North Putnam board taps construction project manager

ROACHDALE — As administrators are pushing ahead with an upcoming renovation project, a construction manager for it was tapped at the North Putnam School Board’s recent regular meeting.

The Hagerman Group was chosen to oversee the project’s budget and coordination of contractors and their laborers based on presentations from it and two other firms at a special session on Feb. 28. The other firms considered were Meyer Najem Construction and the Skillman Corporation.

Hagerman has worked with more than 75 school districts, in which the majority of its delivery has been it as construction management at-risk (CMr). This is a process in which the constructor can provide costs, scheduling and advice on the actual construction.

Representatives from Hagerman related to the board at the February meeting that their team sees school construction as a collaboration process that goes in different directions. As a solutions provider, they said they want to be involved in the process as early as possible to guide the budgeting and contracting.

The team highlighted providing a prequalification process for specific aspects of projects. This allows for qualified sub-contractors to be found for those aspects, and as such ensure that the most quality work can be done at the lowest cost. Bid packages, they related, would be tailored to North Putnam.

They provided that a key differentiator for Hagerman compared to the other firms is being able to self-perform elements of a project. As such, Hagerman would be able to get more competition from sub-contractors while maintaining the cost.

Board President Joanie Knapp noted at the recent meeting that Hagerman offers a five-year annual follow-up process to measure the performance of renovations. The firm would provide remedial solutions should they not meet expectations.

The board also indicated support for Hagerman’s Institute of Learning. The program’s aim is to involve students and staff throughout the process and provide opportunities for learning about different trades involved in construction.

“All of the presentations had high points and they were all good, but I felt like the fit with Hagerman made more sense to me than the other companies,” board member Amber Greene said before the firm was approved.

The board also chose Barton Coe Vilamaa as the project’s architect at the February meeting. It was noted that it has as-built drawings for the interior and exterior door replacements, and thus would be familiar with layouts.

In other business:

• The board heard from Steve Wittenauer of Administrator Assistance regarding a new rubric to evaluate the effectiveness of Nicole Allee as superintendent. He detailed how the rubric would replace the Indiana Department of Education’s RISE rubric, which was described as cumbersome.

Wittenauer said the superintendent is approached like a teacher in terms of being considered effective or ineffective, and that the board would determine what should be valued as to Allee’s stewardship. The rubrics would be completed individually and, as recommended by Wittenauer, presented twice a year.

• The board approved an adjustment to salaries for classified staff. Allee noted the total impact of the adjustment on the Operations and Education funds together being $14,902.96. Knapp also noted that previous years’ experience was being acknowledged with the adjustment.

• The board approved amending its policy for public comments at its regular meetings. While the allotted time for comments would still be three minutes, the board approved adding that a comment’s time could be extended at any member’s request. This is as discussion on a single topic is limited to 20 minutes.

• Picking up its discussion last month, the board gave its blessing for Roger Azar of DES Engineering to analyze the water system at the middle/high school. Allee as such said that the Town of Bainbridge indicated interest in connecting water from there to the campus, but not being ready to take on the project.

The board also recognized Bainbridge Elementary Title I instructional assistant Susan Coulter as North Putnam’s Teacher of the Month.

The board also approved the following personnel report:

• New hires: Megan Campbell - Bainbridge Elementary kindergarten teacher; Chris Brewer - NPHS assistant softball coach; Danielle Painter - bus driver; and Maureen Murphy - assistant corporation treasurer;

• Leaves: Kayla Franklin - Bainbridge Elementary health aide/secretary (March 3 through end of school year); and Lynn Hedge - bus driver (intermittent leave from Feb. 20 through end of school year); and

• Resignation: Stephanie Brooks - NPHS athletic department secretary (effective March 20).

With board member Eric Oliver absent, Corporation Treasurer Tanya Pearson, Operations Director Terry Tippin, Corporation Attorney Tyler Nichols and Administrative Assistant April Lambermont were also in attendance.

The next regular meeting of the North Putnam School Board is set for Thursday, April 21 at 7 p.m. in the large group instruction room at North Putnam High School.