CORRUPTED SCHOOL BUILDING PROCESS

Let me begin with defining "corrupt" in the context of the Little Compton School Department proposed building project.

Corrupt: "Containing errors or alterations."

It is not that the people involved in the building program are corrupt, certainnly not. They are a well meaning, hard working group of elected & appointed officials charged with the responsibility of assessing problems and making recommendations for resolving them.

I like to use anologies to attempt to bring things into focus. If you were planning a cruise in the family saiboat, you would chart a course and follow the heading and the "Rules of the Road." Otherwise you might get lost or even worse run into hidden rocks and sink the boat.

If you were asked to participate in or even lead a project to investigate the possibility of your town building a new school, It would be wise to learn all of the establised rules and regulations that have been established by the State. Failing to do so could be equally as bad as sinking your boat.

The State of Rhode Island has an establishment called the Department of Education or in short, RIDE. You will see RIDE a lot in this essay.

If you are seeking State funds, RIDE has very clearly defined rules and regulations that must be followed if you are planning a school building or major remodelling project. You will see that the folks charged with the investigation and planning for the possible building/remodling of the Wilbur & McMahon School did not do dilligence and embarked on this project without knowing the "Rules of the Road," which led to what has been thus far a difficult corrupted and error plagued journey.

Back in 2005 the new Little Compton Fire Chief visited the school to conduct the annual fire Inspection. The result was a staggering report with a list of violations that would choke a horse.

The cost to correct the lengthy list of Fire & Safety Code violations had a price tag of $100 thousand dollars.

The Report sent a shock wave through the leadership of the school, The School Committee, and the Town Council. The report became the catalyist for the now almost five year old process to either replace the school or totally refurbish the entire facility. Ironically, the origional catalystic fire inspection report problems have long since been resolved at a cost of about $50 thousand dollars.

The shocked School Committee decided to form an ad hoc committee to investigate the code issues, and to conduct a complete review of the entire facility to look for Building Code issues, and the overall conditions of the school physical plant. The School Committee retained an Architect/Engineering firm the Mount Vernon Group (MVG) to do an in depth analysis.

MVG returned a report with 418 deficiencies ranging from plumbing, to heating, air conditioning (HVAC) roofing, windows, walls, fire protection, security egreess and handicaped access. The estimated cost to make all repairs, upgrading HVAC and installing a fire sprinkler system was 11.7 million dollars. The vast leap from 100 thousand dollars worth of fire safety code violations delivered another devasting shock to the system and it was quickly decided by the School Committee that they should explore building a new school.

A School Facilities Needs Committee was appointed by the School Committee. The Needs committee promptly issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) to retain an architect. This was their first mistake. Rhode Island has a mandated procurement process for hiring architect/engineering firms to work on municiple construction projects. (Title 44-55-8.1) The process is called "Qualifications Based Selection" (QBS). For all other procurements of $5,000 or more municipalities are required to create an RFP to solicit bids for services or products. The low bidding qualified bidder is usually awarded a contract.

QBS calls for a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) letter to be sent to a large group of architectural/engineering firms (20-30) who are invited to reply documenting their experience in the field of interest (in this case; school construction). From the list of respondants the committee selects the top five or six firms and invites them to participate in a selection process. QBS relieves the municipality from selecting a firm based primarliy on price.

The Facility Needs Committee did indeed select the low bidder responding to the RFP. In January 2008 JCJ Corporation was hired for a fee of $18.5 thousand dollars to lead the committee through the RIDE process to build a new school. Unfortunately JCJ was not up to speed on the RIDE process and they plodded on for about one year, considering five (5) conceptual plans for a new school. In the meantime the Facilities Needs Committee asked JCJ to take a look at the origional MVG estimate for repairs. This action was in response to growing public concern that the Town could not afford a new school. JCJ came back with a report that added $7 million dollars to the MVG report cementing the concept that it would be foolish to throw that much money into the old school when you could build new one for about $22 million.

Feeling that JCJ had inflated the estimate the Little Compton Taxpayers Association made a presentation to the Town Council totally debunking the JCJ inflation of the MVG report, recommending that the Council urge the Facilities Committee to commission a "independent" update of the MVG estimate. The Town Council thought that was a good idea. In fact the chairman of the Facilities Needs Committee Mr Don Gomez was present for the council meeting and agreed.

The Facilility Needs Committee issued an RFP (here we go again) and RGB Architects was hired as the low bidder ($5,000). RGB concluded that the necessary repairs as documented in the origional MVG report, could be completed for $10.4 million dollars. For all intents and purposes the RGB report was ignored and the Needs Committee pressed ahead.

They finally opted for Plan 5 and presented their recommendations to the School Committee. The School Committee accepted the Plan and instructed the Facilities Needs Committee to prepare a "Roll-Out" series of public presentations and to go forward with plans for a Special Financial Town Meeting to approve funding for a $33 millon dollar project.

Shorthly thereafter the Superintend of Schools, following a convesation with Mr. Joesph da Silva of RIDE, sent the School Committee & the Facilities Needs Committee a memo informing them that they were not incompliance with the RIDE process, and that their efforts to get funding and build a new school were "premature." The memo included details for submitting Stage I documents to RIDE. The first step was a "letter of intent." The memo also admonished JCJ, reminding them that it was their contracted responsibility to guide the committee through the RIDE process. JCJ tried to blame Mr. da Silva for "changing the rules in the middle of the game." This was not factual. The RIDE application process had been revised fully six months before JCJ was hired. JCJ was soon informed that their services were no longer required.

The Stage I applicaton requires the appointment of a School Building Committee. RIDE requires the appointment of eight (8) persons consisting of key people in the School Department, a representative of the town government, a public safety official and a person from either the building or architectural community. Next miscue; The School Committee appointed 20 people to the Building Committee, including four sitting members of the School Committee. Draw your own conclusions.

About a month into the process it was discovered that the Building Committee had not been appointed (as required by RIDE) in accordance with an enabling Town Charter or By-Law or a so called "Charge." Another violation! I'm not making this stuff up.

Still unaware of the State of Rhode Island QBS procurement process, the Building Committee sent out an RFP to hire another achitect. (anybody keeping score) There were 22 firms that responded. They went through a series of dog & pony shows with the committee narrowing the field to six leading contenders. That number was cut to three finalists and those firms entered into "negotiating sessions" The top three bidders ranged from a low of over $300 thousand dollars to a low of $75 thousand dollars. This practice flys in the face of QBS.

Finally it was announced that Durkee Brown (DB) Architects (the high bidder) had been selected. The negotiating committee had talked them down to a figure of $106 thousand dollars. Remember RGB Architects? They were the low bidder at 75 K. Public inquiries revealed that DB has virtually no experience in school building projects. The Committee Chairman said that they were selected because of their expetise in "Historic Restoration." RGB on the other hand sports a resume of 2.5 million square feet of school construction projects. Go figure!

Jumping back a bit, in December of 2009 Joe da Silva of RIDE met with the Building Committee.

It was a highly informative meeting. The Committee was taken aback when Mr. da Silva informed the Committee that they had one (1) year from the date of the Stage I submission to complete Stage II and have it on his desk by November 19th 2010, otherwise the process would have to start all over again next year. That gave the Committee 11 months to respond.

Back to 2010. On Memorial Day (can you believe it) the School Committee Scheduled a "Special" meeting to vote on the appropriation of the $106 thousand dollars to pay DB. They wanted them to start on the first of June. The School Committee made a major mistake and failed to advertize their meeting in the newspaper. The Little Compton Taxpayers Association (LCTA) filed a complaint with the RI Attorney General who later ruled that the School Committee was in fact in violation of the RI Open Meetings Act. There is no excuse for "ignorance of the law."

That sort of brings us up to date. As of today (11-16-10) it appears that RIDE is cutting the Building Committee Some slack on the sumbission of a complleted Stage II document. RIDE is going to accept the work that is finished and give them a couple of months to tie up a few loose ends. There was a rather tumulteous meeting of the Building Committee last night. I will chronical that for you in my next post.

Sarge