HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE JONES LIBRARY TRUSTEES MEETING OF 7/17/20
The Albert Bierstadt painting "On The Platte River Nebraska " (1863) was sold by the Town for $2.4 million to pay for the 1993 expansion of the Jones Library. Photo: wikipedia.
The Jones Library Board of Trustees meeting of July 17, 2020, tackled an extensive agenda. Key topics focused on aspects of the proposed demolition/expansion project as well as a detailed report about the recent water damage in the Special Collections. Library services updates were also provided.
Building Project
1) Funds Requested For Possible Additional Sustainability Questions
The recently presented sustainability report from Feingold Alexander Architects (FAA) resulted in further questions which have now been answered by the architects and will be discussed at sustainability committee on July 23, 2020. The committee will analyze the answers and make recommendations as to which, if any, additional green features will be included in the building project. The full Board will make the final decisions. The state grant for the demolition/renovation has not yet been awarded because the State Senate has not yet passed the funding bill and the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners have not yet voted on any funding or on possible delays. Look here for a previous article on the sustainability report.
Sustainability Chair, Trustee Alex Lefebvre, asked and received from the Board, up to $2000 in additional monies should her committee have follow-up questions for FAA. This will come out of the Van Steenberg unrestricted bequest which is now the capital project fund, under the umbrella of the Friends of the Jones Library (Friends).
President Austin Sarat thanked the committee for their good work, and said that the Jones’ interest in sustainability is becoming “a model” in the state. However, he was concerned that there could be an infinite number of questions. “When do we say “genug?” He implied that budget constraints might be the major concern.
2) Community Preservation Act New Application and Costs
The Jones Library’s Community Preservation Act (CPA) request for $1,000,000 for Special Collections was recently rejected because it was deemed insufficiently specific in proving that the funds would go towards maintaining the collection and not just construction of a new area of the proposed library building project.
Trustee Lee Edwards, who serves as one of the Co-Chairs of the Friends Development Committee, asked the Trustees and received funds for an additional $5,000 contract with FAA in order to obtain more specific estimates so that a new CPA application could be submitted. These funds will also come from the Van Steenberg bequest.
The Friends are responsible for raising $6.1 million toward the Town’s share of the proposed Jones Library demolition/expansion project with about $16 million plus interest to be financed by the town and $13.8 million by the State.
Assessments are needed for the costs of HVAC, climate control, fire suppression and appropriate document storage. FAA will also analyze the cost of construction space based upon the square footage required for preservation of the collections’ assets, now planned for an area within the 1928 basement footprint.
Sarat noted that an opinion from the Town’s Counsel supported the first CPA grant proposal so that there is “no problem from the Town.” CPAC, however,had concerns about the grant proposal and received an opinion for the State Department of Revenue disputing the project’s eligibility for CPAC funds. Edwards added that because special collections will now be in the older part of the building, the library should be “doubly eligible.”
Over a year ago, the Trustees voted to use the $273,000 unrestricted Van Steenberg bequest toward the capital campaign. It is not known if other funds have been garnered in addition to the $273,000 from this bequest windfall.
Before today, the following amounts from this bequest have been earmarked. Not all final figures can be verified as the Friends Development Committee does not hold open meetings and do not publish minutes for the public:
Required building redesign by FAA $41,000
FAA Sustainability Report $57,050
Kuhn-Riddle Accessibility $18,600
Capital Campaign Functions $75,000
(Financial Development Agency)
TOTAL $191,650
3) Endowment as a Collateral Guarantee?
Sarat asked the Jones’ Development Committee which consists of Trustees Lee Edwards and Tamson Ely, to investigate possibilities should the Friends fail to raise the $6.1 million that the Jones has promised to provide towards the expansion project. Sarat noted that fundraising is difficult during COVID, and the library needs to know if there are other ways to “fill the hole in fundraising.” The library has had over four year to raise funds.
Sarat first asked if the Library’s endowment could be used as a “collateral guarantee.” He also mentioned the possibility of taking out a mortgage on the building, which the library owns. He mentioned that an asset had been sold for the last expansion (a Bierstadt oil painting). Trustee Levebre wondered if the Trustees needed a list of the value of all library owned artwork.
Treasurer Bob Pam noted that there were many potential problems with such a scenario including the fact that the endowment funds a significant part of the yearly operating budget. The amount budgeted from the endowment investment in FY 2020 was $348,488. He also noted that some of the endowment cannot be touched, and that there may be legal issues since the Friends are now responsible for the capital campaign and not the Jones.
Sarat insisted that we need “to think of contingency plans.” The Development Committee will look into these issues and get back to the full board.
4) Damage in Special Collections
On Monday, July 13, 2020, a leak in the 1990’s HVAC system leaked in the Special Collections Archive Room. Facilities Manager George Hicks said that blockage of one drain caused water to seep through the floor, soak two ceiling tiles which fell on materials and resulted in water flooding materials. Seven hundred books have been moved from the room and tarps, which can create their own microclimate, have been placed over the remaining archives.
Cindi Harbeson, Special Collections Librarian, said that about 150 books sustained significant damage including books by Julius Lester, Helen Hunt Jackson and Daniel Webster. The Jackson family photo album and the Kinsey Memorial Garden scrapbooks were damaged as well as early American imprints. Harbeson added, “Nothing has been destroyed beyond some kind of use.”
There have been leaks in this same location before, and Harbeson said that she has been asked why books were put back in the same location where leaks occurred previously. She said that there were no good alternatives unless space is rearranged.
Indeed, the plan now being considered is moving most of the materials from the Archives Room to the adjacent Reading Room, which is about the same square footage. The Reading Room would then be moved into the Exhibit space.
Sarat believed that there needs to be more of a plan and that “we are being warned that systems in the Jones are not in good shape.” Levebvre added that “we aren’t breaking ground anytime soon” and materials must be preserved in some way.
5) Library Services Update
Interlibrary loan in the state has resumed. Three grants totaling about $15,000 have been given to the Library through the CARES Act and will pay for Kanopy streaming and web programming. The Jones is developing a laptop loan program although they need funds to buy the laptops. Reference librarians are available by phone five days a week from 1 to 4 p.m. Pick up service through the Munson Library is being considered. No library building will be open to the public until at least Labor Day.
Transparency Note: The library posted their entire Trustee meeting packet for the first time.
Terry, once again you are incorrect about FDA’s contract with the Friends. It is for substantially less than the number you quote – less than a third of that amount. Further, your characterization of the project as demolition/expansion is, as ever, misleading. Since the entire 1928 building will actually be preserved and renovated, you should, if you must use the word demolition, describe the project as demolition/renovation/expansion.
Matt,
Thank you for providing additional information as to your firm’s consultancy.
I did take notes at a Jones Trustee meeting that $75,000 was going being to be used for a one year contract including writing grants, developing materials and running the capital campaign. Why don’t you consider writing a clarifying article for the Indy? You could include the current cost of this campaign as well as your plans for raising the $6.1 million dollars the Jones has promised the Town toward the entire project cost.
As to the use of the phrase “demolition/expansion,” it seems apt. The entire 1993 addition (40% of the current Jones Library) will be demolished, then re-built and expanded. No study was done about how to utilize this substantial square footage in the proposed project without total destruction.
The remaining 1928 building will retain its stone exterior. Yet, inside the building, the newest re-design indicates that most historic stairs, woodworking and doors will be ditched, and most walls rearranged on all four floors. Only the current Fiction Room, part of the Children’s Room and the Goodwin Room will be recognizable.
Assuming the “fault” was a drain pan overflow due to a blocked drain pipe, this is a common problem in HVAC systems. There are fairly inexpensive ways of getting warning of a drain problem before the drain pan overflows. Why was something like this not done at least after the first overflow, if not from the beginning? Regular preventive maintenance on the system is a lot less expensive than cleaning up after the problem manifests itself.