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Gardner accepted into MSBA accelerated repair program; council briefed on next steps for middle-school roof study
Summary
Councilors were briefed on the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) process after Gardner’s middle school was accepted into the MSBA accelerated repair program; the council must authorize funding for a feasibility study within 90 days of the December 2 project commencement.
Gardner officials told the City Council the city’s middle school has been accepted into the Massachusetts School Building Authority’s (MSBA) accelerated repair program and outlined the next steps, including authorizing a feasibility study and fronting project funding that will later be reimbursed by the MSBA.
The update matters because acceptance into MSBA programs requires the municipality to commit funds up front for feasibility and design work even though the MSBA typically reimburses a large portion of eligible costs later in the process.
A presenter explained that Gardner’s statement of interest had been approved earlier, the MSBA conducted a site visit, and on Oct. 30 the MSBA board accepted Gardner into the accelerated repair program. The project commencement date was Dec. 2. Under the program rules described to the council, the city had 90 days from the Dec. 2 commencement to authorize funding for a feasibility study; once authorized, the MSBA assigns an owner’s project manager (OPM) and the OPM helps the city hire a designer to complete the feasibility study.
The presenter said the MSBA provided historical feasibility-study cost lists that informed a proposed $100,000 not-to-exceed figure, but added that the figures are two years old because the accelerated repair program had been paused. The presenter also said the feasibility study is the step in which the city will obtain a realistic cost estimate for the roof repair; using prior projects as a rough benchmark, that final repair work could range — based on past MSBA projects — in the low millions (the presenter cited an illustrative $2 million–$4 million range), but emphasized the city will not have a firm repair cost until the feasibility study is complete.
The presenter said the school committee had voted a favorable recommendation on the project. Councilors asked about the compressed timeline between the MSBA notice and the council calendar; staff explained there was internal paperwork, bond-counsel review of MSBA template language and a reorganization of council leadership that affected scheduling in December and January.
No city vote on project funding was recorded in the transcript excerpt; the presenter described the authorization and OPM assignment steps the council must follow to proceed.
