The Town of Millis School Building Committee met on Nov. 19 and moved to accelerate procurement and public outreach ahead of a Dec. 8 ballot vote on the school project.

Unidentified Speaker 2 told the committee the certified town meeting vote had been sent to the MSBA and that MSBA has asked for a cash-flow schedule; after the ballot vote MSBA will send a project funding agreement for the select board to approve and sign. Unidentified Speaker 2 said there is "an opportunity to move forward at risk with procuring a construction manager" so the team can have a contractor lined up in time for pricing during design development in March.

Committee members discussed the timeline and process for a construction-manager selection: a three-step approach the speaker described as requiring inspector-general approval for the at-risk start, a public prequalification (RFQ) advertised Dec. 3, walkthroughs after the ballot, shortlisting in January and request-for-proposal interviews in February with selection in March.

The group also addressed outreach for the ballot. Unidentified Speaker 2 said Vertex updated the project website and posted early-voting dates; Unidentified Speaker 5 said local media (the Milford Daily News and the Medway-Millis paper) would run follow-up items and the PAC was finalizing a town-wide mailing. Committee members discussed campaign-finance limits on committee mailers, agreed the PAC and neutral town notices could remind residents about where and when to vote, and asked staff to request a neutral reminder on the town listserve and to link to early voting hours on the town website.

Unidentified Speaker 2 asked for authorization to pay $655 for ProjectDOG, a third-party hosting service, to run the public RFQ during the first procurement stage; the committee agreed to treat that as a reimbursable expense and to proceed. Vertex also said it will work with town counsel to draft a project-specific construction-management agreement.

Unidentified Speaker 2 said Vertex and the OPM will present a four-month design-development work plan at the December meeting. The committee also discussed membership availability for upcoming meetings, noting one member (John McDowell) may be unable to continue because of teaching conflicts and that the group would revisit replacements in December.

The committee closed the meeting urging continued outreach to avoid voter complacency before the ballot.