After five months of meetings, negotiations and countless e-mails flying back and forth the contracts for the architects and construction manager of Riverside-Brookfield High School’s $64 million renovation and expansion are finally in place.
On Oct. 24 the District 208 school board voted 6-0, with Karen Bensfield absent, to approve, in principle, contracts for the construction manager (CM) and the architects. On Monday, school board President Larry Herbst signed the final contracts, making them official.
“I couldn’t be happier,” said Herbst on Monday night.
Although the process was difficult, time consuming and stressful, district officials expressed satisfaction with the final terms of the contracts. Herbst and Sumrow estimated that the district was able to shave more than $700,000 from the costs of the contracts from the beginning of negotiations with the help of the citizens’ advisory committee that has been advising the board throughout the process.
Herbst said that while the process took longer than he would have liked, the contracts are better because of the time and care that went into preparing them.
“It’s been frustrating because it’s taken so long, but it’s good because it has taken so long,” said Herbst.
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The contract with the district’s construction manager calls for the district to pay Chicago-based James McHugh Construction Company 2.9 percent of the total building costs, which are expected to be in the $50 million range, according to Sumrow.
Once construction drawings are 85 percent complete, the district has an option to enter into a guaranteed maximum contract (GMAX) which would cap the district’s costs, but raise McHugh’s fee to 3.75 percent. If the GMAX is entered into any savings under the maximum, the cost would be split with 70 percent going to District 208 and 30 percent going to McHugh up to a maximum of $350,000 after which all savings would go to District 208.
The district is not expected to decide whether to enter the GMAX contract until approximately one year from now.
The contract with the architects, Wight & Co. of Darien, calls for a base fee of 6.95 percent of the construction costs related to elements of the project that Wight designs. That figure is expected to be $38 million or $39 million, Sumrow said.
Sumrow said that she was not able to provide dollar amounts as to the value of the contracts because the exact costs of the project cannot yet be determined.
Herbst and Sumrow said that members of the citizens advisory group, especially Riverside resident Karen Layng, an attorney who chairs the construction practice group of the Chicago law firm of Vedder Price, Kaufman & Kammholz, and Riverside architect Dianne Legge Kemp, provided invaluable advice to the district in negotiating the final versions of the contract.
School district Attorney Lorence Slutzky presented a contract at a Committee of the Whole meeting of the board on Sept. 26 for board discussion and possible action. Layng was at the meeting and spoke up, expressing reservations about some of the provisions in the contract and making numerous suggestions to the board and its lawyer. The board decided not to approve the contracts that night.
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A week later, on Oct. 3 Herbst, board Facilities Committee Chairman Bill McCloskey, Sumrow and Slutzky met with members of the citizens group including Layng, Legge Kemp, Jim Marciniak and Chris Robling.
They went through the contracts line by line while lawyers Layng and Slutzky hashed out the precise terms the district wanted.
This resulted in substantial savings of approximately $150,000 from the contracts that were presented to the board on Sept. 26, Herbst said.
Herbst said that he relied heavily on Layng in the final weeks of preparing the contracts. Layng’s specialty is construction law, and her expertise was invaluable Herbst and others. Herbst said that he and McCloskey talked to Layng dozens of times in the last few weeks about contract provisions.
“Her insight on this stuff is invaluable,” said Herbst. “This wouldn’t have been done by now if it wasn’t for Karen. She was very helpful in writing these contracts.”
Herbst said that Layng was tenacious in looking out for the district’s best interests in the contract language.
“It’s like the spider and the fly,” Herbst said. “Karen was born to eat up architects and CM’s.”
Layng, like all the members of the citizens committee, is a volunteer and is not being paid for her assistance.
Layng was out of town on business Monday and unavailable for comment.
Brad Paulson, director if K-12 education designs Wight & Co., said that he was also satisfied with the contract with his firm.
“It was a lengthy process with multiple parties involved,” said Paulson. “It was a fair contract for a project of this type.”
No one was more relieved to have the contracts finished than Herbst.
“Everything seems clean and clear,” said Herbst on Monday night. “We’re ready to put it in file and build a school.”
