East Longmeadow school building committee approves mover, change orders and projector infrastructure; hears turf request

Stephen (Steve) Chrusciel, School Building Committee chair, called the May 6 meeting to order at 3:03 PM in the East Longmeadow Fire Department Conference Room and on Zoom.

The committee unanimously approved Pioneer Moving as the recommended vendor for the district's summer relocation after Skanska reported that a low bid from VIP Movers appeared underpriced and raised concerns about staffing levels and the vendor's ability to meet the RFP schedule. Greg Thompson moved to approve Pioneer Moving contingent on Town Council legal review; Ryan Quimby seconded and the motion carried unanimously.

During the public-comment period, Mark Defranco urged the committee to consider installing turf on the varsity baseball and softball fields if remaining project funds allow. Defranco said he requested $700,000 from the CPC but was told that CPC would not cover turf; he said completing both fields would cost about $2 million. Committee members noted that SOD irrigation has already been installed and that converting to turf would require removing the new irrigation and additional design work, raising costs and potentially delaying field availability. The committee did not take action on the turf request.

The owner's project manager reported financials to the committee: $104,360,097 has been submitted through the MSBA ProPay system; the town has been reimbursed $52,014,325 to date, with $7,535,745 pending and another $5 million to be submitted. The OPM said contingency funds remain in good shape and a small committee will evaluate options for using contingency funds in ways that would not delay the building's scheduled fall opening.

On construction and design matters, the committee approved Change Order #7 from the owner's contingency, a package totaling $210,432.30 that consolidates 11 PCOs identified by the design and construction teams. Greg Thompson moved and Steve Chrusciel seconded the motion; it was approved unanimously. The committee also approved JWA Amendment #7, a $75,740 amendment for additional design services related to athletic field turf replacement, an athletic field sound system and additional FF&E, following a motion by Greg Thompson and a second from Ryan Quimby.

The construction-manager update noted ongoing site work including demolition of the district office, work on a retention basin, installation of irrigation and water lines near Norten Street, SOD installation for fields and turnover plans for two full fields and a practice field by fall 2026. The CM reported that kitchen equipment delivery is imminent, exterior brickwork and pool exterior work are largely complete, interior punch lists are underway and crews are averaging roughly 150–180 workers on site on most days.

In new business, the committee decided to retain a painted gym mural (with adjustments to font and shadowing) rather than switch to a vinyl treatment, and directed design teams to check salvaged benches and bleachers for reuse at the tennis courts. ELPS IT Director Ryan Quimby presented a proposal for a downward-facing projection system for the gym; the quoted hardware package was $72,500 for four projectors, media control and cloud software, with total project add-ons and construction work estimated to keep the full package under $120,000. Fontaine Bros. and the CM noted that conduit and infrastructure routing must be determined promptly.

Greg Thompson moved, and Ryan Quimby seconded, a motion to approve installation of the conduit and related infrastructure for the proposed projection system while additional project details and pricing are gathered; the committee approved the infrastructure installation unanimously. The meeting set its next session for June 10 at 3:30 PM. Tom Christensen moved to adjourn, Ryan Quimby seconded, and the meeting adjourned at 5:09 PM.

The committee recorded no formal vote to commit contingency funds for turf and did not adopt any changes to the athletic fields during this meeting.