Andover Elementary School Superintendent Valerie Bruno told the Board of Finance on Oct. 22 that the district is waiting for a proposal with cost estimates from Fuss & O'Neil before the school subcommittee advances the bathroom renovation project.

"The status for the bathrooms right now is that we are waiting for a proposal with money, in it, from Fuss & O'Neil," Bruno said. She said the board's process is for the AES subcommittee to meet, then send the package to the town CIP committee, and then bring it back to the Board of Finance.

Board members asked for stamped construction and RFP documents and said some members had not received materials. Bruno said stamped plans had been sent earlier to subcommittee members and to others; she agreed to resend the stamped documents and to have the AES subcommittee reconvene once Fuss & O'Neil provides the requested package.

The discussion became contentious. Board members said they had received a billing statement from Fuss & O'Neil that referenced phases of work labeled as "construction" and asked why the town had paid roughly $40,000 to the firm without visible construction documents. Bruno and other AES representatives said the firm was proceeding in professional phases (preconstruction/environmental review, design and construction-document phases) and that earlier documents had been shared at AES subcommittee meetings. Bruno also asked that questions about preschool enrollment and other school matters be directed to her office first rather than to the state, saying several questions had been answered previously.

During the exchange the board sought clarity on process: whether the district should run sealed bids through the town, whether Fuss & O'Neil's list of suggested contractors would be used as the bid pool, and when CIP and the full Board of Finance would receive final, stamped construction documents. Bruno said the documents would be provided to board members again and that the subcommittee and CIP reviews would follow the receipt of Fuss & O'Neil's proposal.

No contract for physical construction had been signed at the Oct. 22 meeting; AES representatives said the work remained in planning and design phases. Board members asked that the AES subcommittee, the CIP committee and the Board of Finance coordinate on the next steps and that relevant documents be circulated to the town boards.

"If there's anything that is on the agenda that pertains to the school, if somebody could please just let us know so that we make sure that we have somebody on to answer questions, that would be wonderful," Bruno said.