1 00:00:05,070 --> 00:00:30,570 So good morning, everyone. With me is Barbara Bard, she's the chief of staff and also the clerk of the city council. So what I thought I'd do this morning, the questions that I get asked most often are what's the status of the projects that are going on in town. So I thought I'd give everyone an update on the major projects that are going on in town. We'll start with the smaller ones and end up with the largest one at the end. 2 00:00:32,290 --> 00:00:38,170 So first, new police station, at least now we have a sign out front that says 3 00:00:38,170 --> 00:00:41,810 future police headquarters over on Southfield Street, the project is 4 00:00:41,810 --> 00:00:47,150 progressing along, anticipate likely we're going to be moving in next spring. 5 00:00:48,450 --> 00:00:54,630 There were a couple of delays as a result of back orders on some switch gear 6 00:00:54,630 --> 00:01:00,430 in the backup generator, so that slowed down the construction process, but it's 7 00:01:00,430 --> 00:01:06,170 going in earnest now, the delivery dates on the backup generator and the switch gear are 8 00:01:06,170 --> 00:01:09,990 in late January, early February of next year. 9 00:01:10,650 --> 00:01:15,750 So the contractor anticipates that if those deliveries happen on time, there's a bit 10 00:01:15,750 --> 00:01:21,390 of work they have to do to get them hooked up and running that hopefully by March or so 11 00:01:21,390 --> 00:01:24,250 of next year we'll be moving into the new police station. 12 00:01:24,250 --> 00:01:32,350 So, that's police station number two, what is now called Stillbrook Park, which is the 13 00:01:32,350 --> 00:01:38,690 former Takahota farm on Pine Street, that's almost done. 14 00:01:40,220 --> 00:01:46,610 We had some problems with the paths in the park, so the contractor is redoing those as 15 00:01:46,610 --> 00:01:47,230 we speak. 16 00:01:47,230 --> 00:01:54,230 were anticipating getting the project turned over to the town probably early 17 00:01:54,230 --> 00:02:00,550 October. Probably another couple three weeks they'll be done replacing the 18 00:02:00,550 --> 00:02:05,530 path materials in the park. The problem was the materials they put down for the 19 00:02:05,530 --> 00:02:11,510 walking pass were a gravel that wouldn't compact. So it was akin to walking on 20 00:02:11,510 --> 00:02:19,050 beach sand. So they came up with a different gravel stone dust material that they're taking 21 00:02:19,050 --> 00:02:24,910 out the existing material and putting the new material in. Yesterday, in fact, the last 22 00:02:24,910 --> 00:02:29,810 of the amenities was delivered to the park, the little pavilion that's going to be installed 23 00:02:29,810 --> 00:02:37,050 in there. So we're hopeful in about two or three weeks to have that turned over to us. 24 00:02:38,170 --> 00:02:44,390 Number three, Mayhalla, which is Northwest Field Street, the Colvert Replacement, in the 25 00:02:44,390 --> 00:02:48,110 dip in Northwest Field Street, 187 heading towards Westfield. 26 00:02:48,830 --> 00:02:51,090 That project has been moved to the spring. 27 00:02:52,370 --> 00:03:00,290 We experienced extreme difficulty getting some utility poles and wires moved, so no one wants 28 00:03:00,290 --> 00:03:05,410 to go through what we went through on North Street last year, which is to have that road 29 00:03:05,410 --> 00:03:08,350 would be closed for six or more months. 30 00:03:09,710 --> 00:03:12,310 So that project is being moved until the spring. 31 00:03:13,190 --> 00:03:15,870 That way, it can get done as quickly as possible. 32 00:03:16,250 --> 00:03:17,450 The asphalt plants will be open, 33 00:03:17,450 --> 00:03:22,010 so there won't be any question regarding being able 34 00:03:22,010 --> 00:03:23,450 to pave it to get it reopened. 35 00:03:23,550 --> 00:03:26,690 What happened on North Street was some specialized 36 00:03:26,690 --> 00:03:29,290 fill material, the plant that made that material 37 00:03:30,070 --> 00:03:32,070 went out of commission because the machinery 38 00:03:32,070 --> 00:03:33,050 that makes it broke, 39 00:03:33,050 --> 00:03:38,110 it was the machinery was manufactured in Europe so they had to get parts from 40 00:03:38,110 --> 00:03:42,710 Europe that caused the project to be delayed and we couldn't reopen because the 41 00:03:42,710 --> 00:03:47,790 asphalt plans weren't open so we couldn't repay the road. May Hollow is almost 42 00:03:47,790 --> 00:03:55,950 identical to North Street it's a very steep deep you know drive so it can't be 43 00:03:55,950 --> 00:04:00,330 reopened unless it's paved so this way if we started in the spring there's no 44 00:04:00,330 --> 00:04:04,810 question regarding as soon as the contract is done it can be paved and re-opened. 45 00:04:05,490 --> 00:04:12,670 It's estimated to be 90 to 120 days is what the estimated time for the construction period 46 00:04:12,670 --> 00:04:13,170 to be. 47 00:04:15,510 --> 00:04:20,550 So that's, you know, knocking on wood and hoping that we don't hit anything that we're 48 00:04:20,550 --> 00:04:21,210 not expecting. 49 00:04:21,710 --> 00:04:29,890 But like I said, it was difficult and we're still not done getting, we got the polls 50 00:04:29,890 --> 00:04:34,490 moved and we got two of the three utilities to move their wires and we just got 51 00:04:34,490 --> 00:04:39,930 confirmation this morning that the third one's going out next week to move 52 00:04:39,930 --> 00:04:47,930 their wires so but it was it was difficult because we we asked the utility 53 00:04:47,930 --> 00:04:52,130 that owns the polls to move the polls and so they went in there and they put brand 54 00:04:52,130 --> 00:04:55,750 new polls right next to the old polls even though we had marked on the street 55 00:04:55,750 --> 00:05:00,850 in very large letters, poll with an arrow, and they didn't put them we were supposed to. 56 00:05:01,270 --> 00:05:04,750 So they had to go back, take those poles out, put new poles in where they're supposed 57 00:05:04,750 --> 00:05:11,290 to be, and then there's three sets of wires on all the poles, every source, Verizon, and 58 00:05:11,290 --> 00:05:17,210 Comcast, and then we had to get all three utility companies to come in and move their wires 59 00:05:17,210 --> 00:05:19,270 off the old poles onto the new poles. 60 00:05:20,450 --> 00:05:25,010 So hopefully that's done by the end of next week, and the project will start next spring. 61 00:05:39,730 --> 00:05:50,650 It's a state project, but the hope is that it's going to go out to bid this fall, and construction will happen during next year's construction season. 62 00:05:51,370 --> 00:05:54,910 We just finished the Council just approved Monday night. 63 00:05:54,910 --> 00:05:59,690 the land takings for the project the town is responsible for the land takings in the final 64 00:05:59,690 --> 00:06:06,110 horse of pavement but it's an approximately 3.6 million dollar project of which the town 65 00:06:06,110 --> 00:06:13,110 share is a little over 600,000. We were also just notified of a grant we received to do 66 00:06:14,310 --> 00:06:19,290 reconstruction of Moore Street in North Aguam, the lower portion of Moore Street. 67 00:06:19,290 --> 00:06:25,250 that hopefully will go out a bit over the winter and be done during next year's 68 00:06:25,250 --> 00:06:31,530 construction season. So, you know, and hopefully you notice Springfield's streak 69 00:06:31,530 --> 00:06:37,490 got repaved. They'll be coming in to do the lining after the big E because we 70 00:06:37,490 --> 00:06:42,630 don't like to schedule any work anywhere near the big E while the big E is going 71 00:06:42,630 --> 00:06:50,070 on. Last but not least, Meadow Street is scheduled to be repaved. Again, after the 72 00:06:50,070 --> 00:06:56,710 biggie is done, we're finishing up doing there was a couple of water and sewer line replacements 73 00:06:56,710 --> 00:07:02,410 that we had to do while it was torn up so that we wouldn't hopefully have to disturb 74 00:07:02,410 --> 00:07:07,630 the new pavement for at least five years after it goes down. In addition, Ever Source came 75 00:07:07,630 --> 00:07:13,450 in and repaid down by the bridge by Rockies, the area that they dug up after that project 76 00:07:13,450 --> 00:07:21,190 was done a couple of years ago. So that they did right before the big E started. But the 77 00:07:21,190 --> 00:07:29,710 biggest project is the high school. So I brought these as illustrations so I can kind 78 00:07:29,710 --> 00:07:35,030 of explain where we are in the process and what the timeline is. We're in what's called 79 00:07:35,030 --> 00:07:44,370 design development. The project has been signed off on by the state, actually received yesterday, 80 00:07:45,150 --> 00:07:51,450 the signed project scope and budget agreement by the state. So it's 100% go. 81 00:07:53,030 --> 00:07:59,250 Design development is where you look, I brought this because this kind of shows the entire building, 82 00:07:59,250 --> 00:08:08,170 But this shows, you know, right now there are leadership team meetings that are happening 83 00:08:08,170 --> 00:08:09,170 every week. 84 00:08:09,730 --> 00:08:13,950 I spent the better part of the last two days in team meetings at the high school. 85 00:08:15,030 --> 00:08:22,130 And then there's constituent meetings, which is where we meet with teachers and professionals in various areas of the building. 86 00:08:23,530 --> 00:08:26,510 So just kind of give you an idea. 87 00:08:26,510 --> 00:08:33,490 this was we had a meeting on what portions of the building are going to have 88 00:08:33,490 --> 00:08:38,210 flat roofs versus pitch roofs where we're going to put the mechanical 89 00:08:38,210 --> 00:08:44,130 corrals for the HVAC equipment on the building so this kind of shows this is 90 00:08:44,130 --> 00:08:47,670 the community wing of the building that's the academic wing of the building but it 91 00:08:47,670 --> 00:08:55,350 kind of shows that wherever possible we're putting pitch roofs on this 92 00:08:55,350 --> 00:09:00,090 building. This area up here is the gymnasium area of the building. That'll have 93 00:09:00,090 --> 00:09:05,090 pitch roofs. Virtually the entire academic wing with the exception of the 94 00:09:05,090 --> 00:09:10,530 pod areas in the back will have pitch roofs. And what we're looking at is 95 00:09:10,530 --> 00:09:16,870 spacking is standing seam metal roofs, which have a useful life of more than 50 96 00:09:16,870 --> 00:09:24,190 years. Whereas your best flat roof material has a useful life up between 20 and 25 97 00:09:24,190 --> 00:09:30,750 side years. But this kind of, you know, this kind of detail, you know, this is an exterior 98 00:09:30,750 --> 00:09:34,410 detail just to kind of show you this 99 00:09:43,400 --> 00:09:48,400 is one of the early schematics of the big block areas 100 00:09:48,400 --> 00:09:55,900 inside the community wing, which are again the athletic center, the auditorium, the cafeteria, 101 00:09:57,320 --> 00:10:02,080 the industrial arts, the advanced manufacturing pathways room and the woodworking room. 102 00:10:03,600 --> 00:10:07,580 This is the portion of the building that construction will begin on next year. 103 00:10:08,300 --> 00:10:13,040 So this will be constructed first to kind of give you a reference point. 104 00:10:13,580 --> 00:10:17,600 This is the existing entry and the front of the high school that we built in the 90s. 105 00:10:18,000 --> 00:10:20,160 That's the only portion of the building that remains. 106 00:10:20,160 --> 00:10:29,700 So to kind of give you a reference point, the community wing will be entirely in the 107 00:10:29,700 --> 00:10:32,740 field to the west of the existing building. 108 00:10:33,240 --> 00:10:38,160 Once that's done, a portion of the existing building will be demolished and then the 109 00:10:38,160 --> 00:10:40,020 academic wing will be constructed. 110 00:10:40,560 --> 00:10:46,600 This is just an artist's rendering of what the courtyard area potentially will look like. 111 00:10:46,600 --> 00:10:54,020 but this again is was like the first layer of the leadership team meetings was 112 00:10:54,020 --> 00:11:01,900 talking about the basic layouts. We're now down to doing the floor plans 113 00:11:01,900 --> 00:11:07,620 room by room by room. I thought about bringing the bathroom plan because 114 00:11:07,620 --> 00:11:13,040 believe it or not that's we spent a lot of time on bathrooms and where they are 115 00:11:13,040 --> 00:11:19,860 and what kind of bathrooms they're going to be but you know down to so for 116 00:11:19,860 --> 00:11:25,380 instance yesterday we met with science teachers to talk about their science 117 00:11:25,380 --> 00:11:31,140 labs and the layouts what you know materials we met with both of the the 118 00:11:31,140 --> 00:11:37,140 advanced manufacturing pathways folks the woodworking teachers to get an idea of 119 00:11:37,140 --> 00:11:39,440 of their layout and equipment needs and so forth. 120 00:11:41,040 --> 00:11:43,640 We met with early childhood folks. 121 00:11:43,640 --> 00:11:45,420 I'll throw that plan up momentarily 122 00:11:46,200 --> 00:11:47,580 because as part of this project, 123 00:11:47,760 --> 00:11:49,560 we're converting part of the existing building 124 00:11:49,560 --> 00:11:51,100 into a new early childhood center. 125 00:11:51,920 --> 00:11:56,280 But each area we met with special education folks 126 00:11:56,280 --> 00:11:58,500 to talk about the layouts of their offices 127 00:11:59,240 --> 00:12:03,020 and all the spaces inside the building for special education. 128 00:12:04,160 --> 00:12:13,840 So, it's trying to nail down the final design because we're in what's called design development. 129 00:12:14,260 --> 00:12:17,140 That's scheduled to end December of this year. 130 00:12:17,840 --> 00:12:22,100 From there, your design is kind of, for lack of a better word, set in stone. 131 00:12:22,820 --> 00:12:29,020 So, what happens at the end of design development is there are detailed cost estimates. 132 00:12:29,020 --> 00:12:33,760 There was a detail cost estimate prepared at the end of schematic design, which schematic 133 00:12:33,760 --> 00:12:38,560 design is kind of like just the overall size of the building and the basic layout. 134 00:12:39,180 --> 00:12:43,800 When you get done with design development where you've really honed in, I mean, we've got 135 00:12:43,800 --> 00:12:49,300 another plan that talks about occupancy levels because that determines, you know, your heating 136 00:12:49,300 --> 00:12:50,760 and cooling loads in the building. 137 00:12:51,100 --> 00:12:57,720 So that all has to be, you know, specced out by the various, you know, engineers and consultants. 138 00:12:57,720 --> 00:13:07,060 Once we're done with design development, the base plan, they do another detailed cost estimate to see where it is compared to what the budget is. 139 00:13:07,880 --> 00:13:16,660 And at that point, if it's at or below budget great, if it's over budget, then you have to engage in what's known as value engineering. 140 00:13:17,160 --> 00:13:23,580 What can you change inside of the building to bring the cost into where the budget is supposed to be? 141 00:13:24,340 --> 00:13:29,260 this is a new process in Massachusetts over the last few years because the 142 00:13:29,260 --> 00:13:33,660 contractor is already on board so the contractor is part of the process so we 143 00:13:33,660 --> 00:13:39,240 have input from the contractor regarding what the you know what the impact of 144 00:13:39,240 --> 00:13:45,980 potential changes are on the cost. Plus we're also doing spending quite a bit of 145 00:13:45,980 --> 00:13:53,440 time with the staff in each area having them identify which equipment they can 146 00:13:53,440 --> 00:13:58,320 bring from the existing building to the new building and what equipment needs to be replaced. 147 00:13:59,100 --> 00:14:03,760 And that's an exercise of looking at what's the useful life of the equipment, what's 148 00:14:04,180 --> 00:14:07,440 its condition, and there's a cost associated. 149 00:14:08,040 --> 00:14:13,600 In other words, there's a cost associated to moving, storing, and installing. 150 00:14:14,340 --> 00:14:20,960 And so sometimes it's not worth moving and storing a piece of equipment that has very little 151 00:14:20,960 --> 00:14:27,420 useful life left on it versus just buying a new piece of equipment and putting it in 152 00:14:27,420 --> 00:14:33,380 its place. But we're trying the concept is to try to reuse as much of what's in the 153 00:14:33,380 --> 00:14:41,720 high school as is possible. But we've talked about things, you know, one of the decisions 154 00:14:41,720 --> 00:14:49,840 that we made was that we're not going to have a quote unquote grand entrance to the building. 155 00:14:49,840 --> 00:14:55,220 We've been out to visit other new high schools where they've spent a lot of money putting in a grand entrance. 156 00:14:55,760 --> 00:14:58,940 The problem is nothing happens in the grand entrance. 157 00:15:00,000 --> 00:15:29,980 So, we would rather invest the money in areas of the building that are actually going to be used. So, to kind of give you an idea, we decided on the auditorium to go with an auditorium that has a balcony, so that there's a base auditorium and then there's a balcony up top. So, in our opinion is a better investment than having a grand entrance. We're basically going to walk in and say, oh, this is nice, but what are you doing in the grand entrance? 158 00:15:29,980 --> 00:15:30,820 insurance, nothing. 159 00:15:33,520 --> 00:15:39,480 Our gymnasiums are on the second floor of the building, and we've 160 00:15:39,480 --> 00:15:46,220 invested in, we have a full-size collegiate basketball court. That's the big gym with 161 00:15:46,220 --> 00:15:52,440 all the bleachers around it. And then a full-size high school basketball court also, so looking 162 00:15:52,440 --> 00:15:57,280 at the configuration, this portion of the building is the collegiate, the portion that goes 163 00:15:57,280 --> 00:16:03,780 and this direction is the is the high school but we have the we have the ability to have three gyms 164 00:16:04,380 --> 00:16:08,240 because the collegiate gym can be there's a curtain that can go down the middle 165 00:16:08,240 --> 00:16:12,900 and that can be turned into two high school regulation gyms so we'll have three high school 166 00:16:12,900 --> 00:16:18,100 regulation gyms at the building right now in Aguilon we have one total that's the main gym at the 167 00:16:18,100 --> 00:16:23,320 high school none of our other gyms are regulation size the junior high isn't none of the other schools 168 00:16:23,320 --> 00:16:24,600 are regulation side to games. 169 00:16:26,300 --> 00:16:27,340 Cafeteria, for instance. 170 00:16:27,960 --> 00:16:29,380 Cafeteria is a two-story. 171 00:16:29,560 --> 00:16:33,900 If you look, this is the Cafeteria on the artist rendering 172 00:16:33,900 --> 00:16:36,820 from the, looking at it from the courtyard, 173 00:16:37,440 --> 00:16:39,180 the Cafeteria is going to be two stories. 174 00:16:39,880 --> 00:16:44,460 The main concourse, but you can see that in the Cafeteria 175 00:16:44,460 --> 00:16:47,740 what we decided was the Cafeteria is two stories, 176 00:16:47,840 --> 00:16:48,420 but it goes up. 177 00:16:48,560 --> 00:16:51,680 There's a section above here that's kind of, 178 00:16:51,680 --> 00:16:57,080 That kind of be like a cafe that overlooks the cafeteria. 179 00:16:57,460 --> 00:17:03,020 It's a quiet spot where students can come up and eat their lunch up there, not in the 180 00:17:03,020 --> 00:17:05,200 middle of the big, busy cafeteria. 181 00:17:06,040 --> 00:17:09,560 What they're doing now at the high school, believe it or not, is a lot of students get 182 00:17:09,560 --> 00:17:13,460 their lunch and they go down to the library and they're eating in the library and if you 183 00:17:13,460 --> 00:17:17,520 knew the high school, the layout of the high school, that's a hike because the library's 184 00:17:17,520 --> 00:17:19,900 in the back of the building and the cafeteria is in the front of the building. 185 00:17:20,780 --> 00:17:30,180 But it's things like that, trying to build into the facility as much as possible. 186 00:17:30,420 --> 00:17:34,460 We've had debates on, do you build the new technology into the structure? 187 00:17:35,900 --> 00:17:39,920 And the answer, you know, the architects and engineers said, no, that's not a good idea, 188 00:17:40,040 --> 00:17:45,380 because what's high tech today 10 years from now is all tech. 189 00:17:45,380 --> 00:17:58,400 So they said build the capability in, but you know, because what's now big is what they call interactive whiteboards, which is basically, you know, if you've seen a whiteboard, these are whiteboards that are connected up to a computer. 190 00:17:58,560 --> 00:18:01,100 So you write on them and it shows up on the computer screen. 191 00:18:02,380 --> 00:18:07,540 That may be the technology today, but 10 years from now it may be replaced by something completely different. 192 00:18:07,540 --> 00:18:14,600 So, we are trying to invest in the ability to upgrade technology easily in the future rather 193 00:18:14,600 --> 00:18:18,400 than build the whiteboards into the walls, because then all of a sudden, if they are 194 00:18:18,400 --> 00:18:23,040 not the latest technology now, you got to deconstruct it all to put whatever the latest technology 195 00:18:23,660 --> 00:18:24,640 is in that spot. 196 00:18:25,300 --> 00:18:31,200 So, what I am driving at is a lot of thought is going into the design of the building. 197 00:18:32,480 --> 00:18:38,040 We got some good news, we did our test well for our geothermal system and the results came 198 00:18:38,040 --> 00:18:43,500 back about as good as they could possibly be, so that's good news because this building 199 00:18:43,500 --> 00:18:51,760 is going to be entirely heated and cooled by geothermal because there will be no fossil 200 00:18:51,760 --> 00:18:53,880 fuels in the building. 201 00:18:54,980 --> 00:19:03,920 The backup essentially is an electric water heater because geothermal, in the back of the 202 00:19:03,920 --> 00:19:06,560 property there will be a geothermal well field. 203 00:19:07,040 --> 00:19:16,240 You won't know it's there after they drill all the wells and the water is pumped to and 204 00:19:16,240 --> 00:19:23,040 from the geothermal well system into this portion of the building and then they use converters 205 00:19:23,040 --> 00:19:28,060 to convert, whether it's, you know, chill for the summer or, you know, heated water for 206 00:19:28,060 --> 00:19:33,980 the winter. So the backup is an electric water heater. It's a more fancier name than that 207 00:19:33,980 --> 00:19:40,700 that can augment on the really cold days. But, and you may say, why are we doing that? 208 00:19:40,880 --> 00:19:45,500 Well, because that's what the Mass School Building Authority requires. They require this 209 00:19:45,500 --> 00:19:51,940 building to be at least what they call lead silver certified, which is, you know, meets 210 00:19:51,940 --> 00:20:01,760 the stretch energy code plus and no it's a it's a it's a warm water system but 211 00:20:01,760 --> 00:20:07,320 just shifting gears for a quick sec there 212 00:20:09,370 --> 00:20:16,250 will 213 00:20:28,120 --> 00:20:29,720 be backup generation at the 214 00:20:29,720 --> 00:20:34,100 high school but it will not have the capability to run the entire building 215 00:20:34,100 --> 00:20:43,240 because that would be near impossible and the difficulty is that the building 216 00:20:43,240 --> 00:20:50,080 code now requires you to have an uninterruptible fuel source for your backup 217 00:20:50,080 --> 00:20:56,300 generator and so they've come out and said that natural gas is not considered 218 00:20:56,300 --> 00:21:03,020 to be an uninterruptible source so we have to have a diesel-fired generator just 219 00:21:03,020 --> 00:21:07,040 just like at the police station, we have to have a diesel fire generator. 220 00:21:07,640 --> 00:21:14,700 I fought the fight, but, you know, because I said, if we're at the point where underground 221 00:21:14,700 --> 00:21:18,840 natural gas pipes are disrupted, what's the chances we're going to be able to get diesel 222 00:21:18,840 --> 00:21:19,260 delivered? 223 00:21:19,800 --> 00:21:24,700 So, it's, you know, because the tanks at the buildings only will last for a certain amount 224 00:21:24,700 --> 00:21:27,320 of time, and then you've got to have to have a truck come and fill them up again. 225 00:21:27,740 --> 00:21:32,940 But in any event, it will have backup generation for all of the key areas in the building 226 00:21:32,940 --> 00:21:42,020 to be able to keep the heat going and all that stuff, but won't have enough capability to run the entire building just because it's just not possible. 227 00:21:42,680 --> 00:21:47,480 It is possible, but I guess it would be enormous, the amount of generators. 228 00:21:47,900 --> 00:21:59,880 This is the early childhood center, which is the current industrial arts wing at the high school, which if you're looking at the high school is all the way in the back on the right near where the baseball field is in the back. 229 00:21:59,880 --> 00:22:02,360 It's where Park and Rec use to be located years ago. 230 00:22:03,560 --> 00:22:09,540 So this is going to be converted into a new early childhood center stand alone on the campus. 231 00:22:10,360 --> 00:22:15,960 So this is a design it shows there's going to be the capability for ten classrooms. 232 00:22:16,740 --> 00:22:23,780 What you see at that end is a new office building that will be built and attached to it. 233 00:22:23,780 --> 00:22:28,360 So there also is going to be on this end of the building, a family resource center. 234 00:22:28,660 --> 00:22:32,660 Our family resource program is scattered amongst three different schools right now. 235 00:22:33,320 --> 00:22:35,960 So this will allow us to get it all in one location. 236 00:22:36,840 --> 00:22:41,520 And our early childhood program is scattered between two locations, Perry Lane and Sipelli 237 00:22:41,520 --> 00:22:41,860 School. 238 00:22:42,380 --> 00:22:45,400 This will allow us to have them under one roof as well. 239 00:22:46,920 --> 00:22:52,900 So but again, I can, you know, we've had already multiple meetings on the design of this building 240 00:22:52,900 --> 00:22:59,340 and already have redesigned the office areas for both family resource and the main office 241 00:23:00,060 --> 00:23:05,740 twice trying to work with staff to get what's necessary. 242 00:23:06,500 --> 00:23:13,120 What's neat is, and I'm going to do a community update, is that the architectural firm has 243 00:23:13,120 --> 00:23:21,460 software that in real time they can move things on their computer, but then they can put it 244 00:23:21,460 --> 00:23:26,160 into a program that kind of looks like a video game, so you can walk around the building 245 00:23:27,860 --> 00:23:34,440 and see, you know, it's not extraordinarily detailed, but you can get an idea from 246 00:23:34,440 --> 00:23:41,060 a walking person's perspective what the spaces will look like and how it all flows together. 247 00:23:42,860 --> 00:23:50,020 So, you know, and what's neat in the meetings is that they have a tech at the meetings and 248 00:23:50,020 --> 00:23:54,840 And he's adjusting walls and then going into that program so you can kind of say, hey, 249 00:23:54,920 --> 00:23:57,440 okay, we decided to move this wall over there. 250 00:23:57,580 --> 00:24:01,920 How does it, from a perspective, some people have the ability to look at a plan and 251 00:24:01,920 --> 00:24:03,040 can see it in their head. 252 00:24:03,400 --> 00:24:08,220 Other people, they just look at a plan and they can't visualize what that space is going 253 00:24:08,220 --> 00:24:10,360 to look like, you know, constructive. 254 00:24:11,000 --> 00:24:16,940 That program allows someone to be able to sit there and say, okay, now we move that over 255 00:24:16,940 --> 00:24:20,000 so now I can go walk in there and say, okay, that makes more sense. 256 00:24:21,600 --> 00:24:29,160 But, you know, we're down to dealing with, you know, furniture, you know, you know, because 257 00:24:29,160 --> 00:24:34,220 we have to make sure capability wise, we build enough space in for all the furniture that's 258 00:24:34,220 --> 00:24:43,520 necessary. And again, it's an arduous process because we're asking every department to itemize 259 00:24:43,520 --> 00:24:50,060 all of their equipment and tell us what can be what can be saved and moved and what is you know 260 00:24:50,060 --> 00:24:56,840 beyond their useful life. I mean going back to the high school we spent a while with the woodworking 261 00:24:58,460 --> 00:25:04,100 teacher and you know so we were talking with him and he's you know he said I have an old industrial 262 00:25:04,100 --> 00:25:12,560 planer that's huge you know and he said you know and so we're looking at you know the guidelines for 263 00:25:12,560 --> 00:25:17,620 how much space you have to leave around it and it would end up taking up 20% of the classroom. 264 00:25:17,860 --> 00:25:24,040 So he's like, it's easier just to buy the wood plane. And then we have, he said, there's portable 265 00:25:24,040 --> 00:25:29,280 planers that you can use that are much smaller than the old industrial planer. The industrial planer 266 00:25:29,280 --> 00:25:37,280 dates back to the 1950s. So it's making decisions like that to say, you know, to move that piece of 267 00:25:37,280 --> 00:25:41,640 equipment and set it up in the new school. And he said, we don't hardly ever use it because 268 00:25:41,640 --> 00:25:46,480 it's so cumbersome it's there so he said we really don't need it and it's 269 00:25:46,480 --> 00:25:49,740 better to use he said we're using the portable planers now more than we use 270 00:25:49,740 --> 00:25:54,900 that one so it's things like that dealing with the science teachers setting up 271 00:25:54,900 --> 00:25:59,140 the labs because they're looking for we our labs are abominable at the high school 272 00:25:59,140 --> 00:26:06,100 now so they're gonna have state-of-the-art labs but going back to industrial 273 00:26:07,200 --> 00:26:16,740 They now, whenever they do anything, you know, whether it's in the sheet metal side, if they need to paint, they actually have to physically go outside and paint it outside. 274 00:26:17,400 --> 00:26:23,980 The woodworking, when they're doing, putting, you know, polyurethane on or varnishes on or whatever, they have to go outside. 275 00:26:24,500 --> 00:26:32,580 So the new building is going to have a spray booth that can be shared between the woodworking and the advanced manufacturing, which is metal. 276 00:26:32,580 --> 00:26:40,360 they'll have a spray booth that's located between the two rooms that they can use with its own exhaust system, 277 00:26:40,840 --> 00:26:45,780 so that we won't be going outside anymore to do those kinds of things. 278 00:26:46,520 --> 00:26:55,620 Because, you know, we had multiple meetings already on what type of school safety measures are going to be built into the school. 279 00:26:55,620 --> 00:27:04,500 And that's always a consideration in design, you know, kind of like looking at this just to kind of give you an idea. 280 00:27:05,400 --> 00:27:09,180 These are classrooms and so there's eight classrooms and then two more here. 281 00:27:10,520 --> 00:27:17,660 This one we decided to put an accordion wall here so that this one can be opened up into a bigger space. 282 00:27:17,980 --> 00:27:23,740 When bad weather occurs and they need, you know, bigger space to deal with the kids, they can that can be a bigger space. 283 00:27:23,740 --> 00:27:30,480 but they initially wanted doors to go between all of the classrooms well from a school safety standpoint 284 00:27:30,480 --> 00:27:35,520 that doesn't work well because now if someone can get into a classroom they can get access to every 285 00:27:35,520 --> 00:27:41,660 other classroom. So we limited it to one classroom so that the two classrooms are joined in the middle 286 00:27:41,660 --> 00:27:49,220 and then the door that's going in there is going to be you know a safety door like the classroom 287 00:27:49,220 --> 00:27:54,020 doors or safety doors, but now you go into the older design schools, all the classroom 288 00:27:54,020 --> 00:27:59,480 is interconnect, and that creates a safety problem relative to being able to shelter 289 00:27:59,480 --> 00:28:00,000 in place. 290 00:28:01,180 --> 00:28:02,480 So it's things like that. 291 00:28:04,760 --> 00:28:07,560 There's a safety consultant that's on board on the project. 292 00:28:07,560 --> 00:28:17,140 like she is looking at, you know, cam replacements, you know, what type of hardware, you know, 293 00:28:19,180 --> 00:28:24,620 where on the property, you know, we're going to have exits and entrances because this 294 00:28:24,620 --> 00:28:28,940 is going to be vastly different than what the high school is now. The high school now has 295 00:28:28,940 --> 00:28:34,480 a big parking lot in the front of the building. The new building, that parking lot is going 296 00:28:36,300 --> 00:28:45,320 There's going to be parking interspersed around the site so there'll be a large to the west to the left of the community building. 297 00:28:45,760 --> 00:28:56,940 There's going to be a huge parking area there. Then you're going to come around the back. There's going to be another huge parking area behind the building once the existing building is torn down. 298 00:28:57,600 --> 00:29:01,740 There's going to be some parking in the front, but it's going to be dramatically less than what's there now. 299 00:29:02,680 --> 00:29:18,380 And again, the concept is to try to put parking near where needs of the building are, rather than just have a one big parking lot in the front and then, you know, no access in other locations. 300 00:29:18,700 --> 00:29:23,940 So there, you know, it all goes into the big, you know, safety plan for the property. 301 00:29:25,260 --> 00:29:30,020 So, like I said, that's what's taking up most of my time these days. 302 00:29:30,460 --> 00:29:30,480 Yes. 303 00:29:31,040 --> 00:29:34,220 It's pretty much going to move up to where the parking light is now. 304 00:29:37,210 --> 00:29:42,770 Yeah, well the, like I said, if you get it, that is the old, that's the existing entrance. 305 00:29:42,810 --> 00:29:49,870 So you'll get an idea that the building, the building is going to come closer to the street a little bit. 306 00:29:49,870 --> 00:29:59,610 but from a square footage standpoint, what we're building is roughly what the existing building is. 307 00:30:00,110 --> 00:30:30,090 It's just far more compacted because it's two stories rather than one. If I had the site plan, I could show you, but that, you know, the back of this building, you know, which are the back of the, the academic pods, probably, well, it's hundreds of feet more before you get to the end of where the existed. 308 00:30:30,090 --> 00:30:35,330 building is now because our existing building is just this giant maze so when 309 00:30:35,330 --> 00:30:39,010 people come for like outside games that they don't have to go through the 310 00:30:39,010 --> 00:30:42,890 schooling or against the gym they'll have access right there at the gym. We'll see 311 00:30:42,890 --> 00:30:48,790 there what we're looking at now is just to get up so that there's going to be an 312 00:30:48,790 --> 00:30:55,190 entrance over here that that'll be the main entrance for going into the 313 00:30:55,190 --> 00:30:58,830 the gymnasiums and the auditorium and the cafeteria. 314 00:31:00,250 --> 00:31:06,330 But we looked at the concept of trying to, you know, the difficulty is, like I said, 315 00:31:07,050 --> 00:31:13,030 we could build a grand entrance but on this design where exactly does it best fit and 316 00:31:13,030 --> 00:31:17,730 then you're going to spend that money where you could spend it, you know, so like I said, 317 00:31:18,110 --> 00:31:25,170 we decided to invest more and having an auditorium that has a balcony in it versus just 318 00:31:25,170 --> 00:31:30,590 a straight up, we decided to have, you know, what we're calling like the cyber cafe over 319 00:31:30,590 --> 00:31:37,150 looking the cafeteria, you know, in that area, we're going to invest heavily in the courtyard 320 00:31:37,150 --> 00:31:38,270 which is the 321 00:31:41,060 --> 00:31:46,520 main feature of this building. It's going to be the courtyard area in the middle. 322 00:31:48,120 --> 00:31:56,020 So that's the concept of the building. And so this, this is the existing front entrance on the 323 00:31:56,020 --> 00:32:01,660 on the school, the high school doesn't really have a grand entrance other than the one that's 324 00:32:01,660 --> 00:32:07,180 over on the circle. But again, you know, the concept is when you come to a game or a show, 325 00:32:07,620 --> 00:32:12,120 there's going to be a big parking area over here. So you'll be parking over there. That parking 326 00:32:12,120 --> 00:32:17,920 is a whole lot closer to the athletic fields. So that will be the area where you'll park to go into 327 00:32:17,920 --> 00:32:23,820 a show or to a basketball game or a volleyball game. Or if you're going to a football or whatever, 328 00:32:23,820 --> 00:32:38,760 There's going to be another big parking area that's going to be off the back here, which is adjacent to where the baseball diamond, the softball diamonds are, the outside, you know, the other track event area, which is in the back over there. 329 00:32:39,060 --> 00:32:50,420 So it's going to be a lot closer for people coming to events at the high school rather than parking over here, you know, and walking all the way around or trying to park in the sidewalks, still going to be there. 330 00:32:50,420 --> 00:32:56,620 but parking in the sidewalk and, you know, walking all around to where the events are. 331 00:32:56,800 --> 00:33:02,940 So it's going to be, it's, the parking is, again, there's a net increase in the number 332 00:33:02,940 --> 00:33:09,340 of spaces. A slight increase, they're just moved around in different areas to better meet 333 00:33:09,340 --> 00:33:17,240 the needs of people coming to the building. And then talking about, you know, the community 334 00:33:18,360 --> 00:33:30,800 The goal is to have that open operational year round, which as I say to people now, we could open up the high school during the summer and open up the gym except that it's 85 or 90 degrees in there for months of the summer because there's no air conditioning. 335 00:33:32,080 --> 00:33:41,280 So this building is fully heated and air conditioned, so we'll be able to have events in the building year round. 336 00:33:42,280 --> 00:33:45,840 And so that's the, you know, that's the concept. 337 00:33:47,120 --> 00:33:49,360 And, you know, in the academic wing, 338 00:33:49,360 --> 00:33:52,880 there's also what they call a large group presentation area, 339 00:33:52,880 --> 00:33:57,800 which is an area that will hold between 100 and 150 people 340 00:33:58,360 --> 00:34:02,520 to be able to, you know, if you wanted to have, you know, 341 00:34:02,960 --> 00:34:05,300 if I wanted to do an update on something, 342 00:34:05,520 --> 00:34:08,540 right now, the best space I can go to is the library 343 00:34:08,540 --> 00:34:11,820 in the community room, which holds about 60 or 70 people. 344 00:34:12,640 --> 00:34:16,640 There really isn't another space in town to go where you could make a presentation. 345 00:34:18,260 --> 00:34:22,240 So this will have that capability in the large presentation area. 346 00:34:23,200 --> 00:34:29,920 But we're also there's another plan that talks about, you know, where in the building there 347 00:34:29,920 --> 00:34:41,160 will be large video capabilities, which the gym, the cafeteria, interspersed in the academic 348 00:34:41,160 --> 00:34:47,360 is set up in three pods. And in each pod, there's a media center. And then the pods are 349 00:34:47,360 --> 00:34:52,180 all two stories, and there's classrooms on the perimeter of the pod. And the center 350 00:34:52,180 --> 00:34:56,640 is what they call a collaboration space. The collaboration space is open for the two 351 00:34:56,640 --> 00:35:04,500 stories. So, it's an adult being an area where, you know, you could bring multiple classes 352 00:35:04,500 --> 00:35:10,540 out into that area. The concept being right now, the way our high school is designed, you 353 00:35:10,540 --> 00:35:16,060 know, you go, this is the science wing. This is the math wing. This is the English wing. 354 00:35:16,800 --> 00:35:22,180 And the new school, and it's based upon what the state, you know, and what the teaching guidelines 355 00:35:22,180 --> 00:35:29,120 calls for in each pod their science rooms, math rooms, English rooms. So the concept is 356 00:35:29,120 --> 00:35:33,760 to have those teachers collaborate so that, you know, as one of the science teachers 357 00:35:33,760 --> 00:35:39,540 said jokingly yesterday, he said, all I ever talked to was science teachers. So he said 358 00:35:39,540 --> 00:35:46,060 it'll be refreshing to be able to, you know, to collaborate with math teachers because the 359 00:35:46,060 --> 00:35:51,480 curricula for these subjects all overlap and so that's the concept the state is 360 00:35:51,480 --> 00:35:58,140 driving at is to get the teachers together in a common space so that as these 361 00:35:58,140 --> 00:36:03,860 as the curriculum-free subject overlaps other subjects then they can they can 362 00:36:03,860 --> 00:36:06,980 work together on the teaching methods for those areas. 363 00:36:07,640 --> 00:36:10,880 So I mean the students would have to move as much make them teachers would move 364 00:36:10,880 --> 00:36:15,660 rather than the students. Right well the big I'll be bluntly honest with you the 365 00:36:15,660 --> 00:36:21,980 The biggest complaint, and it's based upon, again, state guidelines, our school is set 366 00:36:21,980 --> 00:36:24,880 up now that every teacher has a classroom, okay? 367 00:36:25,360 --> 00:36:31,620 But keep in mind that I think there's seven periods at the high school, and teachers 368 00:36:31,620 --> 00:36:34,580 are required to teach four or five periods a day. 369 00:36:35,140 --> 00:36:41,380 So that means that at a minimum, two periods a day, if I have my own classroom, my classroom 370 00:36:41,380 --> 00:36:42,440 is not being used. 371 00:36:42,440 --> 00:36:47,740 So, the Mass School Building Authority requires you to do an analysis of utilization. 372 00:36:48,460 --> 00:36:53,960 I spent almost 15 years on the board at STCC and we went through that process at the college 373 00:36:53,960 --> 00:36:59,520 where we had to transition from professors having their own rooms to them not having their own rooms 374 00:36:59,520 --> 00:37:03,720 because, you know, it got to the point where you just didn't enough rooms. 375 00:37:04,560 --> 00:37:09,160 And so there was a learning curve but they got through it and it works better. 376 00:37:09,160 --> 00:37:14,040 So, that's what we're dealing with here is there won't be assigned rooms anymore. 377 00:37:16,250 --> 00:37:22,430 But like I said, we also in Aguom, we're fortunate because our special education department 378 00:37:23,050 --> 00:37:25,190 has a lot of in-district programming. 379 00:37:26,710 --> 00:37:31,610 And so, we're building into the new facility, the space for all this in-district programming, 380 00:37:31,910 --> 00:37:38,990 just to kind of give you, you know, we're required to provide a free and appropriate education 381 00:37:38,990 --> 00:37:45,030 for every student regardless of their, you know, of what their needs are, and so if we 382 00:37:45,030 --> 00:37:50,250 can't provide a program in our schools, then we're forced to do an out of district placement. 383 00:37:50,910 --> 00:37:59,070 And if we send students to out of district placements, they can run tens from the tens of thousands of dollars a year 384 00:37:59,070 --> 00:38:01,430 to the hundreds of thousands of dollars per year. 385 00:38:01,430 --> 00:38:06,570 I forget off the top of my head, but I think the average out of district placement cost 386 00:38:06,570 --> 00:38:09,750 was $70 or $80,000 a year. 387 00:38:10,530 --> 00:38:16,250 So by us being able to accommodate providing these, because the goal is inclusion. 388 00:38:16,510 --> 00:38:19,570 You want these students included in the school where they live. 389 00:38:20,150 --> 00:38:20,770 That's the goal. 390 00:38:21,310 --> 00:38:27,210 Our special education department has done a phenomenal job with inclusion programs at the 391 00:38:27,210 --> 00:38:27,550 high school. 392 00:38:27,550 --> 00:38:34,170 So we're building the space in one one of the inclusion programs is now being operated out of the old senior center 393 00:38:34,170 --> 00:38:35,610 It's going to move to the new high school 394 00:38:36,230 --> 00:38:42,330 The strived program is currently operating out of the old senior center. It's going to move to the new high school when it's when it's built 395 00:38:44,130 --> 00:38:47,910 And the concept again is that we're able to do it 396 00:38:48,490 --> 00:38:49,910 You know at our facility 397 00:38:50,510 --> 00:38:57,010 Which is far less expensive than sending them to out of district placements where you're paying for transportation 398 00:38:57,010 --> 00:39:05,790 and tuition, and it's, you know, regardless of what the needs of the student is, it's better for them to go to the school and their town. 399 00:39:06,630 --> 00:39:21,890 You know, and I can tell you from being up at the high school as much as I'm up there now, you know, there are, you know, the students up there, you know, they all welcome everyone, no matter whether, you know, 400 00:39:21,890 --> 00:39:28,670 when you when you're there while classes are changing and you see some severely 401 00:39:28,670 --> 00:39:33,270 handicapped students. The students are all going by high five and hey great to see 402 00:39:33,270 --> 00:39:39,390 you know it's it's a very healthy environment that the staff has promoted up 403 00:39:39,390 --> 00:39:44,990 there and again it's better for the students better for their families because 404 00:39:44,990 --> 00:39:49,870 some of these out of district placements require you know bus and van rides 405 00:39:49,870 --> 00:39:56,950 that can sometimes be an hour hour and a half to get them to and from, where if we can provide the program in Aguom, 406 00:39:57,710 --> 00:40:03,010 better for the student, better for the family, and better for the district, because it's going to cost less. 407 00:40:06,190 --> 00:40:06,550 Gloves? 408 00:40:07,350 --> 00:40:07,470 Yeah. 409 00:40:08,410 --> 00:40:10,290 Sure. I'm here for any topic. 410 00:40:10,310 --> 00:40:11,090 I go back after 411 00:40:13,430 --> 00:40:15,830 the paving in front of Sacred Heart Church. 412 00:40:15,970 --> 00:40:16,070 Yeah. 413 00:40:16,390 --> 00:40:19,350 At traffic, like, when we're coming from the high school, no. 414 00:40:19,350 --> 00:40:21,070 I live up there. I know all about it. 415 00:40:21,430 --> 00:40:22,670 It's two minutes long. 416 00:40:22,670 --> 00:40:30,010 Yes, we're when ever source came and put the gas line all the way up those 417 00:40:30,010 --> 00:40:34,310 intersections were built with magnetic strips under the ground so that when 418 00:40:34,310 --> 00:40:37,430 a car pulled over the magnetic strip it completed the circuit and triggered 419 00:40:37,430 --> 00:40:42,710 the light for whatever reason and I wasn't in the mayor's office at the time when 420 00:40:42,710 --> 00:40:46,210 they when they finished their work they never replaced or repaired the magnetic 421 00:40:46,210 --> 00:40:52,570 strips so we now have to go to the visual if you go down to like by the bridge or 422 00:40:52,570 --> 00:40:57,110 you go to the lights that stop and shop, you see on the booms there's like little look 423 00:40:57,110 --> 00:41:02,290 like cameras or sensors up there. We have to, you know, there's one company that does 424 00:41:02,290 --> 00:41:07,190 it in the area. We've asked them to give us a quote on that intersection, the Sacred 425 00:41:07,190 --> 00:41:13,470 Heart intersection, to put the sensors up there. We did it at stop and shop. It's working 426 00:41:13,470 --> 00:41:20,290 much better there now. It's a long process because there's one company that does it and then 427 00:41:20,290 --> 00:41:25,070 And then they put them in and then they have to gather data for a while and then they 428 00:41:25,070 --> 00:41:27,830 try to program the signals based on the data. 429 00:41:32,780 --> 00:41:37,940 I see people now that they're forming two lanes to turn left into sacred heart. 430 00:41:38,660 --> 00:41:43,320 My hope is a probably won't happen as well, but my hope is by next spring we'll get the 431 00:41:43,320 --> 00:41:45,080 detectors on that intersection. 432 00:41:45,580 --> 00:41:49,400 We were able to reprogram garden and popular streets so that works all right. 433 00:41:49,400 --> 00:41:57,620 But that's that I I live off Northwood Street. So I go through there every day and you pull there and you wait and you wait and you wait. 434 00:41:58,320 --> 00:42:06,900 Now we are and hopefully hopefully next spring we can get the company and put those visual detectors up and and that'll make it work much better than it works now. 435 00:42:06,900 --> 00:42:08,740 Thank you. Sorry. I'm going to walk a dog. 436 00:42:11,000 --> 00:42:13,060 Other questions. Any topic? 437 00:42:13,760 --> 00:42:17,800 I noticed that these smell on the pavement smell like too many times. 438 00:42:17,800 --> 00:42:23,760 I didn't method to use them after they probably just a slightly different mix. 439 00:42:24,080 --> 00:42:29,940 Maybe that's what it was because it was really smelling in 9.50 or 75 there or 440 00:42:29,940 --> 00:42:32,280 you know through high school and up to the sacred heart church. 441 00:42:32,720 --> 00:42:40,060 Oh that was that was a different that's called fog ceiling so that that's not new 442 00:42:40,060 --> 00:42:48,400 pavement. That's a that's a sealer that goes over the pavement to extend its life. So they fog 443 00:42:48,400 --> 00:42:54,080 sealed part of mill street. It's a new it's a relatively new process. It's different than crack 444 00:42:54,080 --> 00:43:00,800 ceiling crack ceiling is where they go in and this is for newer pavement. We're trying it out engaging 445 00:43:00,800 --> 00:43:07,920 to see you know but it's supposed to extend the life of of pavement you know by years and it's 446 00:43:07,920 --> 00:43:11,080 relatively inexpensive, certainly much less expensive than repaving. 447 00:43:11,840 --> 00:43:16,420 So that's what they did on military, so a lot of people say, hey, you repaved military 448 00:43:16,420 --> 00:43:16,640 now. 449 00:43:16,900 --> 00:43:17,580 It was fog seal. 450 00:43:17,820 --> 00:43:18,100 I 451 00:43:21,910 --> 00:43:23,490 have a question, Mr. Mayor. 452 00:43:24,070 --> 00:43:25,250 I live in Pine D circle. 453 00:43:25,970 --> 00:43:26,090 Yes. 454 00:43:27,190 --> 00:43:29,150 It's an old street, okay. 455 00:43:30,250 --> 00:43:34,330 It hasn't been repaved in 50 years, but there are a lot of cracks there. 456 00:43:35,110 --> 00:43:41,270 Do you think that they could crack seal the cracks that are there, which would extend from 457 00:43:41,270 --> 00:43:46,330 the road that's remaining because it's getting worse. 458 00:43:46,730 --> 00:43:49,610 The crack seal equation depends on the size of the cracks. 459 00:43:51,370 --> 00:43:59,670 The town has a pavement management program where we go out on an annual basis and evaluate 460 00:43:59,670 --> 00:44:03,350 the condition of streets and put it into the pavement management program. 461 00:44:04,050 --> 00:44:09,670 And I know everybody wants their streets repaved, but the program sets priorities based 462 00:44:09,670 --> 00:44:17,070 based upon condition, based upon whether it's a main road versus a side road, based upon 463 00:44:17,070 --> 00:44:24,470 you know, whether there's upcoming you know, whether it's water sewer or other utility 464 00:44:24,470 --> 00:44:25,870 work happening in that area. 465 00:44:28,010 --> 00:44:32,670 So we can, I can take a look, I'm meeting with the engineer after I get done here this morning 466 00:44:32,670 --> 00:44:33,990 I can ask her to take a look. 467 00:44:34,530 --> 00:44:38,510 Crack sailing will work, but if you start to get the bigger cracks, crack sailing doesn't 468 00:44:38,510 --> 00:44:43,910 work with those. There's a lot of, you know, like, hey, there's grass growing in between 469 00:44:43,910 --> 00:44:47,390 the crack. It's probably too big for crack ceiling to be effective. 470 00:44:48,350 --> 00:44:49,170 Really? Yeah. 471 00:44:51,410 --> 00:44:57,770 But, you know, there also was a shift about 10 years ago that was made, where 472 00:44:57,770 --> 00:44:59,970 they decided that they weren't going to do... 473 00:45:00,000 --> 00:45:29,980 Paved sidewalks. And they wanted to only do concrete sidewalks. Again, the difficulty is we don't have the ability to do concrete sidewalks in house and they're very expensive to have done. So I said we're going to start doing paid sidewalks because most of the streets were built with paid sidewalks, paid sidewalks last 25 or 30 years. So we bought a sidewalk paper years ago, the town did. But they never really used it because they made the decision after 474 00:45:29,980 --> 00:45:33,360 that they bought it, that they were going to have concrete sidewalks, which that's great 475 00:45:33,360 --> 00:45:41,600 except, you know, you can do four times as many sidewalks paved versus concrete, especially 476 00:45:41,600 --> 00:45:46,080 if our guys, our DPW workers, start doing them ourselves. 477 00:45:46,520 --> 00:45:49,060 And it's easier to repair a paved sidewalk. 478 00:45:49,620 --> 00:45:49,800 Yes. 479 00:45:50,440 --> 00:45:56,800 The hardest thing to be honest with you with sidewalks is that it's the trees that have forced 480 00:45:56,800 --> 00:46:02,240 the sidewalks up and so you have to come in and you have to cut the roots out and in a lot of 481 00:46:02,240 --> 00:46:07,540 cases within a couple of years of doing that to treat eyes. Sometimes they don't, sometimes the 482 00:46:07,540 --> 00:46:14,920 roots regrow and go around the area but a lot of times it'll cause the tree to die. And the problem 483 00:46:14,920 --> 00:46:20,380 is that the town's responsible for the street trees which are the trees that are between the sidewalk 484 00:46:20,380 --> 00:46:24,700 and the road but we're not responsible for the trees that are on people's front yards that may have 485 00:46:24,700 --> 00:46:26,780 because the sidewalks to pop up. 486 00:46:27,280 --> 00:46:29,020 So we're gonna go in and we're gonna repave, 487 00:46:29,020 --> 00:46:30,660 but we can't repave over the routes. 488 00:46:30,800 --> 00:46:31,520 It doesn't make any sense. 489 00:46:31,520 --> 00:46:34,000 We got to cut the routes and then repave 490 00:46:34,000 --> 00:46:37,540 and in some instances that'll end up killing the tree. 491 00:46:39,800 --> 00:46:44,840 So, but also a lot of these streets were built 492 00:46:44,840 --> 00:46:46,840 with sidewalks on both sides of the road. 493 00:46:47,460 --> 00:46:49,560 And to be honest, a lot of neighborhoods 494 00:46:49,560 --> 00:46:51,700 they don't need sidewalks on both sides of the road. 495 00:46:52,080 --> 00:46:54,380 So it might be a scenario where we're gonna go in 496 00:46:54,380 --> 00:46:57,360 and replace the sidewalk on one side of the street 497 00:46:57,800 --> 00:47:00,940 and then excavate out the sidewalk on the other side 498 00:47:00,940 --> 00:47:02,940 and plant it and make a grass 499 00:47:03,840 --> 00:47:06,180 because it's not necessary to have sidewalks 500 00:47:06,180 --> 00:47:07,100 on both sides of the street. 501 00:47:07,880 --> 00:47:09,500 I live in a very large neighborhood, 502 00:47:09,640 --> 00:47:10,860 the neighborhood off Northwood Street. 503 00:47:11,840 --> 00:47:14,300 And I have, we have paved sidewalks 504 00:47:14,300 --> 00:47:15,740 because that's the way the subdivision was built 505 00:47:15,740 --> 00:47:18,800 in the 70s and 80s on both sides of the street. 506 00:47:19,600 --> 00:47:21,140 And I can tell you, there's not a single person 507 00:47:21,140 --> 00:47:22,040 that walks in my neighborhood 508 00:47:22,040 --> 00:47:23,000 that walks on the sidewalk. 509 00:47:24,680 --> 00:47:30,840 and they're not in bad shape. Yeah, there's some areas that are a little bumpy, but they're not in bad shape overall, but everybody walks down the street. 510 00:47:31,200 --> 00:47:38,400 So it's like, you know, so we're going to try to target the areas where the sidewalks are literally crumbling. 511 00:47:39,420 --> 00:47:43,100 But we're also going to look at it and say, do we need sidewalks on both sides of the street? 512 00:47:43,480 --> 00:47:49,360 If it's a residential neighborhood, a sidewalk on one side of the street will probably be suffice because if you want to go take a walk. 513 00:47:49,360 --> 00:47:55,930 You can if you're on the other side you can walk across the street and walk on the sidewalk and then you know 514 00:47:55,930 --> 00:47:59,930 I got asked the other day by a city council or what about sidewalks on north street 515 00:48:01,010 --> 00:48:07,350 We looked at that 30 years ago and the problem with putting sidewalks on north street is it would require about 516 00:48:07,350 --> 00:48:15,470 75% of the trees that are on north street to be taken down to accommodate putting sidewalks in so it was a drill we did 517 00:48:16,050 --> 00:48:23,390 towards the end of my original tenure, where I had DPW go out and we put little ribbons on every tree that we would have to take down. 518 00:48:24,090 --> 00:48:27,190 And so we said, if you want sidewalks, that's what's going to have to happen. 519 00:48:27,430 --> 00:48:32,450 And North Street's got trees that are, you know, and it would change the character of the street. 520 00:48:33,050 --> 00:48:37,630 And people said, no, no, no, I'd rather not lose all the trees to have sidewalks. 521 00:48:37,630 --> 00:48:38,290 And 522 00:48:40,790 --> 00:48:47,490 when that road is closed towards the road going to Westfield, so people have to either get 523 00:48:47,490 --> 00:48:53,810 to very into 57 over into South-Egg and over and then over the tracks to go to West 524 00:48:53,810 --> 00:48:54,330 Springfield. 525 00:48:54,910 --> 00:48:58,770 No, the shorter detours you're going to go down the end of North Street extension, then 526 00:48:58,770 --> 00:49:04,110 take a ride on Southwest Street and come out by where autumn mist is. 527 00:49:04,210 --> 00:49:06,850 Okay, so you'll be able to be more on a mist? 528 00:49:08,230 --> 00:49:13,730 The work is happening in Mayhalla, which is where the road goes down. 529 00:49:14,410 --> 00:49:18,550 There's a major drainage culvert that goes under Northwest Field Street. 530 00:49:18,670 --> 00:49:19,570 That's what's being replaced. 531 00:49:19,750 --> 00:49:21,270 That's what's being replaced. 532 00:49:21,470 --> 00:49:24,990 Yeah, just like on North Street, if you go down North Street right at the bottom, that's 533 00:49:24,990 --> 00:49:26,650 called Deep Gutter, right at the bottom of Deep Gutter. 534 00:49:27,210 --> 00:49:29,810 You can see the new drainage culvert was put in there. 535 00:49:30,290 --> 00:49:31,710 This is a similar culvert. 536 00:49:31,970 --> 00:49:34,730 It's a little longer than the one that went in on North Street. 537 00:49:34,730 --> 00:49:39,850 But it's it's you know, it takes a major stream from one side to the other. 538 00:49:40,250 --> 00:49:45,070 It started to collapse about four or five years ago. The state came in and made some emergency repairs. 539 00:49:45,530 --> 00:49:48,790 So it's short up. It's not in danger of collapsing at this point. 540 00:49:48,790 --> 00:49:51,710 But they said you should really do this. 541 00:49:53,170 --> 00:49:57,950 So like I said, the plan was we were hoping to get it going this summer, 542 00:49:57,950 --> 00:50:00,350 but we couldn't get the polls out of the way. 543 00:50:00,350 --> 00:50:02,330 And I said, I don't want to do it. 544 00:50:03,070 --> 00:50:06,450 I don't want to have that road closed for the whole winter like North Street was. 545 00:50:07,470 --> 00:50:13,190 So the contractor agreed, the contractor said, no, let's, the contractor said, I'd 546 00:50:13,190 --> 00:50:15,130 rather work from bad weather to good weather. 547 00:50:15,450 --> 00:50:19,030 So he said, I'd rather start an early spring work towards good weather. 548 00:50:19,250 --> 00:50:24,150 And then I know when we're done, we can just get the final paving done and open the road as 549 00:50:24,150 --> 00:50:25,030 quickly as possible. 550 00:50:26,280 --> 00:50:43,140 It's different contractor than North Street, you know, but this contractor has been very proactive plus the same engineering firm designed both and so there were some lessons learned at North Street. 551 00:50:43,600 --> 00:50:54,160 So they've made some changes to the plan for May Hollow to make it go quicker and, you know, one of the things was to get rid of that special film material. 552 00:50:56,920 --> 00:51:03,020 I know this high school is a very complex thing to do. 553 00:51:03,600 --> 00:51:07,260 What is it the construction when it's started and something like this? 554 00:51:07,800 --> 00:51:11,820 So the ground breaking will likely happen next spring. 555 00:51:13,520 --> 00:51:16,620 The actual construction will start next summer. 556 00:51:18,580 --> 00:51:21,980 And the community wing will be constructed first. 557 00:51:21,980 --> 00:51:27,460 First, before then you might see they might start to put their perimeter fencing up to 558 00:51:27,460 --> 00:51:34,420 do all that stuff, but the hope is for, so just going back, we're in design development 559 00:51:34,420 --> 00:51:38,840 once we finalize that, which should be in December, then they have the arduous process 560 00:51:38,840 --> 00:51:40,520 of preparing the construction drawings. 561 00:51:42,220 --> 00:51:48,540 And once the construction drawings are finished, then the subbiting occurs on the project. 562 00:51:48,540 --> 00:51:56,060 So the hope is that will be an earnest in the spring, the subbiting, because it's going to take months to do the construction drawings. 563 00:51:56,400 --> 00:51:59,960 They're not on paper anymore. You can print them out like this, but they're all done on computer. 564 00:52:00,460 --> 00:52:06,880 But it's thousands and thousands of pages of, because every last detail has to be specced. 565 00:52:07,160 --> 00:52:15,200 So that the electrical contractor knows this is where the plug goes, and that's where the switch goes, and what the capability that has to be built into both. 566 00:52:18,120 --> 00:52:23,740 So construction, the community wing start construction next year, that'll take a little 567 00:52:23,740 --> 00:52:26,420 over a year into 26. 568 00:52:27,760 --> 00:52:35,860 The hope is that by the fall of 26 or latest the January of 27, the community wing is 569 00:52:35,860 --> 00:52:41,240 occupied and then the academic next step is a lot of demolition of parts of the existing 570 00:52:41,240 --> 00:52:50,560 building and then the academic wing will be constructed with hopefully the the the building 571 00:52:50,560 --> 00:53:00,520 being occupied by the fall of 2028 or January of 2029 because you like to do it you know 572 00:53:00,520 --> 00:53:07,100 at a semester break either you know in September or January. So that's the hope there'll be some 573 00:53:07,100 --> 00:53:12,760 work that will be happening after you know because once the academic wing is constructed 574 00:53:12,760 --> 00:53:18,080 then the next step is to demolish the rest of the existing building because the field 575 00:53:18,080 --> 00:53:21,880 that the community wing is going on is being relocated behind the building now. 576 00:53:22,700 --> 00:53:27,520 And then the softball diamonds we have one now we're constructing a second one as part 577 00:53:27,520 --> 00:53:33,860 of the plan they'll be constructed in the back area where the geothermal well field is. 578 00:53:35,760 --> 00:53:44,880 So it's a it's quite a process but in talking with other schools because we're 579 00:53:44,880 --> 00:53:48,720 out visiting new schools new high schools that have been built in the last 580 00:53:48,720 --> 00:53:53,700 time and 15 years, most of them had challenges that are much more significant 581 00:53:53,700 --> 00:53:59,220 from a site perspective than ours does. But the contractor or 582 00:53:59,220 --> 00:54:17,820 Fontaine Brothers is working earnestly, now on making sure the sequencing, the phase plan is going to work because they've got to get utilities in to where they need them to start construction, and like I said, but they specialize in building schools. 583 00:54:19,520 --> 00:54:24,880 They built, I think, eight of the last nine high schools in our area. 584 00:54:27,080 --> 00:54:29,790 So other questions, 585 00:54:32,330 --> 00:54:40,390 Eric Nunn. Thank you as always. You know where my office is. If you ever have a question on anything, hopefully we have an answer.