CHESHIRE -- In what was one of the few remaining Hoosac Valley Middle High School Building Committee meetings Thursday night, officials sorted out audit details and recognized remaining punch-list items and two original hopes for the $40 million renovation project that didn't make the cut.
The audit details -- concerning relatively minor expenses incurred during finish work -- resulted in small savings in lighting, slate and ceiling work, along with an even break for work on the bleachers, electrical system and locks.
The second set of expenses were reduced by offsetting the owner's contingency with savings from the planned photovoltaic solar array, seeing progress now at the site. The bleachers and "other small items" at the site were value engineered in order to keep on budget, Adams-Cheshire Regional School District Superintendent Alfred Skrocki said.
The two originally planned items being held include new tennis courts and a solar hot water array that had been slated for the gymnasium roof.
"Those were the two big ones from the original plans," Skrocki said. He added that once audits are completed and the project is closed out in the January-February range, the district will work with the Massachusetts School Building Authority on whether to pursue these items or leave them behind. Officials will know by spring, Skrocki said.
Responding to a question from resident Jeffrey Lefebvre concerning the alleged disallowing
"There were questions on equipment, but that was something that was dealt with by the [state] Ethics Commission," he said. "We haven't heard anything in terms of any issues at this point."
Assistant principal Henry Duval responded to a question from Adams Town Administrator Jonathan Butler about the transition for students, saying it was "going very well" and that "the students love the building." Computer glitches that had initially presented themselves, Duval said, have been largely sorted out by the district's technology coordinators.
"It's like a new house," Skrocki added. "We're just seeing those things as we go along with operation and addressing them as they happen. That's where we're at right now."
To reach Phil Demers, email
pdemers@thetranscript.com.
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