Library Commissioners Approve Second Jones Construction Deadline Extension
Photo: https://www.joneslibrary.org/
The Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners (MBLC) met on Thursday (12/5) and took up the question of whether to approve a request from the Town of Amherst to extend the MBLC deadline to start construction on the $46.1 million library renovation-expansion from December 31, 2024 to March 31, 2025. This was the second extension request for the library project and was necessary to complete historical preservation and environmental reviews required by the state and federal governments. In June the MBLC unanimously approved extending the deadline from June 30, 2024 to the end of December.
The deadline is specified in the Massachusetts Public Library Construction Program (MPLCP) regulations at 605 CMR 6.02 which states that the “construction start date will take place in the fiscal year after Board staff approves final project plans and specifications.”
The MBLC considers the signing of a construction contract as marking the start of construction.
The Jones Library originally planned to begin construction in Fall of 2018. The project team has estimated that each year of delay adds approximately $1.6 million in construction escalation costs.
Out of concern over the project’s increasing cost, decreasing value and adverse effects to the historic character of the Jones, the Amherst Historic Preservation Coalition, a consulting party to the Section 106 historic preservation review, has compiled an 18-page report documenting allegations of Waste, Fraud, and Abuse in the Massachusetts Public Library Construction Program-Supported Jones Library Renovation-expansion Project. The group has submitted the report to the attention of the Massachusetts Office of the Inspector General which oversees the proper administration of public funds.
The report focuses on problems in the administration and oversight of $15.6 million in grant funding from the MBLC. It raises issues such as
- Inaccurate claims made in the Jones Library construction grant application which led to excessive costs
- Design demands made by MBLC building specialists that raised the cost of the project and resulted in adverse effects to the historic library
- Lax oversight over irregularities in the public bidding process
- Funding uncertainty due to failure by the library’s Capital Campaign to meet its projected schedule to pass on funds raised to the town and lack of transparency in how $420,000 in fundraising personnel expenses have been spent
- Excessive value engineering conducted long after the planning phase
- Failure to “afford the Massachusetts Historical Commission the opportunity to review and comment as early as possible in the planning stages of the project” as required by MPLCP regulations.
The AHPC report and 12 additional letters sent to the MBLC asking that the extension be denied were countered by 78 letters sent by proponents of the project, asking that the deadline be extended. Almost all of the pro-extension letters copied in three particular recipients – State Representative Mindy Domb, State Senator Jo Comerford and Koby Gardner-Levine, an aide to U.S, Congressman Jim McGovern.
Such consistency suggests that the letters may have been solicited by the well organized, amply funded and politically active Friends of the Jones Library and their Capital Campaign.
Griesemer Speaks for the Town Council
Also advocating for the extension were Domb, Comerford, and Amherst Town Council President Lynn Griesemer. Griesemer made the dubious assertion that the town had initiated “required reviews well in advance.” She also urged back-channel communications to push the long ignored historical review forward.
“And, if I may be so bold,” she wrote, “I would encourage you at the MBLC to reach out to your colleagues in state government at MHC and ask for them to come to the table in good faith and in a timely manner in order to bring this project to fruition.”
Griesemer represented her letter as being “On behalf of the Amherst Town Council,” despite no record of a vote having been taken by the Town Council to authorize her message. Nor did Griesemer inform the MBLC or the Amherst congressional delegation that in June, a Town Council motion to recommend halting the project failed by a single vote, 7-6.
Source: https://mblc.state.ma.us/
Library Commissioners Defend Project
Before taking up the extension question, MBLC Chair Vicky Biancolo asked Building Specialist Andrea Bono-Bunker to report on possible financial implications. Bono-Bunker explained that once a construction contract is signed, Amherst will be owed two additional grant installments. A first installment of $2.7 million was released to Amherst in June 2022 and has been spent down as the project has ground forward.
“This fiscal year is the last year that we could give them that double payment without it seriously impacting our financial outlook moving forward,” said Bono-Bunker.
The motion to extend the Jones library construction start date was made by Commissioner George Comeau, a library trustee from Canton, MA.
Comeau recounted reading all emails received and the report submitted to the Inspector General.
“It is a spirited debate,” he said. “Our work is to move libraries forward, and we do everything in our capacities to do that.”
“I’m not moved by some of the allegations that were made in the submittal to the Inspector General,” continued Comeau. “There are elements that are just not true.” He did not identify which allegations he felt were untrue.
Comeau suggested that opponents of the building project were an “anti-library movement,” a contention that was vigorously rejected by writer Mickey Rathbun during public comment.
The commissioner closed with a statement that may shed light on why the MBLC and Amherst’s state legislators, Domb and Comerford, are allied in pushing the project forward despite its glaring problems.
“There are a number of very complex issues at the local level, but what swayed me the most was the local leaders who stepped forward in the last 48 hours. This is where we derive our support in the legislature and where we derive our support in congress. The people of Amherst have put their trust in these elected officials. For those reasons I put forward this motion,” said Comeau.
Left unexplained was how the Massachusetts Public Library Construction Program advocates for funding to be approved by the Massachusetts Legislature. Jo Comerford is Assistant Vice Chair of the Senate Committee on Way and Means which makes recommendations on the state’s annual budget.
Mindy Domb has been a vocal supporter of the recently passed Massachusetts Economic Development Bond Bill, H.5100, which authorizes $150 million for the construction and rehabilitation of public libraries.
The Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners unanimously approved Amherst’s request to extend the Jones Library renovation-expansion construction start deadline until March 31.
“I’m not moved by some of the allegations that were made in the submittal to the Inspector General,” continued Comeau. “There are elements that are just not true.” He did not identify which allegations he felt were untrue.
For those interested in knowing more, there’s an article on the Amherst Current addressing a few of the untrue allegations. https://theamherstcurrent.org/2024/12/06/fraud-claim-latest-tactic-to-derail-jones-library-building-project/
Wow! Great report! In addition, there will be a signifigant delay and cost while the Library project goes out to bid for a third time because none of the long ignored historical preservation changes can be made by change order, because, per the Office of the Attorney General Bid Unit, necessary changes discovered before a construction contract is signed cannot be made by change order. A rebid is the only solution.
The Office of the Inspector General publishes the Mass. public construction bible, Designing and Constructing Public Facilities, but enforcement of the public construction laws is handled by the Fair Labor Division in the Office of the Attorney General. The OAG would be the place to send the report. They would no doubt take a dim view of the Owner’s Project Manager changing not once but twice and they’d definitely put the kibosh on change orders being used to make all the changes we already know are needed before a contract is signed because that is illegal. I asked the OAG and that is the answer I got. Having to rebid a large project like the Jones Library is pretty rare. In 35 years of public construction experience I never saw two rebids. In a town like Amherst, full of very bright people, this is more than a little embarrassing.
Contrary to the view in the Amherst Current article linked above, the Massachusetts Historical Commission’s letter of December 23, 2016, to Town Manager Paul Bockelman (cc Jones Library Director) did not “direct[] project leaders to return when plans were further along.” Instead, it specified the project data that ought already to have been in the Project Information Form that the Jones Library Director had submitted to the MHC , nearly two months earlier, on October 31, 2016:
“The MHC requires complete photographic coverage of proposed work locations on the exterior and the Interior of the library, keyed to sketch maps or floor plans. Please provide a detailed project description along with an indication of what exterior and interior sections of the building will be removed and whether they will be stored for future reuse. Please provide existing and proposed perspective illustrations of the project, keyed to a sketch map.”
See Grant Application, https://www.joneslibrary.org/DocumentCenter/View/1960/Jones-Library-2016-2017-MBLC-Construction-Grant-Round-Application-January-26-2017-PDF, p. 336 of 526 (pages in counter at upper left of screen).
Well, Joe, what makes you think some of those “very bright people” aren’t also in the hoodwinking business?
At least this (apocryphal?) story illustrates that possibility with humor (so very bright that it’s dark 😉 ):
https://philosphynerds.quora.com/Who-was-the-smartest-criminal-in-history-Like-this
It has become all too obvious that wielding power and control has become the modus operandi of those blinded to inconvenient truths or the common good.