Repeated Rejections of Library Funding From State Historic Commission Were Hidden From Town Council and the Public

The Jones Library Director, other library officials, and top town government officials delayed public acknowledgement of repeated failures of efforts to obtain $2 million in state historic tax credits (HTC) for the Jones Library demolition/expansion project. Details of these efforts were obtained via public record requests by the Indy. Repeated requests for comment to library director Sharon Sharry have gone unanswered.

The withheld information would have been relevant at several decision points in the project’s long history including the Town Council vote to authorize an additional $10 million in borrowing in December 2023 and the Council’s narrow defeat in June 2024 of a motion to deny an extension for project rebidding. The MHC’s finding that the project violated 5 of 10 of the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for the Preservation of Historic Properties would also have been relevant to decisions of the Amherst Historic Commission (AHC) about the library’s historic preservation restriction agreement in September and October 2023.

Communications among members of the project team demonstrate Jones Library Trustee President Austin Sarat and Amherst Town Manager Manager Paul Bockelman were aware of the failed state applications prior to Town Council and AHC actions on the project. Nate Malloy, Senior Planner and staff liaison to the AHC, was also aware of the letters from the MHC. 

The library project team has applied for historic tax credits four times: in April 2023, August 2023, February 2024, and April 2024. Each time, the MHC has rejected those applications because of the violations of federal standards for historic rehabilitation. Nonetheless, the $2 million in historic tax credits have been repeatedly included in reports of funds raised.  

First Application/Rejection
Each application for HTC must be accompanied by a letter of support from the local historic commission. Because of problems achieving quorum, the AHC did not meet to discuss the letter for the April 2023 application. Instead, on April 4 Sharry told Sarat, the HTC consultants (Epsilon), members of the capital campaign, and the project designers from Finegold Alexander Architects (FAA) that “Nate [Malloy] would LOVE a rough draft of a letter of support” which was then circulated among that group and then passed along to Malloy and Bockelman. The letter was sent from AHC Chair Robin Fordham to the MHC on April 28 “to express support on behalf of the Amherst Historical Commission” despite the fact that the AHC had not discussed or deliberated on the historic tax credits yet. In May, Sharry excitedly reported to Epsilon that “The chair of the AHC signed the letter!!!!!!!!!!!” earning the response, “This is great news! So they ended up signing a letter based on the presentation from several years ago?” Sharry confirmed, “Yes! [smiley face emoji]” 

In June of that year, library Capital Campaign Manager Ginny Hamilton informed state elected officials Mindy Domb and Jo Comerford and Amherst Town Council President Lynn Griesemer that they “anticipate that we will be rejected in this first round” but expected to succeed in subsequent applications. 

On August 18, 2023, the MHC rejected the first application stating, “Because the application is incomplete, the MHC is unable to determine whether the project meets the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Historic Rehabilitation, which is a requirement of the historic rehabilitation tax credit law and regulations.” Project consultants hired to prepare and submit these applications (Epsilon) emailed Capital Campaign member Matt Blumenfeld and Sharry on August 21 implying that approval in the next application was likely after additional documentation related to proof of revenue was delivered. No explanation was offered or requested as to why the required documentation had not been included in the original submission. Trustee President Sarat was notified by Sharry in an August 21, 2023 email with the subject “April 1, 2023 MA Historic Tax Credits Rejection Letter” and the message “What’s next? [smiley face emoji]”. 

Second Application/Rejection
A second application was submitted in August 2023. On August 4, Sharry asked Malloy, “Can we get an updated letter of support? Same words, just a new date.” Fordham again sent a letter of support on behalf of the AHC on August 28 without the AHC having discussed it at a public meeting. The AHC held public hearings regarding demolition approval for the 1993 addition to the Jones and historic preservation in September and October. No mention was made at that time of the failed first application or recently submitted second application; the AHC approved the demolition and found no problems with the project with respect to historic preservation. 

On November 22, 2023, the MHC notified Sharry, and the Amherst Historic Commission of their concerns about planned loss of historic fabric, visibility of the new addition from the south, replacement of real slate with synthetic slate, and demolition of parts of the 1928 building. The letter also noted that a Section 106 process would be required for the project. Sharry attached this letter to a December 1 email to Sarat letting him know about the second application submittal. She also told him that they expected to receive formal responses from the MHC regarding the first two applications by late December, less than two weeks from the scheduled Town Council vote. This email was forwarded to Capital Project Manager Bob Peirent on December 5.

These email communications show that both Sharry and Sarat were aware that $2 million in historic tax credits were tenuous BEFORE the Town Council took its vote to authorize up to $46.1 million in debt for the project. This information was not shared with the public nor included in the council’s December 18 packet.  

These email communications show that both Sharry and Sarat were aware that $2 million in historic tax credits were tenuous BEFORE the Town Council took its vote to authorize up to $46.1 million in debt for the project. This information was not shared with the public nor included in the council’s December 18 packet.  

On December 29, 2023 the MHC rejected the second application citing violations of multiple standards of the Secretary of Interior for Historic Preservation. Meanwhile, the project was sent out to bid on January 10, 2024 with an original due date of March 6. However, the bidding process stretched out with multiple revisions and extensions of due dates until the general contractor bids were finally set to be due on April 26, 2024. 

Third Application/Rejection
Sharry began asking for the requisite AHC letter of support for a third application on December 15, 2023, before the Town Council vote on borrowing. On the day after the Town Council vote, Malloy shared the November letter from MHC (noting their concerns about how the project would have negative historic impacts) with Chair Fordham and Vice Chair Madeline Helmer. 

The AHC met on January 8 to discuss the planned changes to the interior of the 1928 building but neither the November or December letters from the MHC or the two rejections were shared with the commission or public at that time. On January 9, Vice Chair Helmer sent the third letter of support to the MHC with the same language as the first two letters. 

On January 22, Sarat and Bockelman were notified by Sharry via email that the second HTC application had been rejected and that plans were being made to support a third application by recruiting others to lobby in its favor. She reported that the following actions were planned: Library Trustee Lee Edwards, via contact with UMass leadership, was to pursue Secretary of State Galvin’s support; State Representative Mindy Domb was to lobby MHC Executive Director Brona Simon to change her mind about the adverse effects noted in their assessment; Hamilton was to contact the NEH because if this agency were to “determine there are no adverse effects, [it] would help secure our federal funding; not sure how this would help or hurt the MHTC [tax credit] effort. Once we submit our 2 responses, we will ask NEH to call MHC to advocate for us.”

The third application was sent to the MHC on February 8, 2024 including library team comments on the concerns noted by the MHC in previous applications. On April 26, the MHC rejected the third application. Sharry emailed Sarat on April 29 to tell him and said that a fourth application had been sent (see below). 

Sole bid exceeds debt authorization 
On April 26, a lone general contractor bid was received for the project which was almost $7 million higher than the authorized borrowing amount. In response, the library team sought an extension from the MBLC (Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners) in order to pursue rebidding in the hopes of achieving a lower bid through “value engineering” and increasing contractor interest in the project. On June 3, District 1 Town Councilor  Cathy Schoen brought a motion to advise Town Manager Bockelman to not authorize this action. It was narrowly defeated 6-7.

At no point during the deliberations did Sharry, Sarat, Bockelman, Malloy, Edwards, or any member of the Capital Campaign or design team make the Town Council or public aware of the three failed HTC applications. Despite the diminishing odds of obtaining the state tax credits, these funds were still included without caveats in public documents regarding the status of the project. 

Fourth Application
The fourth application was sent on April 30. On July 15, Sharry told Bockelman and Sarat that the first three applications had been rejected and that they were awaiting a response on the fourth. Then, in an August 23 email to Helmer, Bockelman, and Sarat, Sharry reported that the fourth application had been rejected on August 14 stating “That’s when we finally completely understood that the MHC was done with our project.”

Further Revelations PossibleCommunications received by the Indy so far have revealed that Library Director Sharry, Jones Trustee President Sarat, and Town Manager Bockelman have withheld critical information about the status of historic tax credits from the public, the Town Council, and other town boards and committees as they deliberated and took action based on incomplete information. Record requests have only been partially fulfilled to date. This story will be updated as more information becomes available.