Oswegatchie Fire Station Building Committee - Minutes - 12/19/2023

FIFTEEN ROPE FERRY ROAD WATERFORD, CT 06386-2886
Oswegatchie Fire Station Building Committee
Meeting
December 19, 2023
Members Present: Robert Tuneski, Ted Olynciw, Rocco Bracciale, Wayne Gilpin, Paul Rafuse, Matthew
Blankenship
Members Absent: Elizabeth Sabitia, Jennifer Bracciale, Richard Muckle
Guests: Twig Holland, Director Michael Howley, Purchasing Agent Shea Davy, Attorney Nick Kepple,
Kevin Silvestri, Erik Pawlak, ? Smith
1. Call to order: 6:30pm
2. Pledge of Allegiance
3. Public Comment: None
4. Opening Remarks:
‘* T. Olynciw requested a copy of the Project Manager RFP be sent to him. Shea will send
to the recording secretary to forward to T. Olynciw’s email
‘* T. Olynciw requested and updated list of committee members with emails be provided
to him. The recording secretary will forward list to all committee members.
* _ T. Olynciw requested the minutes identify Jennifer Bracciale as a new member of the
Oswegatchie Fire Station Building Committee. Following the Town of Waterford
election results in November Michael Rocchetti is no longer a member of this
committee. Jennifer Bracciale was sworn in by the Town Clerk as a new member of this
committee.
5. Motion by Rafuse, second by Gilpin to approve the minutes from the 12/5/23 meeting,
(Attachment 1)
For: Tuneski, R. Bracciale, Blankenship, Rafuse, Gilpin

Abstain: Blankenship
Motion Carries
6. Architect & Engineering Proposals:
Chairman Tuneski stated the committee should incorporate ranks in our scoring going
forward. Ranks normalize and show less bias toward the subject.
‘Twig Holland tallied scores provided by committee members’ scoring matrix
Results:
Silver Petrucelli & Associates = 98
‘The Galante Architecture Studio = 74
‘A question was posed to Atty. Kepple as to whether or not the committee should
consider the scores of those members not in attendance. The response is “No”.
A question was asked regarding the score totals given at the interviews. The interview
scores would supersede the resulting scores tallied at this meeting.
T. Holland will create a list of interview questions for the interview process scheduled
for 1/4/23 and will send out to members. Any additional questions posed by the
members shall be emailed to T. Holland to be incorporated into the original list.
‘The architects’ references will be checked by S. Davy and reported to the committee
following the interviews
T. Olynciw presented questions regarding the number of proposals received.
(Attachment 2)
a. Lack of proper advertising.
‘* _S. Davy stated the RFP was advertised in The Day newspaper, on the Town's
website and the State’s website.
b. Project too small or large.
Responses:
* Ourtimeline may not have worked for some. Others may be busy,
committed or do not wish to work with this Town,
c. Response time sufficient
* The average time for responses is 4-6 weeks per the S. Davy.
T. Olynciw asked T. Holland if she would contact the 5-7 Architect firms she had mentioned as possibly
submitting proposals and ask why they did not submit a proposal. T. Holland indicated she had spoken
with 2 of the firms already and they both referred to the use of work by DRA with updates based on a
change of functionality was a non-starter.
T. Olynciw stated he is currently the Clerk of the Works on a job that one of the architect firms is the
hired firm. He asked for Atty. Kepple’s professional opinion whether this would be considered a conflict

of interest. Atty. Kepple’s opinion ruled it would not be a conflict of interest due to the fact Olynciw
works for and is paid by the owner, not by the architectural firm.
Motion by Olynciw to reject the current bidders as being non-responsive and put the A&E RFP back out
to bid.
No second
Motion Fails
7. Status of Oswegatchie property transfer:
+ The parties continue to work effectively toward the end result.
© Concern was raised regarding the ability to move forward with spending money or
putting shovels in the ground without a settled agreement. R, Tuneski stated he felt
everyone had an “appetite to have things more definitized and solidified before going
forward with investing a lot of money”. R. Bracciale asked Atty. Kepple what the
timeline for a signable MOU. Atty. Kepple stated it could be by next week as the
attorneys are in control now.
8. Unfinished Business:
a. Phase 1 Environmental Study:
* 8. Davyis currently checking on contracts with the Town's three on-call engineers
Discussion ensued on the selection process of an engineer.
Motion by Gilpin, second by Rafuse to delegate the authority to select the on-call engineer to
Atty. Kepple, S. Davy, Director of Public Works Gary Schneider and Utility Commission Director
James Bartelli
For: Unanimous
Motion Carries
b. Project Manager RFP status:
© Rls are due to the Purchasing Agent on 12/21/23
* Bids are due to the Purchasing Agent on 1/25/24
‘Purchasing Agent will email a scoring matrix and fee schedule to committee members
* Short list to be determined on 2/6/24
* Interviews are scheduled for 5:30pm on 2/20/24 at the Public Safety Building,
Emergency Operations Center, 204 Boston Post Road, Waterford, CT.
Motion by Rafuse, second by R. Bracciale to confirm S. Davy and T. Holland are to handle any
RFs received and reach out to the committee and/or Chief Howley if necessary.
For: Unanimous
Motion Carries

9. New Business:
a. L. Finnegan submitted the following invoices and time card for committee approval:
'* ACTIONAIR SYSTEMS, INC., Invoice #5915 for installation of circulator pump to bring
heat to the 2 floor of the building - $2,145.58. (Attachment 3)
‘© The Day, Order # 401070513 for the advertisement of Project Manager RFP - $287.44.
{Attachment 4)
'* Recording Secretary's (Linda Finnegan) time card for the 1" quarter of FY24 - $650.35.
Motion by Olynciw, second by Blankenship to approve the submission of invoices and time card
to the Finance Department for payment.
For: Unanimous
Motion Carries
b. R. Bracciale will begin compiling information on what we want in the new firehouse. He will
add the initial inputs into a format and justify any changes.
Motion by Gilpin, second by Blankenship to adjourn - Meeting adjourned 8:13pm
Respectfully submitted by:
Linda Finnegan, Recording Secretary

Attachment 1
FIFTEEN ROPE FERRY ROAD. WATERFORD, CT 06385-2886
Oswegatchie Fire Station Building Committee
Meeting
December 5, 2023
Members Present: Robert Tuneski, Ted Olynciw, Rocco Bracciale, Wayne Gilpin, Jennifer Bracciale, Paul
Rafuse, Richard Muckle
Members Absent: Elizabeth Sabilia, Matthew Blankenship
Guests: Twig Holland, Director Michael Howley, Attorney Nick Kepple, Shawn Finnigan
Meeting was called to order at 6:31pm
Pledge of Allegiance
Public Comment: None
Opening Remarks: Chairman Tuneski stated the Agenda will be put out the Thursday prior to
the scheduled meeting dates. Therefore, any information to be submitted must be received
prior to Thursday
‘Motion by R. Bracciale, second by Gilpin to approve minutes from the November 21st meeting,
{Attachment 1)
For: Bob Tuneski, Ted Olynciw, Richard Muckle, Wayne Gilpin, Paul Rafuse, Rocco Bracciale
Abstain: Jen Bracciale
Motion Carries
The only comments received for the Program Manager RFP were from T. Olynciw. (Attachment
2). Discussion ensued regarding the need for a Program Manager. Ted Olynciw noted that he is
against the hiring of a Program Manager on the front end of this project. There are no
actionable items in Ted’s comments on the Program Manager RFP.

‘Motion by Olynciw to issue an addendum to the Architect RFP to include ORA plans and A2 survey, no
second.
Motion Fails
Motion by R. Bracciale, second J. Bracciale to approve the Program Manager RFP as written: to include
dates the Purchasing Agent determines and any pending legal input.
For: Jen Bracciale, Rocco Bracciale, Rich Muckle, P. Rafuse, W. Gilpin, R. Tuneski
Against: T. Olynciw
Motion Carries
7. Letter status report to RTM (Attachment 3)
8. Unfinished Business:
A. The Purchasing Agent indicated the Town’s on-call engineer can be used for the Phase 1
Environmental Study. Atty. Kepple will continue to work with the Purchasing Agent on this.
8. In accordance with the Architect RFP schedule, the Purchasing Agent received RFI from
architects with questions regarding portions of the RFP. Bob Tuneski provided copies of
these emails to the committee members. There were only 4 questions. (Attachment 4).
Based upon conversation held, T. Holland agreed to tally input responses from the
committee and provide to the Purchasing Agent.
Motion by J. Bracciale, second Muckle to cancel Oswegatchie Fire Station Committee meeting scheduled
for January 2, 2024 and hold a Special Meeting on Sanuary 4, 2024 to be held at the Public Safety
Building at 5:30pm, to conduct Architect interviews. The change was proposed to accommodate
member schedules.
For: Unanimous
Motion Carries
€. _Asnapshot of near term significant town board meetings, board of selectmen, board of
finance, and RTM to be used as a tool to coordinate upcoming committee activities to
optimize efficiency was provided by R. Tuneski to the committee to help in planning
decisions (Attachment 5). Rich Muckle voiced his concern that the schedule did not include
the date of ground breaking. Bob acknowledged that as more information is acquired the
schedule will be updated. He agreed to provide an updated schedule including a proposed
ground breaking, by the next meeting, and will provide periodic updates to this committee
schedule.

D. Consultant T. Holland prepared and distributed a proposed Rating Matrix (Attachments 6)
for the committee to review. Each committee member will score the architects individually.
The individual member scores will be added together, averaged, and the final numbers will
be ranked. Scoring will range from 0 to 20 per category and points will be assigned based
upon the extent to which the attribute has been met. A 0 score indicates that they do not
meet the attribute.
The Purchasing Agent will distribute all bids electronically to the Building Committee a day
after receipt, December 15th, The members agreed to review them and have their summary
scores available for tallying on December 19th. Consultant T. Holland agreed to tally the
inputs real time at that meeting. There was a consensus by the committee on the process of
vetting the architect.
Twig Holland provided an Oswegatchie Fire Station — Initiation Plan (Detailed schedules) for
the Architect selection and Project Management selection processes. (Attachment 7)
The agreed upon schedule for the Architect selection is as follows:
1. Bids will be received on December 14, 2023
Bids go out to committee on December 15, 2023
3. Committee to meet on December 19, 2023 to determine the short list to be
interviewed.
The committee agreed to adopt the two selection schedules and also agreed to bring to the
appropriate governing bodies decisions and funding requests, whether at regular meetings
or at special meetings, depending upon timing of available information.
E, The sub-committee provided the following information. R. Tuneski noted the timely and
comprehensive work of the sub-committee. (Attachments 8)
1. Email from Rocco Bracciale indicating measurements of all rooms of existing
Oswegatchie Fire House had been taken and he developed a spreadsheet showing
the collected information.
2. The Sub-Committee also provided measurements of the existing apparatus.
3. Highlighted floor plans also showing the gross square footage.
9. New Business:
‘A. Based upon information omissions from previous meetings noted by member T. Olynciw, R.
Tuneski’s original schedule, R. Tuneski and L. Finnegan’s summary of building design
attributes discussed at a previous meeting are attached. (Attachments 9, 10, and 11
respectively)
8. T. Olynciw expressed concern that invoices provided by T. Holland should be reviewed and
approved by the committee prior to being paid. The committee agreed with this practice
and shall implement. Moving the cost of the consultant to the Fire Station Renovation fund
was also discussed.
C. Linda Finnegan submitted the followin
woices for committee approval:

* ACTIONAIR SYSTEMS, INC,, Invoice #5810 for repairs to the boiler due to no heat in
the building - $4,909.37. (Attachment 12)
* The Day, Order # d01069635 for the advertisement of Architecture RFP - $302.64
(Attachment 13)
Motion by Muckle, second by Olyr
for payment.
For: Unanimous
Motion Carries
to approve the submission of invoices to the Finance Department
Motion by Muckle, second by R. Bracciale to adjourn — Meeting adjourned 8:49pm
Respectfully submitted by:
Linda Finnegan, Recording Secretary

Attachment 2
Dec. 16, 2023
To: Oswegatchie Fire House Building Committee
From: Ted Olynciw
Re: Request for Proposal for Architectural & Engineering services for a
new firehouse.
I keep asking myself why only 2 bidders, one from MA and one from
CT. There should have been at least 10 proposals. This is a basic $6M
new building. Something went wrong and | think we should openly
discuss this sooner than later. | just have this gut feeling that we could
have done something more to promote this project and fell short of
our goal to obtain more interest in this project. How are we going to
respond to the BOS, BOF and RTM? | do not feel comfortable going to
these Boards and RTM simply saying we got two bids and am going to
award this to the low bidder. Some Towns may say that the RFP was
non-responsive and rebid the project. Others would award the
contract to the low bidder. What are we going to do?
Here is a list of possible reasons for not getting more proposals?
1. Lack of proper advertising? Could or should we have done more?
Should we have advertised in the New Haven or Harford
newspapers? Where did we advertise this project?
2. The project was too small or too large for most A & E firms? Ido
not think so.
3. Did we allow the A & E sufficient time to respond to our RFP?
Did we rush this project?

4, No Pre-Bid Meeting. The standard of practice in construction
business is to have a pre-bid meeting for all Architectural and
General Contracting Proposals. Who actually made this call?
5. Why did we not provide the most recent set of architectural
drawings or A-2 survey to the bidders. The bidders were only
provided with the 2014 study, half of which included 36 pages
regarding the renovations of the existing building.
The bid documents refer to Architectural plans prepared in 2018
and further stated, “ Ideally, the building committee would like
to use previously completed design development drawings as a
basis for updating design development...”. Neither firm
addressed this issue. Why did we close to not furnish these
documents?
6. Was the bid form too complex. The bid forms required a
minimum and maximum cost for the design, the estimated
number of hours to be provided by the A & E Firm, and an
administrative fee to oversee the work of the specialty
consultants. Could the bid form be simplified?
7. Lack of Scope regarding what consultants are to be included with
the A & E proposals versus what consultants which may or not
be bid separately by the Town.
8. Twig Holand stated that she contacted half a dozen firms.
| would make these calls when | get the firm names, person to
speak with and the phone numbers. Perhaps anyone from the
committee could make these calls. If personal contracts were made to
these firms why did they not bid this project.

ACTIO! VED FOR PAYM=NT
meen 240467 of
venoorn4 R3SCS
JAccT# $
Attachment 3
Asi agams 9¢
Manchester, CT 06042
3608458838
acct# OSAS-577 92 $ BMS: SH;
acct#_
]Waterora Fire Sewices
AABCEGIOn Post Re $
Invoice 5915
Payment Terms
Dec 14, 2023
ve Upon Receipt
Waterford, CT OBIE:
Total Due $2,145.58
Ae at 249 bap ous out ove 6, 2023
ye LL pet
Jud | 770
Waterord Fie Services engine 4 441 Boston Post Rd
aero, Cr 0838S
Invoice Summary
sees
wehed new crestor or second tor and purged a baseboard and inp They have heat a who ebulng a this tne
Heating Matevias eestor pump 1 $404 26 s40426
Lebor-RagularTime Labor ReguarTme 6 $150.00 $900.00
Labor -RegularTime Labor Reguar Te ‘ $115.00 69000
Heating Materiats onset at 1 sisi2 srsia2
7 wasse
subtta s2usse
Table Subtotal $0.00
Sales Tox Rate ox
Tex amount $000
Tota waa5s8
Terms of Service
if you have any questions concerning the bilng on ths avorce, please contact Taylor Johnson at dispatch@actionairsystems com or call ext 226
ityou have any questions concerning payment on this invaice, please contact Chandra Butler at controller@actonawsystems.com
CT LicH303447 - Ri Lict00008228 - MA Lic#504.SM-8 - CT MCO 0903707
An atfirnat
fe Action Equa Opportunity Employer
SIMMWIWIDIS BE 8 DAS Cerulled Companes Are Encouraged To Participate

Attachment 4
The Day ACCOUNT NUMBER,
a eee eee 93096 TOWN OF WATERFORD - FINANCE DEPARTMENT
47 EUGENE ONELL ORVE
gon cress test Cun PAGE NUMBER DUE DATE
Page tot eon Reoslel
Grder Number mount Oue
401070513, $267.44
TOWN OF WATERFORD - FINANCE MAKE CHECKS PAYABLE TO CHECK MOER,
DEPARTMENT DAY PUBLISHING COMPANY
15 ROPE FERRY ROAD Inctude your account #/
WATERFORD, CT 06385 CAE Mh! RHOUNT PAS
United States
PLEASE RETURN UPPER PORTION WITH YOUR REMITTANCE
The Day Fire Servicas -
errr 3 Rages for Proposals- RFQ #23-190
Request fr
Proposals.
REQ #23-120
12712723. Request or roposals- RFQ #23-190 DayClassied Fre Senices- al $100 $000 $1.00
‘Webpage Request ioe
Proposal.
eC 823-130
1211229. Request for Proposale- RFQ #20-120 CT Pubic Notes Fire Services NotApplcatle «$25.00 $0.00 $25.00
Webpage Request or
Proposal.
REC Ha3-T90
Totat szeras $000 sz07.44
‘Recount Number Castemer Total Due
09036 TOWN OF WATERFORD - FINANCE DEPARTMENT $287.48
Day Credit Department 080-701-4204 Accounting Fax 660-437-7504
Community Classifieds - Toll Free 800-582-4296, Advertising Fax 660-437-8780
Day Publishing Company - Toll Free 800-542-3954 Classified Fax 860-442-5443
APPROVED FOR PAYMENT
pune onvens 24O4/n 7 ry a2 4
VeNOOR® 23S Up
lAcct# s
lAcet# so
ncot 20523-5779 s PET. 44
|AccT# $
1a) [2
i one |

Attachment 5
Linda Finnegan ”
July, August, September 2023
Oswegatchie Fire Station Building Committee
Payrate/hr. $34.41
ACTION DATE HOURS TIME AMOUNT
Agenda 07/03/23 2:00-2:30p 0.5 $17.21
Meeting 07/05/23 :33-8:30p 2 $68.82)
Minutes 07/11/23 -8:30p 2.5 $86.03
Agenda 07/17/23 :00-12:30p 0.5 $17.21
Meeting 07/18/23 6:35-8:17p 2.15 $73.98}
Minutes 07/22/23 6:
Agenda | 07/31/23
}-8:00p 2 $68.82
}-12:30p. 0.5 $17.21
Meeting 08/01/23 -8:20p 1.75 $60.22
Minutes 08/04/23 :30-8:30p 2 $68.82
Agenda 08/15/23 12:00-12:30p 0.5 $17.21
Meeting 08/15/23 6:30-8:30p 2 $68.82
Minutes 08/19/23 9:00-10:30p 1.5 $51.62
Agenda 08/31/23 12-12:30p 0.5 $17.21
Changes made
Meeting | 09/05/23 on Website 05 $17.21
Agenda - : 5
Total: 18.90] $650.35)
Sueigeees Inf
! Mh [TE-