New High Schools Overrun Will Exceed $350M Bond

WARWICK, RI — The new high schools overrun will undoubtedly exceed the $350 million bond voters approved for the work, School  Committee Chairman Shaun Galligan said, and he’s been telling officials in non-quorum meetings prepping to present the issue at the Oct. 23 School Committee meeting, 6:30 p.m., at Pilgrim High School.

“It’s more likely than not that this project is going to surpass the $350 million bond,” Galligan said Thursday night.

Tuesday, Galligan called a meeting with other city officials on the development, much discussed on social media. He said that while he thought it was important to update officials, including Schools Superintendent Dambruch and Mayor Frank Picozzi and some of their respective staff, he was careful not to gather a quorum and thus violate RI Open Meetings Law. Other officials attending included Assistant Superintendent William McCaffrey, City Finance Director Peder Schaefer, and other members of the city finance department.

During that meeting, Picozzi asked if Galligan had spoken with City Council President Steve McAllister yet, and when Galligan said he hadn’t, the Mayor called him and set up a meeting. Galligan left the first meeting and met up with McAllister later that day.

“All day last Tuesday, it was just meeting, meeting, meeting,” about the New High Schools overrun. He said no decisions were made; he just delivered the news so officials would be prepared to discuss the new high schools overrun Oct. 23.

“It was no different that any other meeting we’ve had with the Mayor,” Galligan said.

As far as how much the new high schools overrun will be, he said, that is being updated regularly, so quoting a number will likely be different between now and the meeting.

“the number’s moving and it’s mostly because we’re adding and deleting, adding and deleting,” Galligan said, attempting to keep the design as low-cost as possible.

Some of the cost-cutting, or “value engineering” as it’s termed in the design phase, included taking the glass walls out of the plan, “Because we’re trying to reduce the cost,” Galligan said.

The new high schools overrun began to become apparent during the Aug. 21 meeting, Galligan said, when Pilgrim and Toll Gate designs were estimated to cost $142 million and $147 million respectively. Galligan pointed out at the time that put the total cost $9 million over the $280 million allocated for the work (with $28 million set aside for contingency site costs).

While Chris Spiegel of Left Field Engineering said that was as planned, and would be managed later in the process, Galligan said that didn’t pan out. Part of the reason why was that the site for the new Toll Gate building has a lot of shale, for instance. That’s forced a change in the design from a “U” shape to a backwards “C,” he said.

Also, now the plans are meeting the reality of current market costs.

“No matter how much we adjust, we’re still going to eclipse that $350 million,” Galligan said.

Galligan said that while people who were against the project because they predicted it would go over budget may feel justified, they didn’t have a good alternative to the plan. The RI Department of Education would have penalized their aid if they hadn’t started replacing the old schools, the buildings themselves are aging beyond practical repair, and insurance companies are increasing premiums while decreasing payouts for the buildings. Also, he said, one big school won’t work because the only places big enough for one would be in Rocky Point Park or in the middle of TF Green Airport.

Patrick Maloney, a candidate for Mayor, said he had thought the schools would not be within budget.

“I have gone on record multiple times over three years that the proposed schools could not be built for $350 million. The school department has cut more than 100,000 square feet off the original plans and it is still over budget by at least 10% and a shovel isn’t in the ground yet,” Maloney said. He called for an investigation into when the schools and Mayor knew of the new high schools overrun.

” I am sure that I don’t have to remind you that for the past two-plus years I have been telling you in great detail that you will never be able to build these schools as presented to the public, for $350 million dollars.  It is most unfortunate that no one listened to me as if they had, they easily could have constructed a contingency plan in case the initial plan failed,” said frequent city government critic Rob Cote in an open email letter to School Committee member David Testa.

Galligan  said critics’ feelings, ranging from disappointment from people looking forward to the new schools to justification for those who said the cost would exceed the bond, miss the point. That point, he said, is the question of how the schools will solve the problem, which he and the other officials familiarizing themselves with it will discuss at the Oct. 23 meeting, 6:30p.m., at Pilgrim High School, 111 Pilgrim Pkwy, Warwick, RI.