STONEHAM — Following a presentation by the Stoneham School Building Committee, Stoneham Select Board members voted at their meeting on Dec. 6 to hold a Special Town Meeting on Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2023, on the Stoneham High School building project.
Before the vote, representatives from the Stoneham School Building Committee (SSBC) presented an update to the Board on the project’s progress to date. In their presentation, Joel Seeley (Symmes, Maini & McKee), SSBC Co-Chairs David Bois and Marie Christie, Kristy Lyons (Consigli Construction), and Brooke Trivas (Perkins+Will) explained how, after voters approved the $189.6 million project in November 2021, the Committee addressed a series of unpredicted market conditions which impacted supply chain and created unprecedented price escalation, resulting in an increase to the estimated construction costs.
They noted that the Committee approved over $12 million in cuts to the project in April 2022 and moved another $4.6 million to bid alternate status this past fall. It was noted that Stoneham is not alone in this situation, as a number of other communities are facing similar circumstances for their school projects.
Speakers noted that the Committee, which remains committed to bringing the project to completion on time, has lobbied the Massachusetts School Building Authority and local, state, and federal government officials to find alternative funding resources with some very limited success. And in spite of these efforts, Co-Chair Bois explained that there still remains a need to ask the town voters for additional funds to ensure that the finished project includes all of the aspects originally presented last November.
In anticipation of the January 2023 Town Meeting, the SSBC hosted a Community Forum on Tuesday evening, Dec. 13 in the Stoneham Central Middle School Media Center. The meeting agenda included a detailed overview of the project to date, construction and budget updates and next steps in the process.
On Monday, Dec. 19, the SSBC will be reviewing and discussing the final project bid results before presenting them to the Select Board to include in the warrant article for the Special Town Meeting.
An additional Community Forum is scheduled for Jan. 5, 2023, prior to the Special Town Meeting, when the Committee will be able to share more detailed financial information.
The Forum can be viewed on Stoneham Community Access Television using this link – https://www.stonehamtv.org/ondemand. Details of the meeting can be found on the Town’s School Building Committee page – https://www.stoneham-ma.gov/898/Community-Forums.
SSBC meetings continue to be held on Monday nights in person at the Stoneham Central Middle School, 105 Central St., at 7 p.m. Stoneham residents can attend SSBC meetings either in person or via GoToMeeting and can find details about the meetings on the SSBC information page – #stonehamschoolbuildingcommittee or https://www.stoneham-ma.gov/627/School-Building-Committee .
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