The South Kingstown Town Council on Tuesday approved hiring an independent code‑review firm to assist the town building department and Union Fire District with review of the new high‑school permit drawings and associated specifications, and appointed a council member to the project change‑order task force.

The third‑party review contract will be awarded to 4 Leaf Inc., the building committee recommended after scoring two bidders. Kate Masnanti, chair of the School Building Committee, told the council the firm scored slightly higher because it had prior work in town and included a minority/women‑owned subcontractor. She said Plan Review Services LLC bid $25,240 and 4 Leaf bid $30,200; both were under the project budget. "Bringing in a third party code review will alleviate any bogs of the building department and the Union Fire District," Masnanti said.

The council also approved a standing change‑order task force to triage, review and, when authorized, approve construction management change orders below thresholds that would otherwise require committee or council action. The task force will include a council member, a building committee member, the deputy town manager, the finance director, a school representative and the owner’s project manager. Councilor Michael Maron was appointed as the council representative.

Construction updates presented at the meeting showed foundation work beginning: contractor JL Marshall was mobilizing for foundation formwork, rebar and concrete pours. The project team reported they will submit the full building permit by the end of the month and that bids for remaining construction packages were shifted by about a month, to give bidders time to digest issued clarifications and reduce downstream change orders. Project managers said that work already awarded under GMP No. 1—site work, structural steel and concrete—remains underway and that the schedule study shows no impact to the substantial completion date from the bid‑package shift.

The school team also reported additional testing and public notices will be required after the state asked for further delineation of soils found with elevated petroleum hydrocarbons outside the existing wood shop; the team emphasized the impacted soils are in the demolition phase area and not on the footprint for the new school. Kate Masnanti said: "There is no impacted soils on the site where the new school is being constructed." She said the project engineer is asking the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management to revise its letter to clearly separate the two phases.

The council voted in favor of the third‑party code review recommendation and the appointment to the change‑order task force during the meeting.