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| By Courtney Llewellyn Reminder Assistant Editor LONGMEADOW During the second joint Select Board/School Committee meeting in two weeks, the two elected groups announced their choices for the Longmeadow High School Building Committee. Mark Sirulnik, Roland Joyal and Danielle Judge were the three selected for the School Building Committee and Richard Bistran was chosen as the alternate. Bistran and candidate Thomas Ewing were tied in the ranking for the alternate position and an on the spot vote favored the former. Sirulnik, Joyal and Judge will be joining Town Manager Robin Crosbie, Director of Facilities Adrian Phaneuf, Department of Public Works Director Mike Wrabel, Finance Director Paul Pasterczyk, high school principal Larry Berte, superintendent E. Jahn Hart, two members of the Select Board and two members of the School Committee on the School Building Committee. Once all the members of the committee are chosen, their names will be sent to the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) for approval. "I was very pleased with the number and the quality of candidates," School Committee Chair Christine Swanson said. "Mark was part of the original firm that built the high school, so he has an in depth knowledge of that and that will be extremely helpful. Roland has experience with the MSBA [due to his work as principal at the new Chicopee High School], and that's very helpful. It's nice to have someone who knows what we're going through. Danielle has great engineering experience." Swanson added that four "really strong people" were selected and that she is looking forward to working with them. "The best part is they're coming into this with an open mind," she stated. "They have no preference for new versus reno[vation]." Once the committee is fully formed, they will begin work on a Request for Service (RFS), which should be done by July, according to Select Board member Robert Barkett. The committee will then choose an Owners Project Manager (OPM) from a list provided by the MSBA, and then the town will vote in October whether or not it will approve of funding for the high school project. "The process is dictated by the MSBA," Select Board member Paul Santaniello said. "This [putting the School Building Committee together] is the first step." *** The School Committee also reorganized during their June 23 meeting. Swanson was chosen as the new chair of the committee, with Robert Aseltine filling the vice-chair seat and newly-elected member Gwen Bruns will be the clerk. The votes for all three seats were unanimous approvals. |