Jones Library Expansion Project on Hold. Town Manager and Public Respond to High Cost Estimate
Jones Library entrance. Photo: Hetty Startup
Report on the Special Meeting of the Amherst Town Council, April 29, 2004. Part I
This meeting was held in hybrid format and was recorded. It can be viewed here.
Present
Lynn Griesemer (President, District 2), Mandi Jo Hanneke, Andy Steinberg, Ellisha Walker (at large), Freke Ette and Cathy Schoen (District 1), Pat DeAngelis (District 2), Hala Lord and George Ryan (District 3), Pam Rooney and Jennifer Taub (District 4), Ana Devlin Gauthier (District 5). Bob Hegner (District 5 was absent). Walker, Ette, and DeAngelis participated remotely.
Staff: Paul Bockelman (Town Manager) and Athena O’Keeffe (Clerk of the Council)
This special town council meeting was originally scheduled to discuss the regional school budget.
Town Manager Lays Out Next Steps for Jones Library Project
With the only bid for the Jones Library expansion project coming in at $7 million over the most recent estimates provided to the town, the fate of the project is in doubt. Town Manager Paul Bockelman offered the following statement to the council:
“The one bid we received on Friday came in at 2 o’clock. It’s 18% higher than the last estimate by our two different estimating firms. There aren’t a lot of options. We can reduce the budget. We can increase revenue. And there are not many options beyond that. We know that the owner’s project manager and the architect have been reviewing the budget along with Bob Pareint from our staff and evaluating what was the difference, and why things were so different than what our last estimate was, but the bid is the bid—the numbers are what they are. There’s a limit to what we can do. And so, the next step is to get as much information as possible.”
“We have 30 days to accept or reject the bid, to meet with the Jones Library Building Committee, have that conversation. That conversation will extend to the Town Council, and I think that meeting will be probably not this week, but next week, for sure, once they get all their analysis done of the bid, look at different options available. Then the Town Council will clearly have a discussion about it as well as the Jones Library Trustees.”
“I want to emphasize that the needs of that building have not disappeared. Their HVAC, the roof, other things with that building are very present and a concern. I think that we know this is going to be one of those things where there are some things that we really want, some that many people really want to see happen. But we may have to have the fiscal discipline to say that we can’t do it unless we find another alternative. And that’s what our mission is—to see what are the alternatives available for consideration by the council and the building committee. There’s a lot of people we want to talk to in terms of the bids and the sort of market that generated this outcome.”
“In September 2022, the Town Council voted 8-5 to allow the Jones Library project to continue until construction bids were received. I understood the urge to give the project every chance and see it through to this point. That was a $2 million bet that construction costs would stabilize, and donations to the project would flood in. We now know that bet has not paid off. “
– Toni Cunningham, Resident District 1
Public Comments Urge Abandonment of Costly Jones Expansion in Favor of Needed Repairs
Toni Cunningham offered the following comment on the library project: “In September 2022, the Town Council voted 8-5 to allow the Jones Library project to continue until construction bids were received. I understood the urge to give the project every chance and see it through to this point. That was a $2 million bet that construction costs would stabilize, and donations to the project would flood in. We now know that bet has not paid off. On Friday, only one bid was received, and it’s more than $7 million above the most recent estimate. This brings the total project cost for the Jones Library now to a whopping $54.5 [million].
“When the council approved additional borrowing for the project last December, it was with the commitment that the library would repay the town according to a prescribed schedule. One would expect the first installment to be the easiest, but even at this point, three months after it was due, we are still waiting for the library to pay the town $850,000. “
“The library project has received the benefit of the doubt at every hurdle. It has been allowed to go on even when all signs indicated it was no longer viable. As Councilor [Andy] Steinberg said back in 2022, ‘If the project doesn’t succeed, it won’t be for lack of trying.”
“You now have two key points to guide decision making. The construction bid is many millions above even the stretch budget. And the library was unable to make even its first scheduled payment to the town. I trust that this body will accept reality at this point.”
Maria Kopicki agreed, saying: “Before this body voted to authorize $46 million for the library project last fall, you held a lot of meetings and said a lot of things. You drew up a cash flow analysis, assumed the best-case scenario, provided almost no protection for the town if that failed to materialize, and then simply waited for six months.”
“But a lot has been going on since then, none of it good. The construction bid deadline, set originally for February 28, has been delayed three times: to April 16 and then April 23 and then April 26, effectively pushing any potential construction start date out by at least two months. There have been two dozen addenda made to construction documents, several after the subcontractor bids were received, and including multiple sections that were replaced in their entirety. Potential bidders have thus far submitted 100 requests for information about these documents.”
“The Jones Library Building Committee has not met once during all of this. But the lack of public meetings and committee votes to approve invoices didn’t stop the Town from paying for over $300,000 of services during this time, including what appears to be amounts in excess of contracts. Meanwhile, the library has failed to meet its first promised payment to the town.”
“On Friday, the bid deadline finally arrived and only a single company responded with a construction bid that is more than $7 million higher than what was sought in the bidding documents. This is no longer the $35 million project you authorized borrowing for in 2021. It’s not the value engineered $46 million project you authorized borrowing for in December. It is now an approximately $55 million project (if it stays within contingencies) with no evidence that the promised payments will materialize. It’s time to read the writing on the wall.”
Ken Rosenthal added: “You have been told in the past that if you do not continue with the plans for a major renovation of the library, the one that we now know the town cannot afford, that the donors who have pledged their contributions to the library will not support anything else. I have had many years of experience in nonprofit management and was involved in many construction projects. They often came in at prices that initially we could not afford. We would have to make changes, and some were radical changes. But I can tell you this about donors: Donors give to an entity that they believe in, not the project specifically. And when you decide that you’re going to make changes that are necessary to have a renovated, rather than reconstructed library, I assure you that you will find those donors willing to contribute. When this is a realistic project, one that the town can afford and moves forward on, there will be additional donors.”
Vince O’Connor stated, “It’s time to pull the plug on the library project, most importantly because the project that was bid on by one bidder is not the project that was submitted to the voters three years ago. Additionally, it is also time to put the public works and EMT needs where they should have been in the first place. Please do not drag this out and put the community through an extended investigation of how decisions were made and money was spent while the [Jones Library] Building Committee registered no meetings since January. This is the time to put this thing to rest.”
Jones Library Trustee and Treasurer Robert Pam, speaking for himself, not the Trustees, said: “The contractor bid for the library is over $6 million higher than the estimates. I believe the town manager will now reject the bid and end this project. I thought that raising funds for a $46 million project was very challenging, but worth proceeding, based upon results through mid 2023. So I now focus on where this leaves the library.
“When the town agreed to proceed up to the bidding process, we signed an amendment to the Memorandum of Agreement which provides that, in the event that the project ends here, the town and library will address the urgent repairs to the building, including, but not limited to, its roof and HVAC system. The town will proceed with the design, and the library will contribute $1.8 million toward the building repairs within three years of the decision to stop the larger project.
“ I hope that those who have supported the project will consider allowing the funds to remain with the library to help cover upcoming repair costs [and that] those who appreciate the library, whether they have supported the project or not, support our annual fund, which finances all of our programs, operations, and materials each year. With or without the expansion project, the library offers critical services to anyone who wants them.”
— Robert Pam, Jones Library Trustee and Treasurer
“So now we must proceed down a path B. We will have a number of advantages—years of working out how a better HVAC system can function and preliminary work by town facilities. Staff have months of work clearing out unneeded materials. I have always concerned myself with library finances. I have just two requests to those who are listening. First, I hope that those who have supported the project will consider allowing the funds to remain with the library to help cover upcoming repair costs. Second, those who appreciate the library, whether they have supported the project or not, support our annual fund, which finances all of our programs, operations, and materials each year. With or without the expansion project, the library offers critical services to anyone who wants them.”
The Jones Library Building Committee has scheduled a meeting on Zoom at 5 p.m. on Tuesday, May 7. The Town Council is expected to discuss the future of the library project at a May meeting. However, with the pressing need for a new fire station and a new DPW building, as well as road and sidewalk repairs and a planned year-round shelter for unhoused residents, the ability for the town to devote the resources needed to meet the additional cost of the library project is doubtful.
It’s a little unclear, reading the first paragraph that starts with a quote, but it appears that in general that building companies are not interested in this project, and the one company that is knows what is involved and wants more money. In other words, to those people interested in construction, projects with the Town of Amherst are poison. Too much work is demanded and not enough money is offered.
As an aside, this project involves at least in some part, or a large part, property tax, which is a regressive tax.
“regressive tax—A tax that takes a larger percentage of income from low-income groups than from high-income groups.”
Lynn Griesemer and Andy Steinberg, our two councilors at large, wrote an unopposed piece in the Gazette a while ago proposing more of this tax, when I know at least one of these two individuals knows at least something about economics, and how damaging this type of tax is.
On 4/12 an opinion piece appeared in the New York Times, written by Andrew Kahrl entitled, “It’s Time to End the Quiet Cruelty of Property Taxes”. If you have a library card, the library will make this article available to you online for free.
The Town faces several long overdue capital projects and while it cannot build them at the same time there should be a total cost estimate for them so residents can understand that. Cost estimates should be liberal to factor in inflation and cost overruns. It does not make sense to restrict consideration to only one or two projects isolated from the others. The reasons for this are many.
(1) It is prudent to know the total potential property tax impact on each homeowner,
(2) Once these figures are publicized it may well be that there is no agreement to increase the tax rate further. And then some of these projects will never be built, as is the case to date.
(3) If that is the reality, then one has to determine lower cost solutions, if possible.
(4) There should be no reason that planning for these projects is not done now. Many towns form committees of talented staff, professionals and residents to plan for Fire Stations or DPW Facilities years ahead. Or consider hiring a new staff person who is a grad student or retiree with a stipend to coordinate these research efforts. The more years we delay the more these projects will cost.
(5) If state grants are possible then it is important to identify them, prepare what are complex applications and then file them when they are due. Grants can often only be filed at specific times so future planning is crucial. Can existing staff handle these applications? Probably not so it is even more important to consider some dedicated manpower for these tasks. (6) Although it is a long shot; who in the Town will ask our 3 local colleges to contribute in any way? These 3 colleges have a total endowment of almost $4.5 billion dollars.
(7) Perhaps Amherst should have a Mayor, even if just ceremonial because our Town has no principal elected official that the media and public can hear from. 13 Councilors is not designed for fast action or decisions.
(8) If major construction is planned for University Drive could that development carve out some floor space for a Senior Center with or without a subsidy from the Town? Could this be 6,000 to 8,000 square feet? This option might be cheaper than a stand alone facility.
(9) Could this development book end a structure for a Fire House with or without a town subsidy? Perhaps this not an ideal solution or an ideal location. But if costs and tax rates are a concern, then cheaper alternatives deserve research and consideration. As a long time New Yorker, it is amazing to see the town next door (Hadley) just quietly build and complete their library, senior center, public safety complex and now their DPW center. How is this so? It is not because they are a smaller town as some say. Amherst has too much intellectual talent to squander years and years like this. Also worth noting that one can see Butler Buildings and steel frame buildings being built very quickly in nearby towns. Why not here?
(10) The total costs of Library, School, Fire House and Senior Center could be over $160 to $200 Million. And then factor in normal capital purchases and road paving which is very expensive. Amherst needs a total cost estimate. Perhaps it exists in the budget process and if so, then it deserves broader illumination.
I am hoping that the Town Council and Town Manager will see the path forward for the Jones Library is to begin to complete all the delayed maintenance, following a Plan B that is affordable and provides a practical library for our 19,000 library card holders. I understand that in 2024, a library provides services not offered when Ben Franklin developed the first lending library in 1731. But do those services need to all be delivered from the Jones Library building? We are also considering the future of Wildwood School, and there are many who feel this should not be sold off for development; rather it could be the location of a decent Senior Center, a teen center, black box theater, and other town resources. As the town also builds a method to determine what properties are excess, we need to identify all the needs of our town that might be satisfied in a secondary community center, where the Bangs doesn’t have the capacity. And to do it over time, finding funding in the various ways it might be a match. As they say, crisis is opportunity. This is a time for a calmer conversation, not opaque, not oppositional, but collaborative, to do what is needed. It is often pointed out that “crisis as opportunity” is mistranslated – it is more accurately “crisis as inflection point.” A crisis can get worse and worse, if you inflect in the wrong direction. This is our chance to stop and take inventory and have an uncharacteristically public discussion.
Downtown Amherst has become more than a little rundown, and in recent years increasingly “generic” with 5-story dorms looming over the sidewalks. Amherst Forward, the elitist developers’ PAC, has continued to lobby and build not only those 5-story dorms, but has kept the PR machine running for the extravagant Jones Library expansion that the town of Amherst could not afford when it was “only” $37 million. Now that the cost of the proposed library expansion has ballooned to $55 million, it is far past the time to throw in the towel on this boondoggle. It never made sense to tear down a brick addition and destroy the garden space behind the library only to replace it with a larger, siding-clad building. All the justifications for the need to expand the library– dedicated space, clear sight-lines–were merely PR puffery. Renovate the town’s historic library in a fiscally responsible way that balances all the needs in town (adequate school funding, new fire station, new DPW headquarters, senior center, repaving of streets and sidewalks, etc.) and many of us would be happy to support that effort. Continue to indulge the elite group that has so far, been running the town, and many of us will continue to say, no thank you.
One more question (I think): where did the $2 million that’s been spent already come from? ? The town, Jones or state?
Janet, the Town is paying the bills of the Jones Library project out of the Board of Library Commissioners Grant Account, which I believe was set up to hold the monies received from the state. The first (and only, to date) grant installment received in 2021 of $2,774,263 was deposited into this account, and expense payments amounting to $2,222,824 have come out of it as of 4/9/24 (the date I received my last public records request – this information is not available to the public without submitting a PRR).
If the expansion does not move ahead, ~$2.9 million (the first grant installment plus interest) will have to be paid back to the MBLC. Since this account only has about $600,000 remaining in it, it is unclear to me where the $2.3 million will come from to pay back the state. The Jones Library Capital Campaign clearly does not have anywhere near that kind of money on hand (they are three months overdue in paying the Town $850,000).
Will the Library take out a loan against its endowment to pay it, and incur the interest on that loan? Or will the Town miraculously find the money to pay it back for them? I hope not the latter.
The town’s $2+ million costs to date have been paid from the $2.7 million allotment of grant money that the Town received from the MBLC before payments were halted until project funding could be guaranteed. This disbursement must be returned to the state if the project does not move forward.
Here is yet another example of town leaders’ aversion to contingency planning over the course of the tenuous library project.