compliant. IT rooms, this right now, we actually may be able to fund this on the district's operating budget for the current FY. So we're tentatively able to pull this out, but this equipment is critical to make sure that our information technology infrastructure is not literally cooking itself. And right now across the district in the five schools, the five new schools, we have to leave doors open to network closets, which is not good with students and just, they should be able to be cooled, they should be able to be, and they're not. The systems have all failed, all right? And it's causing a significant challenge for our IT infrastructure. The McGlynn roof is $1.5 million. The cost estimates for a full replacement was north of $3 million in that neighborhood. We have a roofing contingency of about $150,000. I want to publicly say that we've had a water infiltration problem that has been discussed at the school committee numerous times in the McGlynn on the first floor. There's a section of the building that juts out on the first floor. And we appear to have a flashing into our roof problem, flashing behind the bricks or where the roof connects. As part of this project, we will be removing three courses of bricks and replacing refurbishing that roof to make sure that the water infiltration problem that our kindergarten classrooms face at intermittent times is finally addressed and dealt with. And then finally mass saves incentives. We expect to have a $2.2 million reimbursed expense and then a solar at alternate. The Brenda mentioned is not included, but our initial cost estimates on that are $1.2 million. And then this final slide is our total anticipated costs associated with the project to make sure that these building systems are able to be fully functional for our staff and students as warm weather presents itself as well. And we're happy to take any questions. Our design team and the onus project managers here as well to answer any questions that you may have.

[Bears]: Thank you. I appreciate the thorough presentation. Does anyone have any questions for our representatives from the city and schools or for the design team? I'll go to Councilor Scarpelli.

[Scarpelli]: Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you so much for the presentation. This is very thorough, and I think that this is something that's needed, no doubt about it. You know, the so-called new schools, I was on what was called the 18 when we first started in elementary school. I must have slipped in by accident as a teacher back in the day. So it was definitely needed. I know I've talked to a lot of parents and teachers, former colleagues. I know it's very important, but for one Councilor, like I said, I think that my apprehension is really and the structure of the way that our administration is informing us and where we are, at least this one Councilor, where we are financially. Now, if I, Ms. Cushing, forgive me if I'm wrong, but this first five million, this is something that we'll be bonding as well, correct? Yes. Okay. And then the bigger number is the one that comes later and obviously it's going to follow if we approve it. And that's something I totally want to support. But unfortunately, I'm not getting the information back. I'm not gonna halt it by rule 21 or section 22 of this project tonight, because I hear what you're saying. I think there is a timeline, but I think to the president and to the mayor to understand as we move forward with these bigger projects, I think having more robust discussion of what our financial outlook is in the whole community and what's coming down the line, which I think is very important. I think it's something that I will be using. I won't hold this up. I know how the timeline is important. I'm not going to hold it up. I can't support it because it's against what I feel is my position here as a city councilor, and that is being the steward of our finances and understanding what the big picture is. And it could be something very simple. It's just that I haven't had any communication. I've asked that. I know you were here last meeting. It's something I asked for from the administration that we, part of this meeting, we talk about what the implications are as we move forward. We look at different projects. Like I know that the override was failed with the fire station, but there are still needs there. We're also talking about what's happening for the new high school. It's something that I wanna support a thousand percent, but we still don't know what the impact will be. If we try to, you know, reach out and try to either bond or ask for an override in or debt exclusion for that project so there are so many pieces you know we're also talking about so many new. zoning implications that are hitting us pretty soon and and wanted to see what what kind of growth the city will use these new zoning rules and how that can grow help us grow so there's so much involved and I think that uh again for one council who understands and wants to support this because of the need and I won't I won't hold it back but that's the reason why I can't I can't support it fundamentally I can't I have a For some odd reason, the communication with this councilor and the city administration is zero. I think something simple as asking for a breakdown of the superintendent's buyout, which is not fraudulent. I'm not saying anything that was illegal. I'm not saying it was wrong or bad. That's what it's called in the terms when you settle on a mutual buyout and just asking for that financial implication so we can understand the process and getting answers back saying that it's a school committee purview. We know that's wrong. I spoke to my attorney that will speak to me that is very well versed. And this is, it's a basic request from a city councilor, especially when it's funding that's ultimately signed off by, for one of the votes by this councilor. So I hope you understand why. But again, I appreciate the thorough breakdown. This is obviously something you've done so so much work on and it's great to hear. I'm sure we have plans for moving all the summer programs because they know how important they are out of those two buildings and I know that's going to be daunting so but I also I love the fact that we're already planning for that so these are a lot of great you hear a lot of great things and I appreciate the hard work that you've done so and thank you for hearing me.

[Bears]: Thank you, Councilor Scarpelli. Would you like to add anything?

[Cushing]: I just want to add that it's a real team approach and I respect and understand your position, Councilor Scarpelli. And I do appreciate that there would be no blockage on this. So thank you.

[Bears]: Thank you. Any other questions from members of the council at this time? I see none. Oh, Councilor Tseng.

[Tseng]: This is less of a question. I think you have been very thorough, as my colleague acknowledges, between the last city council meeting and this one, and with watching a lot of school committee meetings and following the discussions there, I feel very confident voting to move this forward. I know from talking to parents throughout the city how important it is for their children to be learning in schools where there's a properly functioning HVAC system, where their kids aren't sweating to death or freezing to death, and where our teachers feel safe teaching and unencumbered in doing that role for our children and our families. I think one really important thing to to acknowledge here, at least from my perspective, is that there is a sense of fiscal responsibility and getting this project done now. When we defer projects as we've seen throughout the city throughout the last few years, we really We think that we're deferring costs, but we're not. Those costs are going up all the time. We've seen with inflation over the last few years, we've seen with increased labor costs, increased cost of materials, and we're expecting tariffs coming forward in the near future, including a 25% tax on anything coming from Canada, which is a place we get a lot of steel and metal from and a lot of materials for construction from. I think that that shows how important getting this project approved as soon as possible is and letting you guys move forward on it as soon as possible. I know that there are differences on this council with regards to where we are financially in the city, but I think that looking at this project today and applying the question that I've always applied on the city council, will this help our city at the end of the day? I believe that the answer is a yes on this project. I believe that our parents and teachers and students would say that it's a resounding yes. And that's why I'm really grateful for the work that you all have done and why I'm happy with this project. Thank you.

[Bears]: Thank you, Councilor Kelly.

[Callahan]: Thank you. I really appreciate all the information you provided for me. This is enough information that I all the information that I need to hear. I very much appreciate a number of things. First of all, that you've been looking into state and federal grants to make sure that we get as much as we can from other sources. I really appreciate the balancing that you're trying to do between our goals, like, for example, our clinicals, but also with our limited budget and really trying to do the best that we can there. And most of all, this, I think, is an example, and I feel like this has been true Most of the times that I've interacted with this administration is that that you really are understanding that there are times when delaying a project actually leads to it costing far, far more than it would have if we had just fixed it in the first place. So I very much appreciate that level of financial responsibility where you're saying, no, we do need to fix this now, because if we don't, then it will be more expensive for the city in the future. So I very much appreciate those things and all the information you provided. Thank you so much.

[Bears]: Thank you, Councilor Kiley. Any further discussion? Seeing none, this paper is on the regular meeting agenda to be take, can be take. It's eligible for third reading tonight. So I don't think any action is required from this meeting. It was an informative meeting prior to consideration of that vote. Councilor Leming.

[Leming]: Would the motion be to send it to regular meeting then?

[Bears]: No, you don't have to do it. I'm saying it's not, we don't have to, like the paper doesn't need to be reported out. All right, I'm seeing nothing else I will just say in terms of financial update and capital update. I have been working to coordinate with the administration around a capital update, especially around the stabilization fund. I haven't received an update as to whether we will get an updated capital improvement plan in full. prior to the budget. I've also been working to coordinate a meeting, which is required by the budget ordinance that we passed last year on the quarter one and quarter two finances. So I am hopeful to get committees of the whole meetings on capital and a financial update for the city scheduled with the administration. Councilor Scarpelli. Thanks. As no action is needed, I think we can just move to adjourn unless there's anything else you'd like to add before we finish.

[Cushing]: Just thank you and also just so you're aware, as you watch the school committee meetings through their budget functionality of oversight, they are very keen to make sure that we are doing the appropriate maintenance on these systems so that while our descendants will have to deal with their replacement, that they will last as long as possible. I do wanna be very clear that the school committee is very keen on making sure that preventative maintenance is a high priority of the district.

[Bears]: Great. Thank you so much, Councilor Leming. I think this is great.

[Leming]: Kids need air conditioning, so I'm going to be supporting this and I'd move to adjourn.

[Bears]: On the motion to adjourn the Committee of the Whole by Councilor Leming, seconded by Councilor Callahan. And for anyone watching, we will be meeting at seven o'clock for a regular meeting. Mr. Clerk. Oh, we don't need a roll call. All those in favor.

[Scarpelli]: Aye.

[Bears]: Opposed.

Bears total time: 3.45 minutes total words: 488	Scarpelli total time: 5.91 minutes total words: 1042	Tseng total time: 2.29 minutes total words: 359	Callahan total time: 1.2 minutes total words: 214
Leming total time: 0.15 minutes total words: 27