posted by Joe Polk at 1:09 PM /
Mt. Lebanon School Board could decide as early as next week whether to bid portions of the planned $113.3 million high school renovation separately as a way to keep the project within budget.
School district architect Tom Celli said that to seek bids by late November, he would like the board to select by next week which parts of the renovation are optional. If the bids come in high, these features could be deleted and done later as money becomes available.
Read more: www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/pittsburgh/s_690233.html
School district architect Tom Celli said that to seek bids by late November, he would like the board to select by next week which parts of the renovation are optional. If the bids come in high, these features could be deleted and done later as money becomes available.
Read more: www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/pittsburgh/s_690233.html
Labels: high school renovation, school board, school district
8 Comments:
This is all very interesting. Up until about a month ago several Board members were expressing a high degree of confidence that the construction bids would come in at a level where the total project cost would be $20-$25 million less than the "not to exceed cost of $113.3 million". If the $113.3 million figure is exceeded by 8%, a second Act 34 hearing would be required. However, a greater project threat is related to the cost of what is classified as the "new/addition" portion of the project. If that cost exceeds something like $48 million, an electoral referendum on the project would be required under State law.
But that is not what the focus of the article is about....it's about the emergence, the public disclosure, that the proposed design is not unalterable, is not fixed, and is changeable afterall. That should be real news to a lot of people who have believed or have been told otherwise.
It would perhaps be instructive to relate a chain of events that appears to have led to the now public disclosure of delete alternates. These events are all public information, in or part of the public record. Here is what the record says :
1)Minutes for the Districts Master Design Team (MDT) meeting of Feb.8,2010 in item 2. Budget management, indicates that architect Tom Celli wanted a list of 9 or 10 "large alternates of $700,000 a piece....for budget control. It was agreed that all of these alternates should be deduct alternates...if the bids are high..";
2)a month later,at the Zoning Hearing Board hearing on March 11, 2010, District representatives, under oath, indicated that the proposed high school design could not be reduced to conform with zoning requirements for lot coverage and parking in order to meet design criteria, and to achieve the educational programmatic criteria of the District to meet the needs of the 21st. century; and, that there were no other renditions of plans that came any closer to meeting all the criteria. This can be found on pages 46-47, 54-57 and 126-127 of the Zoning Hearing Board transcript, a public document;
3)The School Board approved on May24, 2010 the submission of PlanCon Part E to the PA Dept. of Ed. in Harrisburg. Item 40. of Part E asks the question "Are bid alternates anticipated that will affect capacity, scheduled area or architectural area ? If yes, describe." The Districts answer : "The second auxillary gym is a deduct alternate".
4) and here we, the general public in an alleged transparent process, are on July 15, just learning about deduct alternates. One more thing I should have related earlier is that the MDT meeting minutes of March 8, 2010, item 6, disclose that Tom Celli was to address the idea of alternates at the Board update meeting that night..anyone recall that ? It was just 3 nights prior to the Zoning Hearing Board hearing.
THINGS ARE NOT WHAT THEY APPEAR TO BE IN LEBO !
CONNECT THE DOTS IN THE LEWIS COMMENT, FOLKS
The Zoning Hearing Board March 11, 2010 transcript is now available at lebocitizens.com. It can be found in "The Facts" section.
Elaine Gillen
Truth is stranger than fiction, but in Mt. Lebanon, people would rather believe the fiction.
Yes, connect the dots...
Let's think about this a moment.
Is the Board responding to the will of the people, or is there another strategy at work?
Suppose the Board decides to split the project into 5, 10, 15, 50, or so many pieces that the opposition will exhaust their resources fighting each School Board appeal of a variance denial? How could the opposition file a motion to consolidate if the projects haven't been released, yet?
It feels like the Board wants to outspend community opposition with their own money!
I wonder what this is going to cost our school district in legal fees?
I wonder what is going to be left of our community when all of this foolishness from the school board ends?
The prospectus for the $69,000,000 of high school bonds says the school district will repay $700,000 of principal on February 15, 2011.
Also, we will have spent over $4,400,000 in interest before Feb. 15, 1011.
We won't even have a shovel in the ground by that date and the school board will have paid $5,100,000 to bondholders by that time. Any questions why we are eliminating parts of the high school building?
Questions should be directed to the CEO of the District who is responsible to the Board to get the high school job done. Send him an email and ask him why he allowed $5,100,000 of your tax dollars to be spent before we put a shovel in the ground?
Looks like Mr. Remely should make another "R2D2 presentation" about what $113 million won't buy.
Elaine Gillen
What I don't get is why deduct alternates would be necessary.
Apparently the current cost estimate by the construction manager did not reflect the recent favorable bidding climate.
From Mr. Kubit's FAQ posted on the website and mailed to all MTL homes:
What is the cost of the project?
The cost of the project is still fluid. The maximum it could cost would be $113,274,765 which translates into $340 a year on a home assessed at $100,000. This includes contingencies of about $8 million for unknowns and does not take into account that bids on recent school construction projects came in at 17% to 25% below their original estimates. Additionally, we are working with our architects and construction managers to find ways to further reduce the cost through value engineering. The School Board is committed to find ways to reduce the cost of the project so the final cost will be less than $113,274,765.
Have construction costs gone up 17-25% or was Mr. Kubit just joshing?
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