COUNCIL HEARS REPORTS FROM LIBRARY AND HEALTH DIRECTORS ON RESPONSES TO COVID-19
REPORT ON THE SPECIAL TOWN COUNCIL MEETING OF 4/27/30
The April 27th Town Council meeting was held virtually via webcast and was broadcast simultaneously by Amherst Media. The recording of the meeting can be found here. All councilors participated as did Town Manager Paul Bockelman, Health Director Julie Federman, and Library Director Sharon Sharry.
Highlights
- Council heard comprehensive reports from the Town Manager, the Health Director, and the Library Director
- Among the greatest challenges to Amherst posed by the COVID-19 emergency are food security and housing
- The library continues to offer several services and activities online while their buildings are closed
- The library continues planning to move forward with its demolition and renovation project despite substantial endowment losses
- The Town is exploring inter-municipal water agreements with Hadley and South Deerfield
- The Council approved a proclamation in honor of Juneteenth which will be celebrated virtually this year.
- The Council approved the appointment of Sean Mangano as Town Finance Director as well as new appointments to the Board of License Commissioners and the Conservation Commission.
Public Comment
Amy Zuckerman of the Boulders expressed concern about unsafe conditions in public spaces at apartment complexes in town. She stated that it was impossible to maintain safe distances in laundry rooms, and that there was not adequate ventilation in such spaces nor was there access to disinfectant wipes.
Town Manager Report
Bockelman gave his weekly report which focused substantially on the COVID-19 pandemic. As of Sunday, there were 30 known positive tests in town and 443 documented cases in Hampshire County. He listed major challenges for the Town regarding the budget, employee health and safety, the meetings of boards and committees, the schools, and public spaces such as parks, fields, and trails. The School Committees want to reopen in the fall and are looking for ways to achieve this safely. The Town continues to monitor public spaces to assure that they are not overcrowded.
The State is beginning to consider how to safely run the primary election on September 1 and the national election on November 3.
Regarding the economy, the Core Team is examining how local businesses can reopen. Much of the economic health of the community depends on what happens with the colleges and university in the fall. Bockelman expressed hope that construction and development can continue and those who have lost wages will be helped by available relief programs.
Bockelman sees food security as a major issue during these times. The Survival Center has seen a large uptick in the need for its services. The Affordable Housing Trust has created a Rental Assistance Fund to help people stay in their homes, and there is increased need to support those who are homeless. He also mentioned the challenge of overcoming the digital divide. With the closing of town buildings and many buildings, access to public computer terminals has been reduced. Consequently, access to the internet has been reduced as well ,and this makes it difficult to ensure that everyone is informed. This reduced access especially affects seniors.
Residents can have their questions answered at the twice weekly “Community Chat” call-in sessions with Bockelman from 12 to 12:30 PM on Tuesdays and Thursdays. These are also available for replay on Amherst Media. Federman participates every Thursday. There will be a virtual Cuppa Joe on Friday, May 8 from 8 to 9 AM. Plans are in the works for the Farmers’ Market to reopen. Also planned is a virtual Farmers’ Market, where people can order and pay online and then pick up their items already boxed on Saturday morning.
Councilors Dorothy Pam (District 3) and Darcy DuMont (District 5) expressed their gratitude to Bockelman for providing such a complete report. They both distributed it to their constituents.
The full report can be read here. A comprehensive summary can be found here..
Health Director’s Report
Federman reported that all guests and workers at Craig’s Place Homeless shelter were tested for COVID-19 on Tuesday, April 28 in a program coordinated with Cooley Dickinson Hospital. The testing was voluntary and no staff or guests tested positive (see full story here).
Councilor Alissa Brewer (at large) wondered why masks are not required in public in Amherst. Federman said that the efficacy of masks is not proven, and she would rather concentrate on people maintaining a safe distance. In Massachusetts, only Sommerville requires people to wear masks while in public. Northampton requires masks when entering grocery stores and other essential businesses. Easthampton strongly urges the use of masks in public. And several municipalities have adopted mask requirements or advisories in the last week.
Pam suggested that because sidewalks and the bike path can get so crowded, perhaps the track at the high school could be reserved for seniors for an hour of walking in the morning.
Library
Library director Sharry listed an array of activities the library is offering while the buildings are closed. There are story hours, virtual teen baking activities, English as a second language classes, dialogues with authors, book groups and ukelele strum-alongs, as well as movie streaming through Canopy, and access to all digital resources such as newspapers, magazines, audio, e-books, and Ancestry.com. (Look here for a listing of all of the library’s online services.) Of course all these services require that the patron have access to the internet. For those who are homebound, books may be requested. They are then purchased from Amherst Books and mailed to the patron to be returned to the library when it reopens.
The library’s financial picture has worsened through the pandemic. Due to losses in the stock market, the endowment has decreased from $7.9 million to $7.2 million from February through March. Major fundraisers such as the annual Sammy awards were canceled this year. The library is still planning its large renovation project, however. The Trustees are not allowed to submit a smaller project to the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners. The architects are working on increasing the sustainability of the proposed project, to achieve an Energy Use Intensity (EUI) coefficient of 32 as opposed to 72 for the current building. The Trustees are also expecting a report on the costs and extent of a rehabilitation project which would make the Jones Library handicapped accessible, but not increase the space for programs.
As far as the reopening of the buildings, Sharry predicts a phased reopening beginning with curbside pick up, then plexiglass shields at the checkout desks and disinfecting of restrooms when the public is permitted entry. Last would be access to the computers and meeting rooms.
The archivists at the library are looking to assemble a record of what life in Amherst was like during the pandemic. There will be an on-line survey and people will be encouraged to share their thoughts, experiences, and pictures.
Inter-municipal Water Agreements
Bockelman is exploring inter-municipal agreements for water and wastewater with Hadley and South Deerfield. Right now, Hadley’s wastewater treatment plant needs to be updated and Amherst has excess capacity. Accepting wastewater from Hadley would support Hadley and bring extra revenue to Amherst. The two towns already can supply water to each other in case either town has a shortage. Councilor Pat DeAngelis (District 2) wanted to know more about Hadley’s water and sewer rates and if Hadley’s water was fluoridated (Amherst’s is). These matters will be clarified before any agreements are finalized. Amherst had previously agreed to supply personnel to South Deerfield for its wastewater treatment plant, and Bockelman would like to renew this agreement.
Appointments
Bockelman recommended that former School Department Finance Director, Sean Mangano be appointed Finance Director for the Town. He praised the work that Town Controller and Acting Finance Director, Sonia Aldrich has done for the past months. The new Finance Director for the Schools is Doug Slaughter. Mangano’s resume can be found here.
Other Town Manager appointments were Dillon Maxfield for a two-year term and Hallie Hughes (reappointment) for a three-year term on the Board of License Commissioners and LeRoy Gaynor to the Conservation Commission. All of these appointments were recommended unanimously by the Town Services and Outreach Committee and were approved unanimously by the full Council.
The Outreach, Communications, and Appointments Committee recommended three full and four associate members to the Zoning Board of Appeals. All were approved by the council in a unanimous vote.
Council President, Lynn Griesemer (District 2) recommended Councilor Sarah Swartz (District 1) to replace Evan Ross (District 4) on the Energy and Climate Action Committee.
Councilor Mandi-Jo Hanneke (at large) sponsored a proclamation for Juneteenth to commemorate General Gordon Granger arriving in Galveston, Texas on June 19, 1865 to proclaim the end of the Civil War and of slavery. A committee is working on virtual activities for the day. The proclamation passed unanimously.
The meeting adjourned at 9:11 PM
Thanks for this reporting!
I was curious about Library Director Sharry’s statements about the proposed demolition/addition and wanted to learn more. However, there are no materials in the Town Council’s agenda packet from Ms. Sharry and the Library Trustee site contains nothing more recent than March related to this issue. Are you aware of any other source where the public can read more about this?
The Library does not prepare packets for the public before meetings. Handouts are sometimes available at in-person meetings yet they are not put online afterwards. Only an agenda is published beforehand. Minutes are approved a month or more later and eventually posted.
There is a slideshow available online about the re-designed library demolition/expansion proposed project which was presented to the Library’s Feasibility and Design Committee on February 27, 2020, right before the lockdown. https://www.joneslibrary.org/DocumentCenter/View/5748/Finegold-Alexander—Full-Presentation—Revised-Schematic-Concept-February-26-2020-PDF
Although Director Sharry told the Council that the proposed project will now be more energy efficient (the first design did not meet even the lowest level of LEED certification), the Library has not presented how much this will cost and whether or not the cost will be within the $35.8 million dollar budget.
Sharry also failed to mention that the entire 1993 brick addition will be totally demolished, and that most of the 1928 original building will have walls, doors, staircases and woodworking gutted and rearranged. One wonders what the carbon footprint will be with all that destruction.
A study of how to re-purpose the 1993 addition was never developed. A space planner to review how the current space could be used more efficiently was never hired.
Let’s remember, the grant will be for $13.8 million. The Town will have to commit up to $22 million PLUS interest. Let’s develop a more realistic way to refurbish the Jones during these precarious times. Other projects may need to take priority.
This excellent post says: “The library is still planning its large renovation project, however. The Trustees are not allowed to submit a smaller project to the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners.”
Not so fast! The state public library construction regulations do apparently allow the Trustees to submit a smaller project: “Any significant reductions in the project’s program require prior approval.” See Chapter 605, Code of Massachusetts Regulations, Section 6.05 (2)(c)18.
So the regulations allow the Trustees to make reductions to their project in this grant round. In addition, the MBLC is allowed approve them.
This makes sense. It was the Trustees’ idea to increase the Jones Library’s size from its present 51,000 square feet, if all space is used optimally, to the 65,000 square feet of the proposed demolition/expansion project.
Yet this large proposed project is expressly designed for a “service population” of 50,000. This is twice Amherst’s year-round, public-library-using population of about 15,000, with another 9,000 or so non-resident Jones Library cardholders.
True, the MBLC has traditionally pushed big libraries. But it doesn’t require a certain size.
In fact, the only increase required for the type of grant Amherst requested is “an increase in the overall external dimensions of a public library facility.” 605 CMR 6.02, “Addition, Expansion or Extension.” Any increase at all in the external dimensions of the Jones Library’s glass Atrium roof would be enough.
As a former Trustee, and a lawyer (D.C.), I verified this several years ago with an MBLC architect. That ever-leaky Atrium roof must be replaced in any event.
An MBLC grant would cover only $13.8 million of this proposed project’s cost of $49 million, including interest. Particularly in light of the other capital projects that Amherst needs badly, the Town’s projected total payout for this Library project has always been whopping.
So I was glad to see above that the Trustees are also getting an estimate for a “rehabilitation project.” This is wise. Among other reasons, if the Library keeps its present footprint, it can use ground source heat pumps for heating and cooling. An estimate that the Trustees got a decade ago showed their price to be less than half the cost of a new, environmentally destructive, fossil-fuel system.
Now of course Amherst, like everyone, has a COVID-19 budget crunch. Furthermore, the Legislature has apparently not yet decided whether to float the $20 million bond issue that the MBLC needs to fund construction grants this summer.
If the bond issue goes through, however, here’s a radical thought. First, make sure that the “rehabilitation project” includes an increase in the Atrium roof’s external dimensions, to meet the grant requirement.
Then, submit this “significantly reduced” project to the MBLC. Request a reduced grant accordingly. If the MBLC approves, and if the eligible costs total, say, $15 million, the MBLC’s share of this would be $6,750,000. The Town’s share would be $8,250,000. This would be far more affordable. (Calculations if anyone wants.)
Has any town tried this before? Not to my knowledge. The regulations seem not to provide explicitly for a reduced grant amount when a project is substantially reduced. Yet this would be logical. I see nothing in the regulations to prevent it. And this pandemic means that many of us are doing many things that we’ve never done before.
Furthermore, the MBLC has proven flexible as to certain other regulations — laws, actually — that I won’t discuss here. Whether or not the bond issue goes through, I think that the approach outlined here would be well worth pursuing.