OPINION: JONES TRUSTEE MEETING – SHORT AND SWEET? JUST SHORT!
Jones Library. Photo Art Keene.
A Reflection on the Jones Library Budget Subcommittee Meeting (5/11) and The Jones Library Full Trustee Meeting (5/15)
Most town departments are working on overdrive and meeting often to keep us safe and our government functioning during the COVID-19 crisis. The Town Council has numerous committees addressing Town Manager Bockelman’s budget prediction of a significant shortfall, and the School Committee has already established more than five focus groups to discuss various issues related to the schools. Yet, the Jones Trustees have not met in seven weeks, not since March 27th. On Friday, 5/15, the Trustees had just one agenda item ‒ to pass the one-month July 2020 budget. The meeting lasted 17 minutes.
Treasurer Robert Pam pleaded with his colleague Trustees to schedule more time for discussion of the FY 2021 library budget, which must be approved by the Trustees in two weeks on 5/29. Pam implored the Trustees to go beyond their limited meeting schedule and to engage in further discussions about the future. Neither Trustee President Austin Sarat nor the other Trustees responded to Pam’s concerns. Pam insisted that the current meeting schedule is inadequate and “does not allow us any time for discussion of how to go forward.” He added that this “doesn’t work.” He also mentioned these same concerns to deaf ears at the Trustee budget subcommittee meeting four days prior.
Sarat said, “Agree. We will be done soon,” and ended the meeting with no additional time scheduled for in-depth discussions. This means that no Trustee leadership will be provided to the Library Director about how to develop a FY 2021 budget.
So where are we? I assume that the Director will now plan the entire FY 2021 budget on her own with no guidelines from the Board on what to cut. No town department is getting a 2.5% budget increase allowed by Proposition 2 1/2 and there may be significant reductions. Will the Director present just one budget or several budgets based on varying scenarios? At a recent Town Council Finance Committee, there was even a suggestion that maybe the schools should be the priority and other town departments should face even more financial limitations.
Whichever way the cake is sliced and consumed, the library will undoubtedly need to cut but what and, most importantly, who? Last year, the library did not replace two retired full time library technicians and now, due the town’s hiring freeze, the Jones is not replacing the retired head of the North Amherst Library as well as a receptionist at the Jones.
The library has several other important issues on its plate, and none of these are on the next 5/29 Trustee meeting agenda. Here are some of the outstanding issues:
1) Library Income – It was announced that the endowment has increased from its low of $7.2 million to 7.7 million. This is good news. However, the endowment is still lower than its approximately $8.3 million valuation before the crisis. Can the Jones’ budgeted 4.6% draw rate be maintained? It’s already higher than the desired 4% yearly draw.
Fundraising for the general fund is now under the umbrella of the Friends of the Jones Library. They anticipate sending two more ask letters in the next few months. Of course, no one knows how much they can raise, especially in light of an expected decline in charitable giving as a result of pandemic related financial challenges.
2) MBLC grant – If the state grant for the demotion/expansion project does come through in July, 2020 (and that is unknown), there are currently no complete detailed plans for the construction and there are no reports yet from consultancies about the cost of sustainability features in the proposed project or detailed costs about either the total proposal building project versus refurbishment.
No news have been offered as to whether or not any money has been raised towards the $6,000,000 capital campaign that the Library has promised to raise towards the $22 million town share of the project, plus interest, the Town will have to pay for the proposal in order to receive the $13.8 million dollar grant.
Why won’t the Trustees address these issues?
Terry S. Johnson is a retired Amherst teacher, blossoming poet, and a lifelong student of art, architecture, history, and languages.
This excellent report is deeply disturbing. Kudos to Library Trustee Bob Pam for urging his colleagues to start addressing issues that have no clear resolution, and probably no good one. For the others on the Library board to duck them is regrettable. Neither this pandemic nor its issues will go away on their own. As a former Trustee president, I can say: The buck stops with the Trustees. This occasion is difficult and potentially dire. The Town can rightfully ask the Trustees to rise to it.