Faced with bids significantly higher than the construction portion of the budget approved by the town in 2015, the selectmen voted last Friday to call a Special Town Meeting on June 14 to vote on appropriating an additional $188,233 needed to start the Hildreth House renovation project as planned this summer. The Capital Planning and Investment Committee will meet June 6 to decide whether to recommend the use of funds from the Capital Stabilization and Investment Fund to pay for the overage.
The Town Hall and Hildreth House Construction Committee (THHHCC) met the morning after the bids were opened, and Project Manager Steve Kirby of Vertex informed the committee that after adding the construction contingency to the lowest bid, the cost exceeded the budget by $188,233. The committee voted to ask the town to approve the additional amount at a Special Town Meeting.
The lowest bid was $1,148,000, submitted by Classic Construction and Development Corporation of Littleton. A North Reading company, B.C. Construction, submitted a bid of $1,252,274. There were no other bidders. The construction budget for the project is $1,089,967, which includes a 10 percent construction contingency. Adding a 10 percent contingency to the low bid yielded a total of $1,262,800, leaving a shortfall of $172,833.
New items add to costs
But that’s not all. In addition, two new items were added to the project after the request for bids went out. The Planning Board’s approval of the Hildreth House site plan came with the condition that granite curbing be installed to separate the Hildreth House and fire station driveways. There is currently no estimate for that item, so the project manager inserted a $7,000 placeholder for it. The other new item is related to the variance requested from the Architectural Access Board (AAB) for the back stairs of Hildreth House. Those stairs will be used for service only, so they do not need to be made accessible; but LLB architect Aimee Lombardo said that the AAB still has some concerns about the stairs. A figure of $7,000 is being carried in the construction costs in case any changes to those stairs are necessary. Those two items, plus a 10 percent contingency, added another $15,400 to construction costs, for a grand total of $1,278,200, leaving a budget shortfall of $188,233.
At the THHHCC’s Friday morning meeting, the committee discussed the possibility of removing three items that had been specified as “deduct alternates,” or items that could be taken out of the project if the bids went over budget. Both contractors provided separate figures for the deduct alternates, which all involved the porch. The plan calls for the porch to be leveled and extended to the back of the house, with a roof over the extended portion. The first alternate eliminated the porch extension’s roof, the second eliminated the porch extension, and the third dropped porch leveling from the project. The low bidder’s total for all three alternates was $107,000, which would have made up only a little more than half the shortfall.
Town Meeting approval required
Town Administrator Tim Bragan said that the committee has to go back to Town Meeting to ask for approval of any amount that exceeds the amount approved at the 2015 Town Meeting, regardless of the funding source. The committee briefly discussed giving Town Meeting options that would involve various combinations of the alternates, but in the end, it voted unanimously to ask for the full $188,233 so the project can be completed without further design changes. The committee had already modified the design to cut costs in response to rising cost estimates.
The selectmen had posted a meeting for 8 a.m. Friday in case the Hildreth House bids were over budget, so they could call a Special Town Meeting (STM) in time to come up with sufficient funds to sign the contract for the project. They met immediately after the THHHCC, and after a brief consultation with Town Clerk Janet Vellante regarding available STM dates, the board voted unanimously to hold the STM on Tuesday, June 14, at 7 p.m.
Free cash or Capital Stabilization
and Investment Fund?
The board also voted unanimously to accept the committee’s proposal to ask Town Meeting for the full amount of the shortfall. But the selectmen did not see eye to eye on what the funding source should be—free cash or funds from the Capital Stabilization and Investment Fund, controlled by the Capital Planning and Investment Committee (CPIC). A few months ago at Annual Town Meeting, the town voted not to move free cash into the capital fund. A number of residents made the case that free cash might instead be used to make up any budget shortfall in the Hildreth House project, which had not yet gone out to bid.
Funding source TBD
Selectman Ron Ricci told the other selectmen that the capital committee will meet on June 6 to discuss the Hildreth House cost overage and will vote on whether or not to fund that overage. He said he was sure that CPIC would approve the extra amount, adding, “I’ll buy a steak dinner for the entire BOS and the building committee if they don’t.” Ricci, Selectwoman Alice von Loesecke, and Chairman Ken Swanton argued that the practice of bypassing CPIC to allocate free cash sets a dangerous precedent. Selectwoman Lucy Wallace responded that the town sent a clear message that any Hildreth House overage should be funded by free cash.
Bragan told the board that the funding source is not normally specified in the warrant article; it’s specified in the motion. Wallace agreed to approve the article as long as the funding source was not specified. Bragan had already drafted the article and received approval on the wording from Town Counsel Mark Lanza. The selectmen voted unanimously to accept the article, and they will decide on a funding source after the June 6 CPIC meeting. The board also unanimously approved a second warrant article to transfer free cash to the Capital Stabilization and Investment Fund.
Vertex and LLB Architects will still have to vet the bidders. But Kirby said he has worked with both companies and is confident that either would do a good job. The bids are valid for 30 days from the May 26 bid opening.
