Millis Voters Get Primed on Elementary School Costs

The Millis Elementary School Building Committee, in advance of a May 1st ballot question and May town meeting vote funding a rebuild of the Clyde F. Brown Elementary School, an approved project by the Massachusetts School Building Association, held a number of information sessions in March to inform voters about the project. The proposed project is estimated at $51.8 million, $21-$21.6 million of which is potentially reimbursable by the MSBA.
If the town decides to appropriate the total amount, 18% of which covers contingencies, the project would break ground in November and the school, if built on schedule, would possibly open in the fall of 2019, Tim Bonfatti, President of Compass Project Management, said at the committee’s public meeting on March 18 at the Millis Police Station, a meeting facilitated by Wayne Klocko, chair of the Millis Elementary School Building Committee.
Presenters answered questions as to the costs of the project. Projected costs to merely repair the current Clyde Brown facility are $33.6 million, broken down as $23.8 million on renovation construction, $3.3 million in design and consultant fees, $1 million on furniture, equipment and technology, $1.4 million on project management & clerk of the works, $500,000 on other administrative costs, $1.9 million in contingencies, $1.7 million on modular classrooms. Bonfatti explained that MSBA does have some minimum requirements for its projects that bring costs up, and the town could have opted to fund a less expensive school without MSBA funds, but the town would face similar out-of-pocket expenses. With the reimbursement, he says, the town will get a school for the long term that lives up to MSBA standards.
“We could do a $30-40 million school not up to MSBA standards and all on the town,” said Bonfatti, “or get reimbursement now.”
The Millis Elementary School Building Committee will hold another public information night at 7 p.m. at Millis Town Hall, Veteran’s Memorial Building, 900 Main Street, in Room 229. Voters are encouraged to take part.