Amherst Looks To Library For Building Project Reimbursement Payment
Photo: https://www.joneslibrary.org/
$2 Million Due from Library by End of January
Much of the debate preceding a Town Council vote on authorizing an additional $9.8 million in borrowing for the $46.1 million Jones Library renovation-expansion project centered on whether the library and its fundraisers had the means to repay the town the estimated $13.8 million Jones Library, Inc. share of project costs.
On December 18, the council approved the supplemental borrowing 12-0-1 despite several members expressing concerns about financial risk to the town. Project proponents dismissed the risk arguments citing a cash flow analysis that detailed a repayment schedule the library felt confident it could meet.
The schedule calls for the library to remit $2,000,000 in donations and other raised funds to the town by January 31, 2024. Consequently, eyes were on the January 22 Library Board of Trustees meeting at which payment to the town was discussed.
Director Sharon Sharry reported that a transfer of $300,000 from library funds to the town was in the works.
“We are on the way towards transferring $300,000 from you know, prior Van Steenberg and Estates and things like that so $248,968.37 is now in the town’s accounts that was transferred electronically. Technology is awesome! Then we’re still waiting for another chunk of money that’ll go from [library investment manager] Vanguard directly to the town and that amount is $51,031.63 and that will total the 300,000. Yay!” announced Sharry.
Trustee Lee Edwards reported that more money would be coming from the Friends of the Jones Library Capital Campaign which she co-chairs.
“And there will be obviously additional monies from the funds that did not go through the library but came through the Friends. I don’t have that number in front of me but it’s over $300,000. I did not have that prepared for today, but you’ll know it by next month because we will have transferred it,” she said.
If there was any concern that the library might be nearly $1.4 million shy of its January 31 commitment, it was not expressed.
See related Council Approves Costliest Library Project in Massachusetts
Library Project Goes out to Bid
Sharry announced that the town is now soliciting general- and sub-contractor bids for the demolition, historic preservation, renovation, and expansion project.
In December, six general contractors replied to a pre-qualification Request for Quote according to state records. These were Colantonio of Holliston, CTA Construction Managers of Waltham, D. A. Sullivan & Sons of Northampton, DOC of Holyoke, Fontaine Bros. of Springfield and J & J Contractors of North Billerica.
The bid advertisement states that construction is estimated to cost $35.5 million including all alternates, and general bids are due by March 6, 2024 at 1 p.m. Sub-bids for work on systems such as masonry, roofing, plumbing, HVAC and electrical must be received by February 24 at 1 p.m. All bids are submitted electronically to BidDocs Online.
A pre-bid conference and site visit will be conducted on February 1, 2024 at 10 a.m. in the library at 43 Amity St.
Sharry indicated that a contract would be awarded after March 6. “Then there’s time in between and lawyers are involved and all of that before a contract is executed, and then they’re given a notice to proceed,” she explained.
Temporary Library Location Still Up in the Air
A condition for receiving $15.5 million in construction grant funding from the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners (MBLC) is that the Jones Library continue to operate from temporary quarters for the roughly two years that building construction is in progress.
The library must remain open for at least 59 hours per week and the full collection must continue to be available to the public and to the rest of the CW Mars network. In November the town issued a Request for Proposal for 15,000 sq. ft. of rental space within 20 minutes of downtown to serve as an interim library location through December 2025. Proposals were to have been received by January 5.
Sharry told the trustees “We are in discussions with interim locations and that’s all I can say right now, but we hope to have exciting news within the next couple of weeks.”
See related History Museum Seeks Protections and Concessions from Library Project
The current project schedule shows the move to temporary library quarters being completed by March 10, 2024.
Jones Library Quiz of the Week:
What happens when you eat a $20 lunch and then hand the cashier a pair of $3 bills as you traipse out the door cheering “Yay!”?
Line 1 of the article above pegs the cost of the Jones Library project at $46.1 million.
The legal advertisement featured above for bids on this project however announces: “The work is estimated to cost $35,500,000….”
Numerous Indy posts report that third-party estimates for the work in fact total many millions of dollars more than $35,500,000.
Shouldn’t a legal advertisement say so?
Sarah, I believe the legal ad only includes costs associated with actual construction. The overall project involves more than $10 million in additional “soft costs” for design, temporary space, project management, etc.
Is there other documentation for the &2 million payment from the Jones to the town? Also what is the payment for? And what was the $300k for?
The $2 million January payment from the library to the town was documented at a planning session that included Town Councilors Lynn Griesemer and Cathy Schoen, Town Manager Paul Bockelman, Jones Library Trustee Treasurer Bob Pam and Friends of the Jones Library Capital Campaign representatives Kent Faerber, Lee Edwards and Ginny Hamilton. It was presented at the November 28 Finance Committee meeting. It is part of a cash flow analysis report meant to show that the town’s plan to finance the library building project is practical, sound and without risk.
The payment is part of the joint Jones Library-Capital Campaign commitment recorded in a Memorandum of Agreement to pay all project expenses beyond the $15.8 million that the council appropriated in 2021. The MOA requires the library to deposit with the Town Treasurer “all amounts of the Library Project Donations as and when the same is received by the library, less any direct and reasonable fundraising costs and expenses.”
The $300K payment of library funds is apparently meant to be credited to the library share of the project cost as detailed in the MOA.
Of the six general contractors who replied to a pre-qualification solicitation in December 2023, only one submitted a bid today (4/26/24) – Fontaine Bros..
Why is that?
With the only bid $7+ million over budget (making the total project cost $8+ million beyond what was authorized), what happens now? Will this money pit continue or will Town Councilors and the Town Manager finally recognize when to call it a day?
Toni, more recent records show that there were actually nine firms offering general contractor services that expressed interest in the Jones Library building project by requesting the construction documents. As you indicate, only Fontaine Bros. of Springfield has submitted a bid, and it is considerably higher than the town’s estimated cost.
Fontaine Bros. must have a great deal of capacity. They report recently being selected as the Construction Manager at Risk for the new 235,075 square-foot Agawam High School and are one of four general contractors who responded to an invitation to prequalify for Amherst’s upcoming Fort River Elementary School project.
submitted 4/27/24
To the Town Council and Town Manager of Amherst, Mass,
Now that the library project has received its one bid from a construction company, and we see that it is another $7 million over the already gigantic cost, I urge the Town Council and Town Manager to do what you’d committed to do, which is to discontinue a failed Plan A, and give the library board one choice: to develop a Plan B which includes many voices and perspectives, and is right-sized to our financial capacity and considers all the other costly goals we have as a town.
I do not envy you in making that obvious decision. There will be anger and confusion, and you will need to be professional, human, decisive, and open. It will be encouraging to many if you would rise to the occasion. You would be fulfilling your oath of office and doing the right thing as public servants, in a world where that should happen a lot more.
Thank you for the hard work you do, to make Amherst all it might be.
Sincerely,
Ira Bryck
If the additional principal required to fund the Jones Library demolition/expansion is over $7M, then the additional financing costs (at current high interest rates, which have yet to abate) will be considerably more than $1M.
Indeed, amortization of $7M at 3% per annum over 30 years is over $10M. Based on the rates at which Massachusetts municipal bonds are currently being issued, the Town would likely need to come up with more than $3M in addition interest as well.
Look at Greenfield they just opened their library couldn’t have been more than 25 million. Look at so many other libraries like Sunderland and other libraries and they’re never half as much as Amherst needs to look at this whole thing and scale back and get real.
Rob – you are correct that there are additional cost increases beyond the $7M higher bid for construction. First is that we also have to pay “soft costs” (for fees, furnishings, contingencies, etc) which would likely bring the amount needed to be borrowed to around $55M: Total Project Cost = Construction Cost (the bid amount) + soft costs (an additional amount that is nearly 30% of the Construction Cost). So the real increase is about $8M. See the Indy article on this in this issue: https://www.amherstindy.org/2024/04/26/lone-library-project-bid-soars-7-million-over-budget/ And then there is the additional interest on all this borrowing which the town is bearing. But the project cannot go forward at a $55M price tag unless there is yet another increased debt authorization by the Town Council beyond the $46M they voted last Fall.