Essex School Building Committee Approves Invoices, Refines Alternatives Matrix Before January Submission

ESSEX — December 15, 2025 — Essex Elementary School Building Committee reviews six school-options matrix ahead of January MSBA filing. The committee voted unanimously at its December 15 meeting to approve invoices totaling $110,222 — $51,587 to project manager Doran Whittier Management Partners and $58,635.08 to architect JCJ Architecture — and spent the bulk of the session reviewing a color-coded alternatives matrix comparing code-upgrade, addition-renovation, new-construction, and full-consolidation options across educational, community, site, and cost criteria. Current construction benchmarks place the Essex project at approximately $923 per square foot, compared with $535 per square foot when Manchester Memorial School reached its guaranteed maximum price in 2019. Several members warned that preliminary cost figures, once filed with the MSBA and made public, risk "sticker shock" without adequate context; member Emily Dwyer countered that frank community engagement — not soft-pedaling — is the committee's obligation. The committee agreed to add energy-efficiency and Manchester Memorial impact rows to the matrix and to revise several educational-program scores before the Preliminary Design Program is submitted for approval at the January 6 meeting, with a fourth public community meeting scheduled for January 28 at Essex Elementary.