SOMERS SCHOOL BUILDING CONSTRUCTION COMMITTEE

January 24, 2002

Members Present: D.Pinney, J.Persano, T.Cowles, J.Butler, J.Formeister,

P.Roland (7:09), J.O'Brien (7:50)

Ex-Officio: B. Boutwell, K.Klein

Citizens: G. Crandall

The meeting was called to order at 7:07 p.m. by Vice-Chairman Persano.

Minutes of the January 8, 2002 meeting were approved as presented (Pinney,

Persano).

Chairman Roland turned the meeting over to J. Butler for discussion of

proposed questions for the architects. J. Butler will make suggested

revisions; these questions will be forwarded to the four architects before

their interviews. The firms will be asked to forward any questions they may

have to P. Roland's e-mail address. They will also be told there is a

limited amount of money available for us to spend on pre-referendum drawings.

Priority of projects are SHS, MBA and C.O., SES, storage. The State Dept.

of Ed. categorized as A, B, C the components of our proposal; B. Boutwell

will notify us of the categories. After discussion it was clarified that the

committee did have the charge to eliminate the pool from the proposal.

B.Boutwell is sending confirmation letters to the firms to be interviewed:

2/13 6pm-Jeter, Cook, Jepson; 2/13 8pm-Kaestle Boos Assoc.; 2/14 6pm-Moser,

Pilon, Nelson; 2/14 8pm--S/L/A/M.

Interviews will be conducted in the SHS Media Center at a public meeting.

Each firm will be allowed 90 minutes, recommended schedule: 15

minutes-history of the company, 15 minutes-case study, 30 minutes-Somers

project, 15 minutes--questions and answers. After all four firms are

interviewed, committee members will do individual evaluations and then we

will compare notes/opinions and discuss choices.

Community involvement---after discussion it was decided to form a citizens'

group sometime in the spring, as there is nothing for a committee to do now.

This committee can organize and strategize over the summer, do presentations

to clubs and organizations in the fall, and the referendum may be during

November elections. We will continue to post agendas and minutes on

SomersNow.com, and we will do a press release to inform the public about our

activities to date and interview schedule.

Discussion of Citizen comments---all citizens are welcome at all meetings and

input is valued. If there are questions or suggestions about the scope of

the project or changes, they should be directed to the Board of Ed.

Motion made and seconded (O'Brien, Pinney) to approve bill for $984 to Lorman

for seminar fees.

Chairman Roland urged all committee members to be present for all four

interviews in February, as this is very important.

Citizen Comments---G. Crandall, publicity chairman for the PTA, raised

questions about the pool being dropped from the project and about the

architect interviews.

Motion to adjourn at 9:00 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Joan Formeister, Secretary