OPPOSITION TO LIBRARY PLANS NOTED IN REPORT ON LISTENING SESSIONS
Breakout group at the evening listening session on December 3 at the Bangs Center. Photo: Art Keene.
A report from The Logue Group, which facilitated four public listening sessions in December about the large capital projects facing the town, shows significant opposition to a proposed plan to expand the Jones Library. The report (posted on the Town website) shows that 26 of 29 public comments that express clear opinions about the library project were in opposition, a roughly 9:1 ratio.
According to the report, the goal of the listening sessions was “to provide the Town Council, working with the Amherst School Committee and the Jones Library Trustees, with information from the community that will help inform the planning for and funding of significant investments in each of the four facilities.” The four are Wildwood and Fort River elementary schools, a south fire station, a DPW facility, and the Jones Library.
The sessions drew 129 members of the public, a few of whom attended multiple sessions, according to the report. This accounts for less than 1% of registered voters who could vote if a debt exclusion override was placed on the ballot. No demographic identifiers were requested of attendees. An online survey that asked the same questions as the Listening Sessions garnered 14 responses. The 34-page report (plus appendices) consists of a list of answers from members of the public to four questions:
1. What underlying core values of the Amherst community should shape the decision making?
2. Based on your concerns, what questions should the Council be asking as it considers these four projects?
3. What additional information do you need about the individual or overall capital projects?
4. What makes you hopeful or excited for Amherst about these four projects?
The report groups the comments into themes like “costs/funding,” “safety,” and “environmental,” and by project, with many comments written out verbatim by the facilitators. No quantitative data or analysis is provided, nor recommendations for next steps.
Some comments were expressed by multiple individuals, for example, the need to rein in project costs, prioritize projects, and limit the impact to taxes. The need for safe facilities for town staff and residents came up repeatedly, and there were a number of references to the need for a senior center.
While an opportunity to rank the projects was not provided, the responses indicate far less support among respondents for expanding the Jones Library than for the other three projects (schools, fire station, and DPW facility).
It remains to be seen what the Town Council will do with this report and how it will affect decision-making around the four major capital projects. Further outreach by the Council is anticipated in order to hear from a broader swath of the community.
Tony,
Thanks so much for your important research (I was out of town and couldn’t respond sooner).
It is a relief to know that even with the tightly-controlled environment of the Listening Sessions, folks were able to bring up basic concerns about capital project priorities and that those concerns were recorded.
As you stated, it is critical that there are future Council forums or (better yet) a town wide survey about what projects voters prioritize and what costs voters can accept. Even though there are only exact figures concerning the Jones Library demolition/expansion project, there are plenty of ball park estimates for the other projects based upon very costly investigations in the recent past for Fire/DPW and the schools.
As more and more projects are added to the list such as the four new projects in “Destination Amherst” initiative, the President of the Council needs to plan for ways that more than 130 or so voices are heard. The schools and Fire/DPW need to be on the top of the list. If the Jones Library demolition/expansion project of $35.8 million dollars does indeed come up for a vote first as early as July 2020, will the Council have a clear sense if this is what voters want? Even with the grant, the huge Jones project will need an override and so will the schools. Townspeople will probably accept only one override. It should be for the schools.