School building committee approves invoice payments and BRR letter to MSBA

The Blackstone-Millville regional school building committee voted Feb. 11 to approve a set of invoices and to authorize a budget revision request (BRR) letter to the Massachusetts School Building Authority to realign project line items.

Committee members approved invoices for November and January and two invoices from DRA that were presented by OPM representatives Vivian Verbedian and Christina Mulligan. "We're looking for approval for the invoices in order to process them and for payment," Mulligan said during the OPM report.

The committee also considered an MSBA-required BRR to move funds between cost codes after contract values came in different than the original earmarks: the A&E feasibility work came in under its $650,000 allocation while the OPM contract required more than the originally earmarked $250,000. Mulligan said the overall project budget remains $1,000,000 and the BRR is paperwork to align MSBA records with executed contracts.

Jeff Silverstein moved to approve the BRR letter; the motion carried on a roll-call vote with one recorded "no" from Rachel Anderson and one member noted absent. Committee members asked that the contracts and deliverables be made available for review; several members requested follow-up documentation to match the BRR adjustments.

The committee’s action allows the OPM and DRA teams to process payment applications and continue schematic design work while the MSBA completes its review.

The committee is scheduled to meet again March 11 to continue deliberations on project delivery method and budget distribution.