Amherst School District
Wildwood School Building Committee Meeting
Meeting Minutes
March 26, 2015
I. Call to order
Maria Geryk called to order the regular meeting of the Wildwood School Building
Committee Meeting at 2:08 p.m. on March 26, 2015 at the Amherst Regional Middle
School Conference Room.
II. Roll call
Maria Geryk conducted a roll call. The following persons were present: Maria Geryk,
Monica Hall, Irv Rhodes, Nick Yaffe, Katherine Appy, Ludmilla Pavlova, Michael
Morris, Ron Bohonowicz, Sandy Pooler, Holly Bowser, Sean Mangano, Guilford
Mooring, and Sasha Figueroa as the recorder
III. Call to order
Maria thanked the OPM Selection Committee for all of their work and wanted to
appoint a chairperson. She nominated Mike Morris be chairperson. No other
nominations were made.
The vote was unanimous and Mike accepted.
A. Agenda
Mike went over the agenda and the topics for discussion were the timeline of the
projects, recent progress and updates, as well as committee membership and
composition.
B. Updates
1. The Selection Committee was acknowledged and Mike reviewed the duties of the
OPM and outlined their relationship and expectations within the designer process
and building project. Members of the Selection Committee informed the Wildwood
Building Committee of what the OPM will be doing at certain points in the project,
as well as defined the OPM’s responsibilities.
2. The complete selection process from proposals to submission of the complete
process to the MSBA was covered. Including
a. Mike went over the selection process of reviewing proposals, creating
criteria, and selecting the four finalists. It was discussed how the interview
questions were selected and the candidates were rated. Mike also
summarized the finalist interviews and why Joslin, Lesser & Associates
were chosen.
b. All the firms were acknowledged and all rankings were completed
independently and the ratings were consistent.
c. Reference checks were made for the four finalists including the selected
Joslin, Lesser & Associates. The company was selected because of their
experience, team presentation, success on similar building projects in a wide
range of communities, and spoke to community involvement.
d. Three options were being considered for the Wildwood Building Project
including building a new school, reorganizing the district by having two
schools, one PreK-1 and the other 2-6, and renovating of the current
building. Joselin, Lessor & Associates demonstrated experience and were
able to add feedback and creative ideas on the options being considered,
including an add/renovation possibility.
e. Mike went over contract negotiations and expressed his appreciation with
the flexibility of Joslin, Lesser & Associates
C. Timeline
1. The MSBA Choice Panel was scheduled for April 6, 2015 between the hours of
2:00-4:00 p.m.
2. Mike will send the Wildwood School Building Committee the details of the
panel once they are received. The contract has been agreed to verbally but the
district is waiting for a formal approval. (Joslin, Lesser & Associates’ proposed
schedule is on the last page of this document.)
3. Katherine asked what would happen if Fort River was chosen to enter into the
MSBA process as well. Ron responded that the same process will be done.
Katherine also asked if more funds will be added if Fort River was also chosen.
Sandy replied that it would depend on the reimbursement rate.
4. The Committee reviewed the proposed schedule from Joselin, Lessor &
Associates. There was extensive discussion around this topic.
5. Irv asked if the final budget is an official budget that could not be adjusted.
Sean confirmed that it was.
6. There was discussion on designer and construction process as well as the
expectations of the project.
D. Committee Composition
1. Carole Learned-Miller has asked to step down from the committee. Mike suggested
reaching out to the other school councils and principals to get parents and teaching
staff involved from Fort River and Crocker Farm given the reconfiguration option.
The Committee members were very interested in involving the rest of the schools
involved.
2. Sandy suggested the committee look at the process as a central committee with
subcommittees. Discussion then followed on when the “subcommittees” will be
able to provide input. The committee decided to look to the schools for a few more
members.
3. The Committee will be updated after April 6th to inform them of the final decision.
4. Tentative dates will be decided until then.
IV. Adjournment
Maria Geryk adjourned the meeting at 3:11 p.m.
Minutes submitted by: Sasha Figueroa