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The Mount Greylock Regional School project has been set at a maximum cost of $52.3 million.
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The academic wing, right meets the central core, which includes the entry foyer, offices and library of the new school.
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The curved exterior of the new cafeteria with the three-story academic wing in the distance.

Mount Greylock School Committee OKs Max Price for Building Project

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
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Superintendent Kimberley Grady, right, is joined at Wednesday's meeting by Yocelyn Delgado, who was named to the School Building Committee.
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Mount Greylock School Committee on Wednesday approved the guaranteed maximum price for the district's addition/renovation project.
 
As recommended by the School Building Committee at its July 13 meeting, the GMP is $52.3 million — a little less than the construction line item carried in the overall project budget.
 
"We've gotten to the point where [construction manager] Turner Construction was comfortable," SBC Chairman Mark Schiek told a special meeting of the School Committee. "They've bid everything. This includes all bid prices. It's no longer estimates.
 
"They feel comfortable guaranteeing the project will come in at this price on the high end. … This guarantees the maximum price based on the scope laid out in the contract."
 
That scope could still change.
 
The School Building Committee, which has more than $2 million in uncommitted contingency funds, still is weighing whether to add two elements left out of the project during the pre-construction phase: a new parking lot and an outdoor performance and learning space — formerly referred to as an amphitheater — at the rear.
 
"We have three [possible] incarnations that are simpler," Principal Mary MacDonald told the School Building Committee at a subsequent meeting of that panel on Thursday evening. "We're now looking at something more similar to the outdoor learning space to the north of the academic wing.
 
"It's not accurate to call it an amphitheater."
 
The potential outdoor performance space would take advantage of the topography on the west side of the building. The smaller outdoor learning space MacDonald referred to on the north side of the three-story academic wing is in the scope of the project currently under way.
 
On Wednesday, Turner's Mike Giso told the SBC that the project is on schedule.
 
"We're working through the challenges, but we're making progress," Giso said.
 
The three-story academic wing and new "central core," which includes the offices, media center (library), cafeteria and kitchen, are scheduled to be delivered to the district for use in April 2018. Demolition on the existing academic wing is set to begin right after classrooms are moved to the three-story wing over April vacation.
 
The two main pieces of the current school that are remaining, the gymnasium and auditorium, are undergoing renovation. Giso said the new roof is in place on the gym, and the new wood floor is set to go down right after Labor Day. The interior masonry work in the auditorium is scheduled to begin later this month.
 
Earlier in the evening, at the two-item School Committee meeting, the panel unanimously appointed Yocelyn Delgado to fill a vacant seat on the School Building Committee.
 
The Massachusetts School Building Authority requires at least one member of the School Building Committee be state certified as a "Public Purchasing Official." The committee lost its MCPPO-certified member when Nancy Rauscher resigned as the district's business manager.
 
Delgado is an employee of The Management Solution, which the Tri-District (Mount Greylock, Lanesborough Elementary and Williamstown Elementary) hired to supply business management services earlier this summer.

Tags: Mount Greylock,   school building committee,   school project,   

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Williamstown Fire Committee Talks Station Project Cuts, Truck Replacement

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Prudential Committee on Wednesday signed off on more than $1 million in cost cutting measures for the planned Main Street fire station.
 
Some of the "value engineering" changes are cosmetic, while at least one pushes off a planned expense into the future.
 
The committee, which oversees the Fire District, also made plans to hold meetings over the next two Wednesdays to finalize its fiscal year 2025 budget request and other warrant articles for the May 28 annual district meeting. One of those warrant articles could include a request for a new mini rescue truck.
 
The value engineering changes to the building project originated with the district's Building Committee, which asked the Prudential Committee to review and sign off.
 
In all, the cuts approved on Wednesday are estimated to trim $1.135 million off the project's price tag.
 
The biggest ticket items included $250,000 to simplify the exterior masonry, $200,000 to eliminate a side yard shed, $150,000 to switch from a metal roof to asphalt shingles and $75,000 to "white box" certain areas on the second floor of the planned building.
 
The white boxing means the interior spaces will be built but not finished. So instead of dividing a large space into six bunk rooms and installing two restrooms on the second floor, that space will be left empty and unframed for now.
 
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