Project Schedule Eludes Jones Library Building Committee

Members of the Jones Library Building Committee (JLBC) attended their December 8 meeting in anticipation of seeing an updated renovation-expansion project schedule and learning when major milestones, such as the library move-in date, are planned.  However, the closest to a project schedule that OPM Trey Logie of Colliers was able to produce was a “3-week lookahead” that general contractor Fontaine Brothers provides weekly.

The OPM presented the information by sharing his screen in the Zoom session, but the document was difficult to read and was not included in the meeting packet.

Logie described work such as excavating footings and drains that had been completed in the prior week.  Work scheduled over the next two weeks includes backfilling and waterproofing exterior walls, slate roof installation and ongoing concrete work.

The OPM concluded by noting that Fontaine expects construction to be substantially completed on January 6, 2027.

Christine Gray-Mullen, who had made the request for a project schedule to be provided last month, expressed disappointment.

“I was asking for more of a long-term milestone overview like the one we used to get every meeting from the OPM,” she clarified.

“Could we dig out one from our old minutes from the past?” she asked.

Logie replied that he had searched the Colliers network going back to 2023 and didn’t find a project schedule.

Committee Wants a Gantt Chart
In fact, the type of schedule that the JLBC is looking for is called a Gantt Chart.  This type of tool has been a staple of project management going back to the early twentieth century.

A library project example was published on February 27, 2024 when Tim Alix of Colliers was acting as Owners Project Manager.

Special Capital Projects Coordinator Robert Peirent has suggested that the Jones Library project has so many moving parts that maintaining an overall schedule is not worth the effort.  However, this leaves the JLBC, library fundraisers, and the public whose taxes are paying most of the costs in the dark, and unable to gauge whether expected progress toward meeting intermediate construction milestones is being made.

Typical high level construction project milestones include:

• Demolition
• Foundation laid
• Structural steel framing erected
• Elevator installed
• MEP (mechanical, electrical, plumbing) installed
• Roofing completed
• Interior finishing
• Quality assurance testing
• Final inspection
• Certificate of Occupancy issued
• Project completion and handover

When the new library can plan to hold its grand opening remains unpredicted.

Steel Acquisition Hits a Snag
During his construction update, OPM Logie commented that steel for the project had not yet arrived. This caught the interest of the JLBC. Chair Austin Sarat asked when it will show up?

“Moving target, Austin,” replied Logie. “Currently we do not have approved shop drawings for steel.”

Shop drawings are detailed blueprints created by the general contractor’s steel fabricator from design documentation showing the exact specifications of all steel components for the project.

Logie attributed the slowdown to “coordination issues” between Finegold Alexander Architects (FAA), their structural engineer, and the fabricator.

Peirent elaborated, “When you design a building, you don’t necessarily design it down to all the fine details of how things work together. And what FAA is finding is that a lot of those details have to be worked out further than were originally worked out.”

The shop drawings represent a 1200-page submittal, and errors are likely to be expensive to correct. FAA’s structural engineer has reviewed the most recent shop drawings and issued a “revise and resubmit” indicating that inaccuracies were found that need to be resolved.

Peirent assured that FAA is attending to the task but added, “there have been a lot of issues that they’ve had to work through. There’s no denying that.”

To date FAA has billed Amherst $1,980,000 for design services according to project invoices.

Another Month, Another $2.5 million
The month of November saw the town invoiced $2,556,673.57 for project expenses.  These invoices were vetted by Colliers and approved by the JLBC.  The largest invoice was from general contractor Fontaine Brothers for $2,431,023.71.

There were no additional change orders this month.  The OPM warned that a new change order for unanticipated work totaling $35,223 would appear next month.

Town Finance Director Sean Mangano announced that he is working with Peirent to pull project financial numbers together that have been requested by town councilors and members of the public.  He hopes to present these at the next JBLC meeting.