STONEHAM – At its Dec.19 meeting, the Stoneham School Building Committee (SSBC) voted to accept the Guaranteed Maximum Price (GMP) for the new high school project as submitted by Consigli Construction and approved the return of five Bid Alternates to the project, in order to meet its promise to the community to deliver a state-of-the-art 21st-century school complex.
The result of these two actions brought the total cost of the project to $214,583,851. It was noted that these actions resulted in an overage of $24,990,257 compared to the original budget. Special Town Meeting will be asked to authorize this additional funding on Jan. 11 at 7 p.m. at Stoneham Town Hall.
Stoneham’s Town Meeting is open to all registered voters in town.
During discussion prior to the acceptance and vote, Committee members reviewed the line-by-line GMP summary, noting that the original estimates for the project, which voters approved in Nov. 2021, totaled $189,593,594, of which $49 million is being reimbursed by the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA). The $24,990,257 overage is driven by current economic factors, including labor market challenges, supply chain impacts and resulting product acquisition delays and product price increases.
The five Bid Alternates totaled $8 million, and Committee members agreed that the alternates were a crucial aspect of the finished project and therefore should be reinstated back into the project. The five Bid Alternates are the spartan stadium building housing locker rooms, home bleachers and press box, the North synthetic sports field, the community terrace, the visitor bleachers at spartan stadium and the overflow bleachers in the Gymnasium.
On Dec. 20, the SSBC met with the Select Board, Finance and Advisory Board and the School Committee to present the Town Meeting request. Following the presentation, the Select Board approved the Town Meeting warrant article for $24,990,257. The Select Board then voted to accept the Owner’s Project Manager’s report relative to the inflationary conditions causing the project overage, and voted to submit the request for a Determination from the Department of Revenue (DOR) to proceed solely with a Town Meeting vote to authorize the additional debt. The DOR has approved the request.
The SSBC will hold a Forum on Thurs, Jan. 5, at Stoneham Central Middle School in the Media Center on the second floor beginning at 6:30 pm. At that time, the Committee will review the project budget along with the rationale for the request to approve additional funding and to hear and respond to community comment.
The Forum can be attended live using this link – https:/meet.goto.com/876647293
or by calling (571) 317-3122 and entering Access Code 876-647-293. The Forum can also be viewed on Stoneham Community Access Television live or by using this link –
https://www.stonehamtv.org/ondemand .
Details of this and other meetings, as well as Frequently Asked Questions, can be found on the Town’s School Building Committee page https://www.stonehamma.gov/898/Community-Forums.
The next SSBC meeting will be on Tues. Jan. 3 at 7 PM also in the Central Middle School Media Center, 105 Central St.
Stoneham residents can attend SSBC meetings either in person or via GoToMeeting and can find details about the meetings on the SSBC information page.