The Fire Station Building Committee voted on March 5 to advance construction-phase agreements and to begin a state-required contractor prequalification process for the Town of Lakeville fire station project.

In votes taken during the meeting, the committee recommended moving two consultant contracts into the construction phase and approved three consultant invoices. Separately, the committee set a procurement schedule and sought volunteers for a state-prescribed prequalification review committee required for Chapter 149 projects above the state threshold.

Why it matters: contract amendments and prequalification steps formally move the project toward construction bidding; prequalification reduces bidder risk on large public projects and controls which firms may submit general‑contract and filed‑sub bids.

Prequalification and schedule

Alex of Pomeroy Associates explained the Chapter 149 prequalification process and said the team will post the prequalification notice to the central register and to COMMBUYS, with the prequalification application opening on March 12 and closing April 2. The committee set tentative dates for committee review in late April and for issuing notices of prequalification on April 25 so that prequalified contractors can be incorporated into bid documents ahead of a target bid date of May 21. The prequalification package will use the state’s standard scoring form and will be handled electronically through BIDDocs.

The committee solicited volunteers to serve on the prequalification committee and several members and staff committed to participate; the chair asked staff to circulate calendar invites and finalize the committee membership before the initial review meetings.

Votes and invoice approvals

The committee took the following recorded actions (roll-call votes recorded in the meeting transcript):

Votes at a glance

- Approve contract increase for Secochio Associates for Phase 3 (construction phase) in the amount of $1,085,359 — outcome: approved (roll-call names recorded during the vote included: O'Brien — aye; Carboni — aye; Simon — aye).

- Approve contract increase for Comroy Associates for Phase 3 in the amount of $670,086 — outcome: approved (roll-call names recorded included: Super — aye; O'Brien — aye; Carboni — aye; Simon — aye; McCullough — aye; Darling — aye; Crosstine — aye).

- Approve Secochio & Associates invoice #23083-11 (dated 03/05/2025) in the amount of $138,225 — outcome: approved (roll-call included: Support — aye; O'Brien — aye; Carboni — aye; Simon — aye; McCullough — aye; Darling — aye; Crosstine — aye).

- Approve Secochio & Associates invoice #23083-10 (dated 02/07/2025) in the amount of $54,825 — outcome: approved (roll-call recorded multiple ayes).

- Approve Pomeroy Associates LLC invoice #23.111.0-11 (dated 03/03/2025) in the amount of $20,250 — outcome: approved (roll-call recorded multiple ayes).

The committee chair said these recommendations and invoice approvals will be forwarded for final action by the select board at its next meeting.

Clarifications and committee direction

Committee members discussed the prequalification scoring weights (for example, how much weight to give financial references and safety records) and the practical time commitment for reviewers (committee members estimated about 5–6 hours to review a typical batch of 10 submissions). The design team and Pomeroy Associates offered to walk committee reviewers through the BIDDocs scoring system in an initial virtual meeting.

Ending

The committee set a follow-up working schedule, asked staff to post the prequalification advertisement on March 12, and agreed to meet again on March 26 at 6:30 p.m. at the Lakeville Police Station to review MEP details and to confirm the prequalification committee membership.