PB&S Tells Morganti January 8 Is Final Date For NHS Expansion

By Eliza Hallabeck

Public Building and Site Commission members made it clear on Tuesday, December 21, to The Morganti Group, the construction company handling the Newtown High School expansion and renovation project, that January 8 is the final date expected for the expansion to be ready for the anticipated move.

If items are not expected to be complete by that point, Public Building and Site Chair Robert Mitchell told Jeff Nyland, superintendent for Morganti, the commission wants to know.

As Board of Education member David Nanavaty told the commission during the meeting, NHS Principal Charles Dumais expects to have the expansion ready for student use by January 10.

As Mr Nyland listed items that remain to be worked on in the expansion, he also mentioned some that were scheduled to be tested on Wednesday, December 22. Mr Nanavaty also said an owner’s meeting walkthrough that would include other members of the school board would take place on Wednesday to see how work is moving along.

Mr Mitchell and architect firm Fletcher Thompson Inc representative Matt Holst both said they did not believe Morganti’s punch list, items that remain to be finalized, was roughly 80 percent complete, as Mr Nyland estimated.

“You have a punch list,” said Mr Mitchell. “The punch list has not been completed. We expect it to be completed by [January 8].”

Clerk of the Works William Knight said he did believe items on the punch list could be completed by the January 8 date.

Items remaining to be corrected include exhaust hoods in the expansion’s culinary space that are not removing fumes appropriately, tile work, and various items associated with the servery space in the cafeteria.

For some items on the punch list, like the tile work, delivery for material is holding the necessary work up.

“What’s happening is, Morganti is not addressing the problems,” said Mr Mitchell. “They are pushing it off, and right now we are hitting crunch time. And we are not getting the service that we expect to get.”

Mr Nyland said he and other Morganti staff are present each day working to complete the project. He also said Morganti would be “more than happy” to walk through the construction company’s punch list with anyone.

“Having seen the punch list,” said Mr Mitchell, “there is a lot of work to do in two weeks.”

Walkthrough Result

After attending the owner’s meeting for the expansion on Wednesday, Mr Nanavaty said most of the items on the punch list were being worked on, and were expected to be complete by the end of next week, except for those items waiting for shipment from a manufacturer.

Once the school has transitioned to the expansion, work on the renovation portion of the project will begin.

Payment Disagreement

Another topic during Tuesday’s meeting regarded a payment disagreement between New England Yankee Construction, LLC, and Oscar’s Abatement, LLC.

As filed with the town clerk on December 10, the town was notified Oscar’s Abatement, LLC, had not, as of that date, paid New England Yankee Construction, LLC, “which furnished work, labor and materials in connection with the renovation of the Newtown High School under a contract with Oscar’s Abatement, LLC.”

New England Yankee Construction, as claimed in the document, is owed just under $25,000 from Oscar’s Abatement for work, labor and materials, “provided to Oscar’s Abatement, LLC, The Morganti Group, Inc., the town of Newtown, CT, and the Board of Education for the town of Newtown.”

Mr Mitchell said the town has already replied to the complaint, and added he wanted to bring it to his board’s attention in the event the town is “brought into it.”

Mr Nyland said he had information concerning the disagreement, and said confusion over Oscar’s Abatement’s two contracts with The Morganti Group caught the attention of the state’s Department of Labor.

“There’s just more to the story than meets the eye,” said Mr Nyland.

Workers under one Oscar’s Abatement contract were listed under the other contract, according to Mr Nyland, and that caused the Department of Labor to notify The Morganti Group that if payment was made to Oscar’s Abatement, LLC, then The Morganti Group would take on the liability of the complaint. Mr Nyland said The Morganti Group is holding the payment until the matter is settled.

“It has to be resolved at their level,” said Mr Mitchell. “The town just has to make sure we protect ourselves.”

NMS Roof Contractor Approved

Also during the December 21 meeting, Mr Mitchell said his commission has been working through the Newtown Middle School roof project. A request for proposals has been released, and interviews with architects have been conducted.

As the Public Building and Site’s ad hoc committee overseer for the project, Robert Edwards said Kaestle-Boos Associates was chosen during an executive session during Public Building and Site Commission’s December 16 special meeting.

The projected $1.6 million project includes a $71,000 fee for construction drawings and other preliminary work on the project, according to Mr Edwards.

 “That number is not going to change,” he said.

As Mr Edwards reported, the project is expected to begin at the start of the school’s summer break, and will need to be completed for the start of the school year.

He asked Mr Nanavaty to “put a fire under [the school board’s] various committees” because “we’re moving to meet that deadline.”

 Mr Edwards also said the ad hoc committee is also working with Newtown’s Sustainable Energy Commission for the project.

The discussion ended as Mr Mitchell said the charge was to put a watertight roof on the middle school, and any added features, like energy efficiency options from the Sustainable Energy Commission, would be bonuses.