Cheshire committee approves invoices, change orders and two classroom 'calming‑room' not‑to‑exceed requests

The Town of Cheshire committee overseeing the school modernization program voted Thursday to approve multiple consultant and construction invoices, several project change orders (PCOs) and two not‑to‑exceed allowances to add small calming/reading rooms at the new Norton and Barnum school sites.

Budget and schedule status

Project staff reported both buildings remain on schedule and within the broad contingency established at contract award. For the Barnum project the presentation showed a baseline construction budget figure discussed during the meeting of about $68.63 million; for Norton the baseline figure discussed was roughly $63 million. The teams said the projects retain multi‑million dollar contingency and bid‑savings buffers and that a first state reimbursement under the school construction grant was expected to be processed by the state and arrive to the town within roughly the coming week.

Invoices and professional services approved

The committee approved the following consultant invoices that were on the agenda (amounts as listed in the meeting packet and moved/seconded during the meeting):

- MP Planning (other consultant): $5,298.75 (invoice 25078) - MP Planning (other consultant): $5,298.75 (invoice 25100) - Arcadis (owner’s representative): $12,729.06 (invoice 36066718) and $12,889.07 (invoice 36066741) - Tekton Architects (architectural services): $84,748 (invoice 48506) and $73,987 (invoice 48507) - O&G (construction manager): $5,482,113.96 (invoice 13, New North/Barnum) and $4,311,739.82 (invoice 13, Norton) - Tescom (material testing):…