Opinion: Who Is Looking out for the Taxpayers in Jones Library Plans?

According to the Town Manager’s comments at the May 20 Town Council meeting, decisions about the future of the Jones Library rest entirely in his hands and those of the Jones Library Trustees. The Town Council will have no say about any aspect of the project unless they are asked to approve borrowing more money for the project at some future date. The Jones Trustees have been clear about their intention to see the expansion project proceed and they are quite willing  to spend the town’s money to keep it going. They have already spent more than the $1.8 million that they agreed to contribute if the project was halted (it’s been used up in design expenses) and will likely continue to accrue costs in the neighborhood of $100,000 per month for redesign and project manager costs and the preparation of new bidding documents if the deadline for the project is extended for another six months in order to put it out to bid again.

They also seem uninterested in developing a meaningful plan to repair and renovate the library. Despite advances in technology and sustainability in the seven years since the creation of the Western Mass Builders plan for repairs, no serious discussion has taken place about updating these estimates, phasing in repairs, or about exploring more modern and efficient energy options and the incentives that may be available to make them more affordable. For instance, ground or air source heat pumps are less expensive than replacing the existing gas-fired boiler. Synthetic slate for the roof (specified in the expansion plans) is less expensive than real slate (specified in the previous repair estimate). But these cost and energy savings have not been discussed by those charged with developing a repair plan. And, despite the trustees claims that the space in the Jones is not adequate for its programs, the Popp report from 2015 showed how the interior of the library could be reconfigured, potentially at modest cost, to incorporate a larger children’s room, a teen room, classrooms, and a café. 

It seems clear to me that, if granted the extension, the trustees will continue to spend the town’s money and, when the new bids come in, will again claim that too much money has already gone into the project to walk away from it. Members of the Jones Library Buildings and Facilities Committee who are charged with devising a plan for repair are already arguing that proceeding with the expansion is the only reasonable option.  Of course, the main reason so much money has been devoted to the project is that the trustees have refused to consider any alternatives to their bloated and overpriced plan.

As the town faces perhaps another $600,000 in expenses to keep the project on life support and the prospect of having to borrow millions more to get it across the finish line, the list of unmet needs in the town gets larger and those needs are becoming more urgent. The needs of our schools, roads and sidewalks, the long-awaited new firehouse and DPW headquarters, senior center, and community health will all have to take a back seat as more and more public money is directed to this insatiable library project with its out-of-control costs. 

When the Town Council voted to borrow $35.6 million for what then seemed like an extravagant project, residents were assured by the Town Council that the project would not receive a penny more. Then, last December, the council was asked for another $10 million with assurances that there would be no more requests. Then, in April, the bids for the project came in and the project found itself another $7.2 million short. And while supporters have not yet asked to borrow that additional sum, they are asking the town to take on additional design expenses in order to seek an improbably lower bid in six months, although cost escalation makes this extremely unlikely.

Who will put a stop to this? Several town councilors voiced concerns at the Town Council meeting of May 20 about the money continuing to be spent but were told the matter is now out of their hands. We don’t even know who is responsible for paying these new costs that are adding up, though Bockelman said it will likely be the town. Who will finally do a much-needed analysis of the finances of this project and their implications for the town? Somebody needs to get real about this project. Who will it be?

Maura Keene is a retired obstetrician-gynecologist at BayState Health Systems. Her four children are graduates of the Amherst schools. She has lived in Amherst since 1982. She is a frequent contributor to the Amherst Indy.