Committee OKs $162,728 Eversource Charge

School Building Committee · Meeting of August 26, 2026

MILLIS — The Millis School Building Committee approved a $162,728 Eversource charge and reported the middle-high school project about $1 million under budget at the 60 percent design stage. Senior estimator Shane Sampson of the Fontaine Group said contingencies stand at just under 7 percent, while Vertex staff flagged a pending state accessibility variance for the auditorium as a lingering risk. The committee voted 6-0 to let Vertex submit the 60 percent design package to the Massachusetts School Building Authority and approved tiered change-order authorization thresholds naming the committee chair and vice chair as liaisons.

Member Jim said "in a hundred-million-dollar project, a million dollars is a fairly slim number." The panel also selected the firm Susan True for structural peer review at $5,494.50 and approved routine invoices totaling several hundred thousand dollars, including $346,758.87 to design firm TAPA.

In the full story:

• Budget Update at 60 Percent Design
• Three Unresolved Cost Risks
• Permitting, Exploratory Work and Office Relocation
• Eversource Utility Work and Back Charge
• 60 Percent MSBA Submission
• Financial Authorization Thresholds
• Structural Peer Review Selection
• Scheduling, Site Staging and Athletic Fields
• Bills and Minutes
• Who Was There
• Organizations And Documents Referenced
• The complete report: 2,201 words

Source: the School Building Committee meeting of August 26, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.

Checked against the record: before publication this article was automatically compared with the meeting transcript.