Letter:  Jones Library Budget Crisis Requires Public Scrutiny

Financing for the Jones Library trustees’ demolition/expansion project has a newly-revealed $11.6 million shortfall. One proposal is to cover part of this shortfall by hiking the amount to be raised by donations from $6.6 million to $14.6 million. Is this realistic?

Over nearly the past decade, the Trustees have paid tens of thousands of dollars to Financial Development Agency (FDA) for advice and assistance in obtaining donations for the project. The newly proposed goal is more than double the original goal. If there is any reality to a total of $14.6 million in donations, wouldn’t FDA have said so long since? When the Library project was up for vote, this would have been a powerful selling point. Why are we hearing of this only now?

That’s even without considering the secretive nature of the Trustees’ fundraising. The Trustees are subject to the Massachusetts Open Meeting Law. Each of their meetings, including its agenda, must usually be announced to the public at least 48 hours in advance.  They must post their minutes promptly. And their finances must be an open book. Not so for the Friends of the Jones Library System, Inc. The Friends are a separate, 501 c (3) charitable organization. They can legally operate with no such requirements.

Pursuant to an agreement between the Trustees and the Friends, fundraising for the project has been taking place under the Friends’ private aegis. Joint Trustees’ and Friends fundraising meetings are neither announced nor, apparently, open to the public. The Massachusetts Attorney General enforces the Open Meeting Law. Unless the Trustees have obtained a written opinion from the AG, approving the agreement, it might be of dubious legality.

Whatever the AG may think of that agreement, however, this shortfall is an imperative public issue. After the wrecking ball swings, demolishing some 40% of the Library, there must be no new shortfall for Amherst taxpayers to cover. Maximum public participation in resolving this issue is thus in order. Yet yesterday’s Trustees’ meeting scarcely bodes well for such transparency.  Recording it via the existing Zoom technology would have been easy.  Reportedly, however, the Library Director asked that the meeting not be recorded. Why?

Sarah McKee

Sarah McKee has lived in Amherst for more than 20 years. She is a former President of the Jones Library Trustees, and is a member of the D.C. Bar.