Monomoy District Building Committee Appointed To Oversee Siding, Roofing Projects

CHATHAM – Members of a newly appointed Monomoy Regional Middle School building committee will begin meeting this month to provide guidance on two major renovation projects at the Crowell Road school.

The building committee will be charged with vetting a project manager for the upcoming siding replacement work, as well as examining siding and trim material options, according to Superintendent of Schools Scott Carpenter. The group will also work on the planned replacement of the school roof.

“I think we’ve got a good group to help guide us in making some good decisions,” Carpenter told the select board Dec. 14.

The building committee includes residents from both Chatham and Harwich, many with specific expertise in building-related areas as well as finance. It’s made up of 10 citizens, two school committee members, and six district administrators.

Representing Harwich on the building committee will be Lisa Norcross, a licensed construction supervisor and elementary school parent; Ed McManus, a former Harwich Select Board member; Mark Kelleher, a former Harwich Finance Committee member; Richie Roy, a builder and elementary school parent; and Craig Gabri, who has construction finance and engineering experience and is a high school parent.

Chatham residents named to the committee are Bob Stello, a builder and former teacher; Tom Reed, a retired head of school; Peter Troy, chair of a previous Chatham school building committee who has experience in special education, finance and human resources; John Marsh, a builder; and Eric Whiteley, co-owner of W. Vernon Whiteley, Inc. and Chatham Finance Committee member.

Meredith Henderson of Harwich and Jackie Long of Chatham will represent the school committee.

Administrators on the building committee will be middle school principal Abby Dudley; facilities director Rick Travers; district business manager Michael MacMillan; assistant superintendent for curriculum, instruction and assessment and former Chatham Elementary School principal Robin Millen; district treasurer Paul Donlan, and Superintendent Carpenter.

The first order of business, Carpenter said, will be for the committee members to inspect the middle school building “to have everybody understand the why” of the two major projects. Although the middle school looks good when seen from the road, a close inspection reveals the siding and trim issues, he said.

Water infiltration through gaps in the siding and trim of the school has created indoor air quality problems. Although an assessment did not show unusual levels of mold inside classrooms, teachers have raised health concerns, and the library had to be closed for a week after water soaked a number of books. Officials say many of the problems can be traced to improper work when the building was renovated in 1997.

A complete replacement of the trim and siding is estimated to cost $4.8 million, with design, engineering, owner’s project manager and contingency costs bringing the final price tag to $6.3 million. Last May, voters in Chatham and Harwich approved borrowing $2.5 million for the work, but with further assessment, including opening up sections of the building envelope, the estimate was increased. Voters will be asked to approve borrowing the difference this spring. 

It was initially anticipated that the work would be done in phases, but district business manager Michael MacMillan said the project architect recommended against that due to the cost of mobilization for multiple phases. 

“We’d like to start as soon as possible,” MacMillan said. The work is likely to start in the summer but will run into the new school year. Carpenter said there is sufficient space within the school to shift classrooms around so that construction can continue in the fall.

“The nice thing is it’s a big building and we do have some flexibility to move some classrooms around,” he said. 

No estimate is available yet for the replacement of the middle school roof. The project has been accepted into the Massachusetts School Building Authority Accelerated Repair Program, which will reimburse 37.32 percent of the cost. The work is expected to be done in 2026 and should be completed over the summer, MacMillan said.