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The proposal for a new Taconic High School was years in the making. Initial discussions ranged from creating a regional vocational district to whether the city should pursue a two-school or "one-school" plan that would close Pittsfield High School.

With no interest in developing a regional school, the city moved forward with what eventually became a focus on renovating or rebuilding Taconic. Last fall, the School Building Needs Commission voted to pursue a new school after cost estimates for additions and renovations came in at about the same price. Projected repairs at the school with no addition were in the $36 million ballpark; state funding was limited.

The Massachusetts School Building Authority reimburses up to 80 percent of eligible costs, such as for instructional spaces. The anticipated cost is $120.8 million of which the city will be responsible for $45 million.

The City Council will vote on whether or not to fund the project on Tuesday, April 14. Following that vote, the MSBA will have to approve its own reimbursement on Wednesday, June 3.

At that point, design development phase in which the consultants Skanska USA will work with city officials to further flesh out details and hire a construction manager at risk. That process is expected to include a daylong session for officials to sort through all of the proposals. Ultimately, the group will determine who they'll hire to head the project and enter negotiations. Pre-construction work will also happen during this phase.

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The building would be built around security protocols, eliminating the multiple areas of egress and funneling visitors through the main entrance.

"This is a building in the era when you start with security and build out instead of 'we have this building and now we have to do security.' It is really in some ways the heart of the project," McCandless said. "We probably have an ambulance at one of our public schools at least once a week and it is almost always related to medical conditions our students or staff have. This is a big place and we want to make sure an ambulance has multiple access points, first responders have multiple access points."

A total of 170 cameras are eyed for the building and McCandless says a group of fire, ambulance, local and state police, and consultants will be determining where to place them.