A project to expand and renovate the Jones Library in Amherst, Massachusetts has been the subject of much debate by the town council lately. Earlier this month, councilors narrowly rejected a motion to recommend stopping it, and on Monday, June 17, the body rejected another involving a new contract with the project’s architects.
Plans to renovate and expand the 48,000-square-foot library have been in flux over the past few months.
Totaling over $46 million in estimated costs when heading into April, the project went out for general contractor bids, only for one company to make a steep offer - $7 million more than what the town was hoping to pay.
That bid was later rejected by the town manager as the library’s board of trustees looked into what could be cut from the plans to reduce costs and potentially lure more bids later in the year.
But as trustees met with the project’s architect firm to hash out what could go – like plans to save and restore historic millwork in the building during construction, costing an estimated million dollars – concerns on the town council and with members of the public mounted.
At the council’s meeting on June 3, District 1 Councilor Cathy Schoen motioned to recommend stopping the project, citing ballooning costs and proposed alterations that raised flags for her.
After it failed, 7-6, Schoen motioned to recommend Town Manager Paul Bockelman not enter a new contract with Finegold Alexander Architects – an arrangement that could cost as much as $800,000 in fees for a new design that could potentially save close to $3 million.
That motion was tabled until Monday night.
“There is a way of doing value engineering, but these are cuts,” Schoen said. “I really ask my colleagues to join with me to recommend that the town manager not sign the contract to pay for such design changes in the building.”
The Jones Library dates back to at least 1928. The expansive, multi-story building serves the town of some 40,000 residents and surrounding college students, but is in need of extensive repairs.
That includes overhauling an obsolete heating and cooling system, addressing structural problems such as a leaking atrium that led to flooding in the past, and corroded piping.
It would also increase the library’s square footage, opening up new space for historic item preservation and programming.
However, Schoen argued that cost-saving changes to the project meant to attract more, less-expensive bids, such as opting for asphalt shingles for the roof to potentially save $227,000, jeopardize key aspects of what voters approved in 2021, and what the town put $15.8 million toward for its share of the work.
“I made this motion because the proposed cuts would reduce the building longevity, increase repair and operating costs, undermine sustainability aspects of the building, strip the interior historic, crafted wood features and shift costs to the town,” the councilor said Monday night.
Schoen made her case Monday, about a week after the Board of Trustees detailed how the design fee, which ended up being just under $600,000, would be paid for with library endowment funds, rather than directly by the town.
The project also received more time for finding a general contractor – something for which the MBLC had given a deadline of late June. In a vote earlier in the month, MBLC members granted the board’s request for a six-month extension.
Some of those against Schoen’s motion argued that as the elected board of trustees fronts the architect fee and likely other project costs with endowment funds, the council would be overstepping by getting between them and a new contract with the architects.
“It’s also [been] said that for $46 million, we should expect more - personally, I can't stand the value engineering that's on that list, but I didn't run to be on the [Jones] Library Board of Trustees,” said District 5 Councilor Ana Devlin Gauthier.
Gauthier pointed out Monday that as it continues to raise funds, the board effectively put its endowment up as collateral.
According to the Jones Library Capital Campaign, the project has collected just over $39 million in funding. Sources include $15.8 million approved by the council and voters in 2021, grant funding that includes $14 million from the MBLC and funds raised by the campaign itself.
“While the town borrows the full amount, we have the commitment from the Jones Library trustees, and they have a backstop to pay it if their fundraising doesn't get to where they want it to go,” Gauthier said. “So, no, I'm not concerned that the town will end up paying more than what we've committed to, because we know that there's a backstop there.”
The library endowment is believed to be over $9 million, according to library director Sharon Sharry.
Monday’s motion ultimately failed 8-4, with one councilor voting to abstain.
Members of the Board of Trustees have said that once the redesign is completed, they hope to put the altered renovation plan out for bid this fall.
