Why Clear Numbers Matter in the Town Hall Project – and in general

At the November 25th Town Council meeting, the Council talked about holding a Special Town Meeting so residents can vote on whether to allocate $750,000 from the Town’s undesignated funds (our savings account) as a backup fund (Contingency) for the Town Hall renovation project. The presentation we saw that night showed the project running about $382,000 over budget.

After the meeting, I found out the Town had already signed a $7.083 million construction contract with Charter Brothers Construction. That contract amount alone is higher than the remaining funding the Town has allocated for the project.

This contract is what’s known as a Guaranteed Maximum Price Contract with Construction Manager at Risk. It includes a built-in contractor-controlled contingency and makes the contractor responsible if certain construction costs go over. This protects the Town on some things, but not on things the Town took out of the contractor’s responsibilities earlier in the process or items that were never included in the contract to begin with.

For example, the Town removed some site work from the contract and shifted it to our own Public Works Department, calling it a $152,000 “savings.” But that work still costs money in staff time, equipment, and materials, and Public Works is already stretched thin. Moving it outside the contract also means the Town loses the contractor’s coordination, cost control, and warranty coverage. So the so-called savings do not show the real cost.

Once I added the signed contract into the financial documents provided to the Council, it appears the project is at least $30,000 over-committed, possibly more depending on things that are still unclear, like the status of a window grant.

This raises a straightforward question:Why was the contract signed before the Town had officially approved enough funding to cover it?

Situations like this, scope changes, unclear accounting, and fuzzy responsibility, are exactly why large projects usually hire a professional Owner’s Representative to protect taxpayers and keep everything organized, and someone to hold responsible. South Berwick chose to undertake these responsibilities in house, unofficially designating the Town Manager, Assistant Town Manager and Councilor Cook to act as the Owner’s Rep.

On December 9th, the Council will hold a public workshop to go over the project. On December 16th, residents will vote at a Special Town Meeting on whether to approve the additional $750,000 and place it in a Town-controlled contingency account.

No matter how residents vote, I am committed to getting the project’s finances fully clarified, organized, and handled with a consistent process moving forward. I stepped into this partway through, and there is work to do. I would like to see some true value-engineering done to the design, to get a professional firm engaged as Owner’s Rep, and to develop Standard procedures for how to decide on scope changes that put the decisions in the public view prior to them being made. The systems can and will improve.

As we head toward the Special Town Meeting, residents deserve clear numbers and an honest explanation of how we got to this point.

On November 26th I asked for updates on the window grant, what the Town Attorney thinks of this overcommitment, and clarification that the intent of the $750,000 being voted on is not to backfill funds that were overcommitted. I am awaiting a response.

My goal is simple: transparency, accuracy, and responsible use of taxpayer dollars.

If you can’t make either of these upcoming meetings, please email your public comments to the Council prior to the meeting. The subject line should include the phrase “Public Comment” and the body of the email must include your name and address.

Email your comments to: councilors@sbmaine.us 

I look forward to hearing your opinions on this.

Project information including the 11/2024 election warrant that funded the project, the GMP contract, and the 95% design documents and specs can be found here:

Welcome to Town Of South Berwick, Maine

--Sam Flinkstrom