Verbatim: Excerpts from the Public Forum on Authorizing Deeper Jones Library Debt

Verbatim is an occasional feature from Kitty Axelson-Berry that offers extended excerpts from transcripts from public meetings, quoting key people speaking about important issues facing the town.

“There is nobody who is dedicated to children, youth, or the vulnerable in our community who doesn’t love books and reading and [who hasn’t] spent time in the library in any town they lived. This is not about being against the library nor…against books. I know everyone is feeling very self-satisfied with an electoral system, very very clearly designed with very large districts that are very expensive to run in. And so we’re hearing a lot of references and comparisons that only refer to residents of a certain income level. It would be very interesting for town officials to study who is voting — and who is reading. Because if we’re so focused on the most expensive library in Western Mass., we might ask, ‘How are children learning to read?’ […] It’s incredible to watch such self-satisfaction, when there are high degrees of unmet needs here, and I’m not going to listen to how we ‘don’t support the library’, because you all are not in touch with the needs in town.” — Isolda Ortega-Bustamante

“When I was campaigning to become a [library] trustee, of the people I spoke to over 98% of them expressed approval for the project. My position was clearly in favor of continuing the renovation and expansion, aligned with the five incumbents that were seeking reelection. […] Voters made their choice, once again supporting the office holders, who are in favor of continuing renovation and expansion project as planned. To reject the project would be a costly mistake. We would lose over $23 million of federal, state, corporate and personal funds.” — Eugene Goffredo, Library Trustee Elect

“The merits of the project have been debated and resolved, not to everyone’s satisfaction but according to an extensive and robust six-year process that involved community listening sessions, boards, commissions, and committees consisting of elected and appointed members, the acquisition of private and federal funding and a definitive town vote in 2021…I submit that when specious arguments detract from following procedure and protocol, the credibility of the town is jeopardized, the well-being of current and future projects are at risk, and the town government is undermined.

In my travels to other schools to watch my kids play at other athletic teams, I’ve been struck by how superior other schools facilities are, and I’ve always put that in perspective in terms of community values. […] This past summer I spent some time in downtown Madison, Wisconsin, and in the central library I took photos [of the] well-lit, clean, extensively stocked library facility. I sent them to my book-loving friend Sharon, with the expectation that we would soon have this facility that reflected the values of our community. And I still believe that. — Deb Leonard, School Committee Elect

“I would like to remind folks that we just finished an election season and, as you know, I was a candidate, and was very closely following and giving statements as to what should be done about the library. I would just like to remind folks here that many of the counselors present also gave statements. For example, Cathy Schoen, Lynn Griesemer, Pam Rooney, Jennifer Taub, Anna Devlin Gauthier, Mandi Jo Hanneke, Andy Steinberg, and Ellisha Walker all said that the town should not be at risk for more money than the $15.8 million plus $9 million in debt service.

And the day [after the elections were concluded] this agenda item came up, to ask for more money for the library. Funny how that happens. I think a lot of people voted for you all thinking that this wasn’t going to happen. But it is happening. And this is a holiday week. A lot of us are with our families, a lot of us are off, and this timing is really terrible. It’s not good for democracy to be making these kind of decisions right now. We did vote yes on this project two years ago. The amount of money was a lot smaller and there were features that are no longer going to be in the project. The project has changed.

And I want to talk about some of the things that we could do with this money…saying no to this authorization is not just a ‘no,’ it’s also a yes. It’s a yes to a lot of other things that people in our town want. I knocked on many doors in my campaign, hundreds. I talked to hundreds of voters. And they want other things. They want better roads, they want better sidewalks. Some of our seniors would like to age in place, but they can’t because the property taxes are too high and they’re on a fixed income, and projects like this are going to make them go up even more.

We can say ‘Yes” to CRESS, we can say ‘Yes’ to DEI, we can say ‘Yes’ to sustainability, we can increase the number of personnel, we can say yes to our teachers, who just wanted a fair salary and para educators who just wanted a living wage.

I have children in the elementary school. And… we could not find $30K for a para educator for a library that my child uses day in and day out, but somehow we can find another $10 million for this building that we rarely visit. Our priorities are off.” — Amber Cano Martin

“We appreciate all of the pledges and donations that have already been made. These are important and they are very much why we have some confidence to go forward. But in the next two weeks or so, the Town Council will take a vote on whether the project proceeds. Now would be an excellent time to make or increase pledges and cash…and turn any pledges that have been made into cash because this is exactly when people on the council want to know whether it’s real, and I would like to be able to say [to the council] that over the next couple of weeks there will be additional contributions. And of course, this being November, it’s an excellent time — the Internal Revenue Service recommends that people who want to get a tax deduction this year do so as soon as possible. So I’m just going to say what’s obvious and clear to everybody: If you want to make the project move forward, it would be an excellent time to increase or become a new donor to this project.” — Bob Pam, Library Trustee

“If you do go forward [with the library expansion], I think the memorandum of agreement needs to be tightened up to make it clear that the library is responsible for all of the costs beyond the MBLC contribution and the town’s $15 million contribution, however high they may go, and amended to require the library to pay back the town for any interim borrowing to cover the library’s share…and there needs to be a schedule for the library’s commitment to come in earlier in the project.” — Rudy Perkins