The Lexington High School Building Project website includes a new construction dashboard where community members can track the project’s finances at a glance.
“We decided that probably finances are one of the biggest parts of the project that have those eyes on it and will be criticized the most, so we wanted to build this in a way that explains it, simply and effectively, that we’re not trying to hide behind the curtain,” said Kyle Leone, a project manager with Dore + Whittier, the firm overseeing the project.
In the header are five main buckets – Total Project Budget, Construction Cost, Soft Costs, MSBA Grant and Town’s Share. If viewers aren’t familiar with a term used, they can hover over the yellow text and then an explanation will appear.
Below these buckets are quick items such as the schedule status, budget status, amount spent to date and the current phase. If the schedule status is green, that means the project is on schedule. Users can also view a breakdown of the project phases with their dates and percentage complete.
Under the quick items is a visual representation of the total project budget breakdown, showing what percentage of the budget is going to construction costs vs. soft costs such as design fees, permits, insurance, etc. For more detailed information on the project breakdown, click the dropdown menu.
There is also a “Monthly Highlights” category which provides a narrative rather than just numbers for the project. It provides a “moment of the month,” upcoming challenges and positive results.
At the very bottom of the dashboard, there are links and resources, a photo gallery and archived updates.
The dashboard is updated monthly, so figures will reflect the previous month.
“It’s intentionally rear-view facing, so that we can summarize the information and disseminate it in a way that works for everyone and is still transparent,” Leone explained.
This past spring, residents created a citizen petition asking the town to create a Financial Advisory and Transparency Committee to help communicate with the public about LHS building project expenditures. The idea was voted down in Town Meeting, in part because the information is accessible on the project’s website.
The town is open to feedback.
“It’s a living document, right? So we are going to continue to make changes to this all the way through, as we can find ways to improve a little bit, communicate differently, make sure we touch and get access to different folks,” Mike Cronin, Lexington’s director of public facilities, said.