“Clearly, we need more people in Berlin aware of the conditions of our schools,” said Deputy Mayor Steve Morelli, adding that “a shocking number of people” aren’t well-informed on the school facilities issues.

“We’ve put band-aids on these problems for too long,” said Mayor Adam Salina.

On the council agenda were items to: improve the air quality at McGee Middle School through a new HVAC system; add relocatable classrooms at Griswold Elementary School to ease space needs; and to address certain code violations and accessibility issues at Berlin High School.

Morelli and Salina both spoke of the need to better inform the community and, as Morelli put it, “get people behind us to deal the problems.”

To that end, the council discussed the possibility of cable broadcasts of meetings and also of holding a public informational meeting in the near future in regards to facilities issues at the schools.

The council awarded a contract for the design of a heating-ventilation-air conditioning system for McGee Middle School to BVH Integrated Services Inc. for $29,500 for the Phase I preliminary design costs.

The preliminary design will be to primarily address air quality problems which are most prevalent in one wing (an addition to the building). However, “all classroom (HVAC) units showed issues,” said Roman Czuchta, director of business operations. “We will look at the entire building.”

The tentative schedule is to complete Phase I by Nov. 12 and then bring the project back to the council for the construction phase of funding. The intent is to minimize the impact on classrooms as the project is phased in over the next year, with interior work scheduled for summer months. However, students may be relocated “if we have to,” Simonian said.

The council approved awarding a construction bid for relocatable classrooms at Griswold to ModSpace Corporation of Bristol for $725,775. The entire project cost is $1,061,500. Approximately 48 percent of the cost will be reimbursed by the state. Simonian said the contract calls for the work to be completed in 93 days from the time the contract is executed.

The start of the project was delayed due to code issues which extended the permitting process. Excavations “would have been better to do in the summer,” Simonian said. The site work includes drainage work and constructing “piers” (sonotube forms) to support the relocatable structures. As students will be in class during the construction period, the construction site will be fenced and, if necessary, sight and sound barriers will be used.

The council approved funds for an architect for a Phase I review of renovations at BHS that are needed due to code and accessibility issues. Selected was Silver Petrucelli and Associates, of Hamden, for a Phase I fee of $57,900.

 Certain areas of the school do not comply with the accessibility requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act. For example, classrooms need strobe light installed as visual alarms (in addition to existing audio alarms) in order to accommodate students with hearing loss. Phase I will evaluate the school and athletic fields.

In addition, The New England Association of Schools and Colleges is requiring an air quality investigation at the high school. Also, the school was assessed this past year by the Office of Civil Rights, which randomly selects facilities for review, and there were several areas of noncompliance.