Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Facilities Parking topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Auburn committee approves emergency funding to repair Swiss parking lot after sinkholes and construction defects
Summary
The Auburn School Committee voted Oct. 8 to amend its warrant and CIP to fund emergency repairs to the Swiss parking lot after internal inspections and camera footage found compromised chambers and hairline cracks; the estimated cost is $288,399 with most to come from an older middle-school project fund.
The Auburn School Committee on Oct. 8 approved an emergency amendment to a warrant article and the capital-improvement plan to repair the Swiss parking lot after construction defects produced sinkholes and structural compromise.
Administrators presented photos and camera footage showing stones breaching chamber walls and hairline cracks along chamber edges. "We ran all this by Joanna Paquin, who is the DPW director here in town. And she didn't look at it for 2 minutes, and she said you have to replace the whole system," the business manager told the committee, citing Paquin's assessment.
The original quote for the first section of work was $132,999, officials said. Additional discovery work increased the estimate by $155,400, bringing the current project estimate to $288,399. Committee members were told town officials identified an unused FY2013 middle-school account with $265,553.52 available; using that balance would reduce the impact on current CIP projects and require only $34,446 to come from the Swanson Road HVAC allocation.
Officials described a narrow timeline: asphalt plants typically stop producing between about Nov. 15 and early December, and colder or frosty conditions will prevent paving. Administrators said they were working with Town Manager Dori Vecchio and the town's boards to see whether work can begin before town-meeting approval because of public-safety and liability risks if paving is deferred.
Committee members moved to approve the amendment to the school department warrant article and the CIP amendment as presented; both motions were seconded and passed by voice vote. The administration said contractors are ready to proceed as soon as the legal and financial green light is given.
Next steps include final town confirmation of available funds and presentation of the amended warrant language to town meeting as an amendment to the printed warrant. If the town and school officials confirm funding, work would proceed with priority so paving can be completed before the seasonal shutdown.
