The Central Falls School Building Committee was told the new high school is nearing completion and approved payment under bond requisition number 29 totaling $2,089,195.95.

Ash, the owner's project manager representative, told the committee the project is “about 60 days out now to project completion” and described finishing work including auditorium seating, gym flooring, elevator installation pending inspection and ongoing punch-list remediation. Ash said more than 1,000 punch-list items remain and furniture, fixtures and equipment installations have begun; a moving-company request for proposals is due Jan. 13.

The committee was also briefed on financial items tied to multiple parts of the program. Ash said there has been no use of construction contingency for the high school and that the current projected construction contingency balance is $792,000. He also described a final change order (Change Order 15) for retaining-wall work — $5,346,815.42 — that “represents multiple rounds of coordination with the design team” and will be carried in a separate budget, not against the high-school construction contingency.

The committee approved a motion to pay outstanding invoices tied to bond requisition number 29, which Ash said covers invoices for both the high school and the dual-language project. The motion to approve the $2,089,195.95 payment was made, seconded and passed by voice vote.

Julie, the design-team presenter, said the project remains on the schedule that targets a 60% construction-document submission to the Rhode Island Department of Education and a full document set this spring, while the project team continues to resolve value-engineering items and RIDE comments.

Next steps include completing outstanding punch-list work, responding to RIDE comments on early-release demo and abatement materials, finalizing the retaining-wall delegated design, and preparing for the moving logistics once inspections and owner training are complete.