Morganti Memo: NHS Expansion Project

Could Be Millions Over Budget

By Eliza Hallabeck

& John Voket

Less than 24 hours after the bids were opened for the Newtown High School expansion project, School Business Manager Ronald Bienkowski and two members of the Public Building and Site Commission received an e-mail from Ed Barrett, project manager for the expansion, stating the bids were nearly $4 million over budget before factoring in any alternates, including a turf field, track improvements, and the construction management fees.

Mr Barrett of the Morganti Group said in the e-mail, sent the morning of July 30, that he was already looking into ways bidders might apply “value engineering…to reduce the costs closer to the budget.” Later that day, when speaking with The Bee about preliminary low bid calculations provided to the newspaper showing the project more than $2 million under budget, Mr Bienkowski did not mention Mr Barrett’s concerns about the expense of the project.

During his interview, Mr Bienkowski told The Bee that it would be weeks before any specific numbers were qualified by the Morganti Group, which was in the process of performing scope reviews for the project with bidders. He did say, however, that after those reviews were complete other costs could accumulate.

The bids for the Newtown High School Expansion Project, which closed Tuesday, July 29, at 2 pm, show the total amount for the project could be higher than expected, but Mr Bienkowski said efforts are being made to investigate the estimated costs.

The bid calculations provided to The Bee by town Finance Director Robert Tait showed the lowest possible cost for the project was $36 million, but the highest estimate for the bid could be more than $43 million before alternates and management fees, according to the Barrett memo.

The budget for the project that was approved by taxpayers following a high profile campaign, which assumed improvements including added classrooms, labs, a renovated gym, an artificially turfed football field, a new track, a lightning rod system, a “green” rooftop garden, and painted brick finishing, was $38.8 million. The field, track, lightning rod system, and cosmetic finishing were built in as alternates.

The Morganti management fee adds approximately $1 million more to the bottom line.

Mr Barrett concluded in his e-mail that the bids as they stood last Wednesday morning now put the project over budget by $3.9 million without the aforementioned alternates as part to the scope of work. Mr Barrett was unavailable to comment, but Tim Gunn, a spokesperson for the Morganti Group, confirmed the bids are being examined.

“We’re still evaluating at this time,” said Mr Gunn. Meetings with the individual subcontractors are scheduled for this week, he said.

Superintendent of Schools Janet Robinson suggested the escalation might be tied, in part, to the cost of steel, which has been rapidly accelerating since spring when the first estimate for the project was decided.

“The review process takes about three weeks, and we’re still in the middle of the first week,” Dr Robinson added.

The bids for the project were further delayed by a week after the original planned closing date because multiple contractors asked the Morganti Group for more time. There were ten different packages for potential contractors to bid on, and each package could cost more or less then previously expected.

After the Morganti Group inspects the actual cost of the project with each individual contractor, according to First Selectman Joe Borst, the Board of Education will have to determine the final cost for the NHS expansion, and the Board of Selectmen will then review and possibly sign for the project.

On Monday, the Board of Selectmen tabled moving the bond resolution forward as proposed. Mr Borst said he agreed with the concerns of his fellow selectmen in supporting holding the bonding resolution until the ultimate costs for the project are clarified.

Republican Selectman Paul Mangiafico said he wanted to do whatever possible to move the project along, but expressed concerns that the final project might not conform to the specific deliverables stipulated in the bond resolution.

“Do we have to go back to the voters?” he asked. “If the Board of Education decides to remove the gymnasium, is that considered a substantial change to the resolution approved by the voters?”

 

Voters Had Expectations

Democratic Selectman Herb Rosenthal said people were anticipating things being done a certain way. Referring to the Morganti memo, Mr Rosenthal reminded fellow selectmen that certain voters may have supported the project on the strength of promised alternates, especially the sports components.

Mr Rosenthal said after the meeting that the town might be able to legally move forward within the bonded allocation but without alternates, and other aspects of the plan as presented. But he said it would be “morally wrong” to do so without being completely candid with the voters who may have supported the project solely or partly on the promise they would get a new gym, turfed football stadium, and a new track.

That sentiment was echoed by finance board Chairman John Kortze.

“This is the town’s biggest project ever,” Mr Kortze said. He explained while the project appears to be over budget, the process by which any additional money might be requested would take a substantial amount of time.

Mr Kortze recalled that his and other town boards had been repeatedly told by school officials, including Mr Bienkowski, that “time was of the essence” in getting shovels in the ground this summer. But he wanted to be sure the public would be “in the loop” if more funds were required to deliver the project that was promised by the Board of Education.

“Maybe it’s premature to say, but I want to make sure the town gets what they expected, and are kept informed [about] what they will get,” Mr Kortze said. “I think people who went to the polls and voted to support this project expect to get what they were told they would get for that money.”

Mr Bienkowski told The Bee that part of Morganti’s review process will determine whether or not bidders’ provisions are in compliance with state requirements. “Because this is a state reimbursed job, they need to qualify with what the state requires,” said Mr Bienkowski.

Some of the lower and higher bid estimates are not being calculated into the final possible cost, he said, because if one bidder’s number is far less than what other contractors bid, it could mean part of the project was overlooked.

At the selectmen’s meeting, school board Chairman Elaine McClure said the Morganti Group was still busy performing scope reviews, and that she had no further information at that time.

It could still be weeks before the town knows the exact cost of the project, because once the Morganti Group is finished reviewing the cost of the expansion, it will have to present its findings to the Board of Education prior to the Board of Selectmen’s review.

Technically, and by state statute, the project belongs to the town until a certificate of occupancy and the new facility are concurrently delivered to school officials.

Both Public Building and Site Commission Chairman William Furrier and Commissioner Robert Mulholland also received copies of Mr Barrett’s initial memo on the over-budget warning, along with representatives of other architect and design firms.