First selectman Lynne Vanderslice met with GOOD Morning Wilton last week (Tuesday, Jan. 12) and reflected on some of the recent updates on the Miller-Driscoll Building Committee (MDBC), as well as on the project itself.
The committee is going to undergo membership changes. Following the resignations of both co-chairs, Bruce Hampson and Karen Birck, the committee is currently without an official chairperson.
“Bruce’s resignation came at the end of the [last] meeting, so the next meeting in February I expect that there will be an election of a chair. In the meantime, Chris Burney has taken on responsibility for the construction aspects of the projects. That was really the thought when he was hired. It worked out perfectly, because Bruce, from the beginning, had said that he was going to leave when the construction phase started,” Vanderslice commented.
According to Vanderslice, Burney—who was hired as the town’s director of facilities and energy management in September—brings a level of expertise that will offer an unexpected boon to the project.
“He spent most of his professional career building and renovating hospitals. If you have ever had an operation, the very first time I was ever wheeled into an operating room, what hit me immediately was the temperature of the room. You realize air quality is critical–it’s life and death in a hospital. Chris has been dealing with this in his professional career for years and years. He brings something I think the parents of Wilton really want in this. We’re very fortunate that we have Chris to take over that particular area,” she said.
The hazardous material abatement work that was done over the December school vacation by Niram Construction went as planned, according to Vanderslice.
“The abatement went well. As we said we would do, TRC came in afterwards and did the testing–all clear, all the results are good, and that’s when the children came back in from vacation. That whole thing went very well. It was observed by our newest MDBC member, Steve DiNapoli, who is also a parent. He is a professional hazardous abatement professional, and has his own business.”
DiNapoli had been introduced as a new member of the MDBC at the committee’s Jan. 7 meeting. He is a principal of his own environmental consulting firm (Big East Environmental), and a Miller-Driscoll parent as well as a member of the Superintendent’s parent committee.
She made sure to point out that DiNapoli’s company did not perform the abatement work at Miller-Driscoll. “He currently does no work with Turner; has not done business with Turner; doesn’t see business with Turner in the future. So he was totally independent watching this and he was very impressed with everything that he saw.”
The MD parent committee on which DiNapoli sits is something run through the schools, and was formed by school superintendent Kevin Smith.
“It’s not an oversight committee. The parent committee was formed, as I understand it, to facilitate getting more information to the parents. The idea is that this group of parents is informed on everything and then they go out and spread the information.”
Another new parent that joined the superintendent’s parent group is Mandi Schmauch, who is working with the MDBC as a non-voting member, to participate in a working group for Furniture, Fixtures and Equipment (FF&E). “Now we have a MDBC member, a parent member, a teacher and staff on that group,” Vanderslice said. “Not only is that parent group good for getting information out, but they’re a good seeding committee for what we need. It was important to add parents.”
At the Jan. 7 meeting, Smith said that MD assistant principal Jeremy Cross is facilitating the group and has met three times since forming in November. According to the [draft] minutes from that meeting, “Because [parents] continue to be very concerned about the hazardous materials and abatement procedures, Steve DiNapoli suggested some steps to go above and beyond the standard abatement safety requirements to help allay those fears. Bruce [Hampson] asked him to submit his suggestions to the Building Committee and Turner Construction for consideration.”
Communication is something that is also a focus on-site between Turner and the teachers and faculty at M-D. Sean Tierney, who is Turner’s project supervisor, speaks with M-D’s interim principal Bernadette Hess and/or Cross each morning and afternoon, Monday through Friday, to talk about the activities and any issues on the previous day, and about what’s planned for that current day.
“I ask if there are any issues for the teachers, and smells, sounds. My job is to make this transition as smooth and as seamless as possible, and address any concerns or complaints. If there are we’ll address them immediately,” Tierney told the MDBC members.
Teachers are also being provided with a two-week “Look Ahead” schedule each week.
One other person has joined the MDBC: Patti Temple will be on the committee as the first selectman representative, ex-officio, who along with Schmauch, will join the FF&E working group. Temple brings professional experience in communication, as well as commercial space planning and working with designers on furnishings. According to Vanderslice, Temple once held a position at Cisco Systems where she managed the expansion, consolidation and relocation of the California sales offices.
Budget
“Everything is on track,” Vanderslice said. “We’ve taken the $5.2 million in contract savings and it’s a separate line item, it’s kind of on the side. We hopefully will never touch it. We’ve never borrowed it, so it just reduces the total cost of the project.”
She added that there is also “almost $3.5 million in contingency.” ($3,461,000) A link to the monthly report made by the building committee to the Board of Selectmen is now located on the front page of the Town of Wilton’s website, something Vanderslice noted in her first regular video interview with GOOD Morning Wilton.