Letter: Town Manager Seeks Third Extension on Jones Library Contract Deadline

The following letter was sent to the Amherst Town Council on February 23, 2025.

I am writing to make sure that you are aware that Town Manager Paul Bockelman and Jones Library Board of Trustees President Austin Sarat have for the third time requested an extension of the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners (MBLC) deadline for signing a construction contract for the Jones Library renovation-expansion.  The request letter can be found on page 10 of the packet for the upcoming Feb. 27 Board of Trustees meeting. 

Advice recently received from the Massachusetts Historical Commission and from the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation complicate the project and call its future viability into question.  I urge you to direct the Town Manager to answer the following questions before investing more money and time into the project.

1. How does the town plan to incorporate the MHC and AHCP recommendations into the Section 106 Memorandum of Agreement required to release federal grant funds? The Bockelman/Sarat letter indicates that the town would respond to the MHC during the week of February 17, but no response has been made public. (Editor’s note: that town response was sent to the MHC and to consulting parties to the Section 106 review on February 24.)
   
2. What will it cost of to update the design and construction documents to reflect these changes?
   
3. How will competitive bidding by contractors and sub-contractors for these changes be accomplished and when will this be scheduled?
   
4. What further steps are needed to complete Section 106 and environmental reviews?  This must happen before a construction contract can be signed to gain release of federal grant funds.
   
5. What is the probability that the total project cost will be less than the $46.1 million appropriated by the Town Council?
   
6. What is the anticipated cash flow schedule of borrowing for the project and receiving promised funds from the Jones Library and its Capital Campaign?  This is required for budget planning.
   
7. The Jones Library Trustees have investigated taking out loans to meet their share of project costs from MassDevelopment and People’s Bank.  What size loans are these organizations willing to underwrite, and under what terms? 
   
8. The Jones Library Capital Campaign has previously estimated fundraising expenses totaling $1.1 million by the end of the project.  How do these expenses affect what the Capital Campaign will remit to the Town?  A detailed accounting of fundraising expenses, gift intentions and gifts received as was being reported monthly until October 2024 is needed.

Jeff Lee

Jeff Lee is a career computer programmer and regular observer of local government. He has lived in Amherst since 1994 and in the Pioneer Valley since 1973 when he began grad work in mathematics at UMass. He formerly served on the Amherst Redevelopment Authority and as a member of Town Meeting. He is chair of the Amherst Historic Preservation Coalition. He is a frequent contributor to the Amherst Indy.