WILLIAMSBURG – The Helen E. James School was torn down last year to make room for the town’s new public safety complex, home for fire, police and emergency services. This year the project is moving ahead, rising from raw dirt, and will be fitted to take advantage of the sun’s warmth.

The Public Safety Complex Building Committee met Jan. 4 to bring members up to date on progress and to finalize the request for qualifications (RFQ) for designers of the solar array. Robert Todisco, project manager for the town through P3 Project Management, was the primary drafter of the RFQ.

“This is very different from a construction bid,” Todisco said. “It doesn’t have to be so specific because we don’t…yet know what we need or want. That’s the point, to be somewhat vague.”

The solar array is an important project element. Power generation will lower the overall operating costs of the facility, but needs to be sufficiently robust to run the building when severe weather knocks down power lines. The very active traffic around the facility also suggests the array be away from the flow of vehicles.

Todisco reassured committee members that all legal requirements for dealing with wetlands, town ordinances and any technical requirements of solar installations would be required of firms submitting bids. The RFQ process establishes that design firms have experience with similar projects and that necessary licensing is in place. At this point, the committee can’t even answer the big question, whether a ground mount system, a grid over the parking area, or an array on the roof will be the best option.

Town Administrator Nick Caccamo confirmed the costs of the solar array will come out of a Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness (MVP) grant from the commonwealth. The grant straddles two years and totals $1.8 million. A significant cost of the solar array will be backup generation and energy storage.

“The amount of backup power generation is up to the design committee,” said project architect Kevin Chrobak, a member of Juster Pope Frazier of Northampton. “The generator was projected to be 120 megawatts [but] the amount of backup power you want is based on…conversations with the chief and the building committee.”

The building committee voted 7-0 to approve the RFQ be sent out to solicit solar design services. The deadline for submissions is Feb. 1. The building committee will discuss them at a Feb. 8 meeting.

The building committee also heard the good news that the contingency line item, included in the project budget to allow for unforeseen expenses and cost overruns, is still flush. The charges for demolition of the Helen James school were lower than expected, which padded the contingency funds, and change orders have not consumed them.

“We are in exceedingly good shape,” Caccamo said. “The savings on the demolition, early on, really helped in padding the contingency fund and allowed the committee to move ahead on some options.”

The only change order to date has been to install radiant heating in the concrete slab flooring. Vice Chair William Sayre asked after the line item balance of 116,847, part of a spreadsheet submitted by Todisco.

The town’s project manager explained that balance would be the result only if two change orders, for drywall work over the apparatus bays and epoxy sealing of the concrete floors, were included.

Todisco told the building committee the total contingency budget was $368,882. The radiant floor heating system cost about $108,000, leaving a current balance of $260,882.

Chrobak also mentioned the MVP grants will pay for the heat source system. Contingency funds will further increase after the commonwealth reimburses the town for the energy saving elements of the project design.

The building committee also heard about a problem that developed during the pouring of the concrete foundation. Discussion revealed that Forish Construction, a well established and trusted construction firm in the area and the general contractor on the project, poured the entire south wall and part of the east wall to the wrong width.

“By mistake the contractor poured a uniform wall,” Todisco said. “They missed widening the wall in the apparatus bay.”

The company quickly acknowledged the mistake and made a supplemental pouring to add further load bearing strength. The supplemental concrete was tied into the existing wall with reinforcing bar and doweling. Committee members asked why Todisco, the owner’s project manager, didn’t catch the mistake.

“It’s not a huge project, but it’s a big building, and we won’t catch everything, especially since we’re there only 50 percent of the time,” Todisco said.. “Given that we have a long history with Forish…we hit the ground running..and maintain a limited presence on site.”

The next meeting of the building committee is scheduled for Feb. 8.