The Elementary School Building Committee is pleased to provide the Final Report of the Committee

The Elementary School Building Committee is please to provide the FINAL REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE August 15, 2016
 

The Elementary School Building Committee was formed following the 2007 Annual Town Meeting, to direct and oversee the renovation and addition to the Center School.
 

On July 20, 2016, over nine years later, and four years after the building opened, the Mass School Building Association (MSBA) voted to close out the Center School project! On August 15, the ESBC voted to disband.  This is our final report.
 

As has been reported in our previous annual reports, it has been a long road, complicated by the eleventh hour bankruptcy of our general contractor.  We were approved for funding by the MSBA in 2009, broke ground in 2010, and welcomed all Stow school children, grades K-5, to the new Center School September 2012.  The delay in closeout has largely been caused by the bankruptcy and resulting complications of correcting construction errors.

The Town Meeting voted authorized a budget of $37,829,870 for the cost of the school over two town meetings in 2007 and 2009, for the feasibility study and eventual construction. Below is a summary of the final numbers:

Initial Estimate                        $37,829,870     This included the feasibility study

                                                        & Initial vote from 2009

Final Cost                              $30,786,703    under budget by $7.04 million

MSBA excluded from reimbursement(3,245,680)     incl legal, site expenses

                        

Basis for MSBA reimbursement    $27,541,023

Reimbursement rate                          50.85%      

Funds rec’d from MSBA           $14,004,610     fully paid to Stow as of 8/10/16

Balance of project costs                16,782,093

Fundraising by private citizens     (352,643)

Total Cost to Stow taxpayers    $16,429,450     TM estimated $20,288,240

                                                          a reduction of over $3.8 million

Given the bankruptcy, legal costs were higher than anticipated, but in spite of that, the whole project still came in under budget by close to $7 million.  The biggest savings was in the timing: at the time we went out to bid, we were in the first round of new MSBA funding and the economy was at a low point, so there were many firms in need of work.  We still had to take the low bid in construction, which didn’t work out well, but we benefited from one of the best architects for school projects in New England, and had a dedicated project management team.  

We had initiated private fundraising, led by RECESS and organized by Greta Morgan, with the understanding, from its initial legislation, that the MSBA would reward us an additional ½ % for these funds—at the closeout, however, we learned that this was no longer part of their program, and the cost to push back on this was not worth the expected gain.  We are still very grateful to RECESS and all those who contributed to offsetting the taxpayers’ bill by over $350,000.

In its first four years of operation, the new Center School is the pride of the community and is a perfect complement to the dedicated professional and support staff that work there.  The test of an innovative building is in the operation, and we are happy to report it has worked out very well.

This process has encompassed not only the nine years of the ESBC, but the intensive work of the School Building Task Force, and several committees before that.  We appreciate the support of the entire community in coming to agreement and supporting the creation of a tremendous school.  A final thanks to the Brait Builders for stepping in at the 11^th hour to ensure an on-time opening and quality workmanship, to CMS our project managers, and to Symmes Maini McKee Architects, for being great partners.

Respectfully submitted,

Ellen S. Sturgis, Co-Chair

Amy Finkel Hastings, Co-Chair; Architect

Stephen Quinn, Contractor; Planning Board

Craig Martin, Building Inspector

Gary Bernklow, (former) Selectman (rep for Finance Committee)

Brooke Clency, NRSD Superintendent

Lynn Colletti, NRSD School Committee

Past members

Michael Wood, (Former NRSD) Superintendent

Charlie Kern, (Former Stow) Selectman

David Korn, Associate Member

Lisa D’Alessio, Associate Member

Kevin LaCoste, (Former) Principal, Center School

Greg Irvine, (Former) Principal, Center School