Report: DPW Summer Work

Transcript (~8 min @ 18:45)

▶ 19:00 and their collaboration with the school department leadership during the spring and all throughout the summer months. As we know, some of this work would not have occurred had we not had a successful override. Many of the improvements in our school buildings are a direct correlation to the additional funding and some free cash allocation that we received. Elena Paregas-Ellis, our Director of Public Works, Jim Troupe, our Deputy Director of Administration and Finance, and Scott Enos, the Facilities Manager, led the charge throughout the summer. The three of them provided a very detailed memo for you for the packet. So they completed many summer projects. I'd also like to mention we did have summer programming, and our summer education

▶ 19:44 stations in the building. So we were at the Lincoln this year. And I just had a little brain cramp there. They were at the Lincoln and at the middle school. So we had lots of work being done, but we had to pause during those periods to be able to do that. So they did work in the other buildings. But as you'll see, anything from waxing the floors to office moves, general cleanouts, general maintenance of bathrooms, updates of those water filling stations that certainly are used all day long. Inspections of the gym, leecher, fire alarms, kitchens, elevators, our labs, our science labs, painting projects, asbestos removal, gym floor refinishing, window shades, lighting, roof repairs. It just goes on and on.

▶ 20:33 One of the things that I did just want to highlight, which is directly from the memo, which is for the public and anyone watching and anyone here that may not have the packet in front of them, just some of the great pictures that were in that memo. So I just have a few slides to share with you. So the MHS lobby is now very bright. It's white. Prior to that, it was all brick. So you can still see on the second and third floors, it still remains brick in that corridor, but that hallway is now very bright white, and it's such a nice, welcoming environment. Horace Mann, we had some accessibility upgrades, and that was due to the ADA accessibility project that was funded through the FY26 Massachusetts Office on

▶ 21:19 Disability. So it was called a MOD grant. And we were able to put in some compliant railings, some push button door openers, specifically at the Horace Mann, a stage lift during installation. Also, the Hoover and Winthrop also have the push button doors now, so that we can open those. And it's just obviously ADA compliance is very important and want to highlight that great work that was done there. Lincoln School playground map, just prepping some surfaces to make sure that we could make it fun for our students when they're outside. Accessible parking at the Franklin. The secondary campus also got a number of upgrades, many of them due to safety. So the steps that come down in the courtyard off of Melrose Street, those

▶ 22:13 were regraded in some ways so that they get very slippery. Handrails were replaced, different pieces there. The wall outside also on Melrose Street was completely taken down and put back up in a nice modern feel. We had some settling repairs on our new front sidewalks. So that's right in front of the middle school and that fire lane in front of the cabbage patch. And then one of the big projects that's going on is we did our first phase of our MHS bathrooms project. So, about half of the work was done this summer, and half of the work will be done next summer. So, we really went down to the studs on everything, removed everything, all new plumbing, all new fixtures, all new tile, and it looks really great and modern and

▶ 23:04 it represents our school colors as well, which is a nice added addition. I think that's it. So just wanted to highlight and give you some images of the great work was done, and certainly appreciate our collaboration and partnership from the city side and from DPW and helping us to support all of those projects. Great. Any questions about the DPW work? Ms. Driscoll? Thank you so much. Just want to highlight the safety work in the concrete. That has been a problem since the school was pretty much built, as you know. So that is really huge, and I think it's just a quality existence, and very positive. One other thing I wanted to mention, because it's not glamorous, but not only is it required, but it's critical to safety, is the AHERA asbestos

▶ 23:55 replacements. And I know you have to be very careful with that. You can't have people around, certainly children. And I always appreciate when I see that asbestos projects are done, because someday we'll get there and every little bit counts. So that's really helpful. And can I just amplify the bathrooms? That's amazing. Yes. Thank you. Great. Great job. Any other questions or comments? Ms. Leo? So you mentioned, Superintendent, at the beginning that a good number of these projects were related to the override funding. Mm-hmm. There are a lot of things in this memo. A lot of work was done. Mm-hmm. Any featured projects that you want to lift up that were specifically as a result of the investment of the override?

▶ 24:38 I just couldn't quite tell how much is regular or already planned and how much was due to the additional investment. I would say that many of the major projects that we mentioned. Right. So all of the outside work that was done at the high school or on the secondary campus, all of the bathroom projects. Certainly, I would look to Ken Kelley and also Mayor Gregoraitis. I'm sure I have the list somewhere in my email, but I don't have the exact answers for all of them off the top of my head. And so. Mr. Kelley? Yeah. No, I think that's accurate. And just also supplementing, so we've had the benefit of our state legislative representatives getting some earmarked funding, so that was incorporated in there, too. But there's been a significant investment in some

▶ 25:18 deferred maintenance that's welcomed at both the school and city side. Any other questions or comments? Ms. Dorothy Thomas. Yeah, I'd like to thank the student who painted the map of the United States, repainted it in the Lincoln playground, because we used to live over there and it was just lovely to look at all the states and memorize it and learn it and walk over it and point it. And so I'm so glad someone is so invested in the community as a student who painted it. So I would love to thank them directly if I could get the student's name, not here in open public. And then every year, I'm astounded at the level of detail of these engineers, right? So our director has a mind of an engineer, and the rest of her team does, too, and

▶ 26:05 they're keeping track of so... I can't imagine their punch lists. It's staggering. But the pictures really tell the story in a lovely way, and I appreciate becoming more ADA compliant. I just appreciate that we're not going to sink into the swamp over there at the middle school ,, so it's great work. Thank you to all the DPW people. Any other questions or comments? I believe the superintendent has two other items she wants to address. I do. So following up, just wanted to give a quick update to the committee and the public as well on the Winthrop playground update. So, the good news is that we remain very close to our estimated completion time for this project. You may have noticed we actually had a slight delay based on some of