Opinion: Mismanagement Imperils Jones Library Funding

This version of this column appeared previously in the Daily Hampshire Gazette.

Amherst officials have repeatedly ignored their duty to comply with the provisions of the National Environmental PolicyAct (NEPA) and Section 106, a federal regulation meant to insure that “adverse effects” to historic buildings are “avoided, minimized, or mitigated” to the fullest extent possible. The town’s failure to adequately comply with Section 106, and its failure to even address NEPA, have significantly jeopardized the expansion project, whose financial viability has been shaky at best.

In spring 2023, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) provisionally awarded the project grants totaling $2.1 million. Both agencies made clear that the awards were contingent on compliance with NEPA and Section 106, and advised that the reviews be completed before the scope of the project was finalized. Yet, in January 2024 the town put the project out to bid without having done either review. The sole bid, $6.5 million over budget, was rejected. Had a successful bid come in and a contract been signed, the town would likely have forfeited the HUD and NEH grants. The Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners (MBLC) had required the town to sign a construction agreement by June 31, 2024 as a condition of releasing its $15.6 million grant. On June 6, 2024 it granted the town’s request for an extension until Dec. 31, 2024.

Section 106 requires that the town and the Massachusetts Historical Commission (MHC) negotiate a Memorandum of Agreement  (MOA) resolving the project’s adverse effects. Although the town had long been aware of its duty to conduct the Section106 review, it did not begin the process until late August of this year, a few weeks before sending the project out for rebidding. The town received two bids on October 31 and has asked the contractors to hold their bids for 60 days, expecting to complete the Section 106 review and sign a contract before the Dec. 31 deadline.

Facing time pressure of its own making, the town issued an unrealistically compressed timeline for the review. In early October, the town submitted to the MHC its finding that “the Project will have an ‘adverse effect’ on historic properties through the physical destruction of part of the Jones Library, alterations to the interior circulation and historic materials, and construction of a rear addition, and changes to the visual setting of the Amherst Central Business Historic District and the Strong House.” But the town neglected to advise the MHC of the time and place of its Consulting Parties Meeting on Oct. 9, although the MHC is by law a “Consulting Party” and is the agency responsible for negotiating a Section 106 MOA.

In early November, Project Manager Bob Peirent received a wake-up call in the form of a letter from Brona Simon, MHC’s Executive Director, In her letter, Simon expressed dismay that the Town appeared not to understand the MHC’s pivotal role in the Section 106 process and further, that MHC had been unable to attend the Consulting Parties Meeting because it had not been given the details of the meeting.  

Simon’s letter concurred with the town’s findings of adverse effects and requested that the town provide an “alternatives analysis” that should, at a minimum, include alternatives analysis of roof materials, staircases and circulation, woodwork, and the size, scale, and massing of the proposed addition. It thus appears that the MHC may require substantial changes to the proposed project, even possibly downsizing or eliminating the addition. The town’s response to the MHC was basically that its ten years of planning incorporated its analysis of alternatives to minimize the projects’s adverse effects and that therefore it could offer no further alternatives. The town has yet to announce any plans to comply with NEPA.

Because of its disregard for historic preservation and environmental regulations, the town has had to ask the MLBC for a further extension, to March 31, 2025. Assuming the extension is granted, it is unclear how the two contractors whose bids have already been on hold since Oct. 31 will respond. Labor and materials costs could increase in the meantime. Any changes resulting from the Section 106 review could add significantly to the project’s cost. The town has insisted that changes will be addressed by change orders once the construction contract has been signed. Depending on the nature of the changes, that may not be feasible.

I must emphasize that NONE of these problems has been caused by the significant number of Amherst residents who have objected to the project in its present form, whom various town officials and employees refer to as “naysayers,” “agitators” and “stinkers.” Rather, these issues have arisen because the project has been poorly conceived and managed from the very beginning.

Despite Town Manager Paul Bockelman’s statement that he is the sole decision maker from this point forward, town councilors are stewards of the town’s financial resources. Regardless of their individual views of the project, they must demand that the Finance Committee complete a thorough analysis of the viability of the project and its impact on the town.

A lot has changed since the last budget analysis a year ago. There is a very real danger that the Town will lose $2.1 million in federal funding, in addition to the $2 million already lost in historic tax credits. Fundraising has secured only $2.2 million in donations and another $2.2 million in pledges, plus $1 million in Amherst Community Preservation Act funds.

Even if all pledges and federal funds are realized, the library will still need to raise at least $7 million more, a figure that doesn’t include whatever additional costs are incurred to meet Section 106 requirements.

A majority of town councilors have ignored the inconvenient truth of the library project’s ballooning costs. But they cannot avoid their responsibility to safeguard the town’s financial security.

Mickey Rathbun is a resident of Amherst.