Building committee and school committee approve three subcontract awards for Middletown middle–high school

At a joint meeting of the Middletown School Committee and the Building Committee on Sept. 10, 2025, the committees voted to recommend awards for three subcontract packages for the new Middletown middle–high school: final cleaning, demolition and abatement, and signage.

The building committee recommended awarding the final cleaning subcontract to SOS Corporation for $265,000, which the project team said is $35,000 under the 60% construction-document budget. Gilbane and Colliers recommended the award, and the committee voted in favor by voice vote.

Colliers and Gilbane recommended awarding the demolition and abatement package for the existing Godet School to Manafort Brothers Incorporated. The recommendation included holding alternate No. 11 — removal and disposal of existing building furniture, fixtures and equipment — as an option for $181,500, and holding a deduct alternate (No. 12) of $8,500 if the antenna/cell tower does not require removal. Committee members discussed schedule and salvage options for large items but ultimately recommended executing the contract to avoid escalation and schedule impacts.

The signage package was recommended to HSI Construction with a subcontract value of $249,980 plus a $20,000 owner allowance for the monument sign, for a total RTA value of $269,980. The project team noted HSI’s 100% WBE participation as a deciding factor despite not being the lowest bidder.

The School Committee also took a formal vote later in the meeting to award the building-committee RTA packages (final cleaning, demolition/abatement and signage) as recommended. The votes were conducted by voice and recorded as carried; no roll-call tallies were read into the minutes during the public meeting.

Notes from the meeting record indicate the demolition recommendation reflected a recommended subcontract amount presented to the committee and that certain alternates (notably the FF&E removal and the cell-tower deduct) were to be held rather than executed immediately. The committee directed staff to set decision dates for alternates so the schedule and reimbursement timing could be managed.

The committee’s approvals followed staff presentations from Gilbane, Colliers and the owner’s representative and were described by members as necessary to keep pricing and schedules from escalating.

Actions recorded at the meeting include formal recommendations from the building committee and a later motion by the School Committee to approve awarding the RTA packages; the motion passed by voice vote.