Newtown’s Public Building and Site Commission, which manages public building projects in town, has accepted bids related to the final construction phase for the new Sandy Hook Elementary School.

As the panel moved toward the final phase of construction at the new Sandy Hook School, Mr Mitchell said 20 of the 24 low bids submitted to complete the building were accepted and unanimously endorsed by the commission Wednesday evening.

“Accepting these bids will allow the project to proceed rapidly, and we anticipate construction to be completed on time and within budget,” Mr Mitchell told The Bee. As it stands now, he said the project is about $42,000 over budget.

“But $42,000 on a $50 million budget is not a major concern since we have several very large bids still out there,” he said. “We also have some contingency funds and allowances we can make to deliver the finished building at or under budget.”

He said as site work continues, the contractors who were hired this week are expected to begin excavation and foundation work sometime in March.

Among the project aspects still on hold, or going out for rebidding are the elevator, which only received a single bid; work for the aluminum and glazing, which is still being reviewed; the HVAC system, which had its low bid withdrawn due to an error; and the exterior landscaping.

Mr Mitchell said one of the bidders to handle installation of the school’s security system filed a protest over its bid when the PBSC awarded the contract to another lower bidder. He said after a review by the town attorney, it was determined that Custom Electric of Manchester would handle the security system installation versus Stratford-based AST Security.

“The contention was the criteria of the bidding was not fulfilled, but that was determined by our attorney to not be true,” Mr Mitchell said, adding that the electric company will be bringing in its own security system specialist to coordinate that aspect of the project, instead of using a security company that would coordinate with an electrical contractor on engineering and installing a system.

“There’s nothing anticipated at this time that would hold up the school opening on schedule,” Mr Mitchell said.

Also at its February 4 meeting, the commission addressed a pesky and protracted leak that has been intermittently occurring in a newly constructed area of Newtown High School.

Commission Chair Robert Mitchell said while the agenda for the Wednesday meeting indicated a closed session discussion involving “potential claims” and “litigation,” he is hoping the necessary leak repairs can be accomplished without initiating legal action to compel any responsible contractors to repair the problem.

“There was a mediation session last Tuesday but no resolution,” Mr Mitchell said.

The leak apparently involves the window wall in the new cafetorium in the rear of the new high school wing. Unfortunately, Mr Mitchell said, the leak only occurs when specific conditions combine heavy rain and wind hitting the building from a certain direction, so it has been difficult and frustrating to pin down.

During the scheduled April school recess, he said contractors plan to disassemble part of that window wall to try and finally resolve the leak. There is an independent consultant now coordinating meetings and logistics on this specific issue, Mr Mitchell said, and up to now, “everybody is being cooperative.”

“This is a complex part of the building where a lot of things come together in terms of architectural and infrastructure systems,” he said. “We’re assuming it can be fixed, and hope based on previous actions that we won’t need any legal action. That said, we’re still gathering information.”

The PBSC chairman said his panel would not be discussing the issue again until after the April work and analysis is completed.