Councilors Schoen, Hegner, and Taub have called a special Town Council meeting for Monday night to introduce a motion to rescind the borrowing authorization for the Jones Library Renovation & Expansion. In this post, you’ll find:
Let’s use this opportunity to demonstrate our commitment to renovating and expanding the Library, our excitement for the economic, community, and climate benefits the Library Building Project will bring, and our positive and hopeful commitment to democratic principles of respecting the will of the voters and investing in the public good.
This joint meeting of Town Council and Library Trustees will take place this coming Monday, April 14, 2025 at 6:30 PM on Zoom.
Zoom link https://amherstma.zoom.us/j/86958537235
Write to Town Council prior to Monday, especially if you are unable to attend.
For written comments, using the Town Council Public Comment Form works best because it posts comments automatically as public record. (Comments sent via email aren't posted with the meeting materials.) Please consider forwarding your comments to the Jones Library Trustees, as well. Trustees@joneslibrary.org
To speak in person, you’ll sign up with the Clerk of Council in the Town Room. To speak on Zoom, the Council President will ask people to raise their virtual hands and keep them raised. Generally, they go back and forth between those in the room and those online.
Each speaker will have up to two minutes. Please keep within (and ideally under) the time limit, be respectful, and speak in your own words. Here’s an outline for what you might include:
Who you are: My name is [NAME]. I live on [STREET NAME] in District [1 – 5].
Where you stand: I support the Library Project. [Elaborate on why, if you wish.]
Pledge commitment: I have pledged financial support for the project and will pay my pledge.
Ask: Please reject efforts to stop the project, [OR] please move forward with the project.
Gratitude for their public service in these challenging times: [I’m confident you can find the words for this!]
The Jones Library Building Project:
Additional information is available on each aspect of the Project, including details about current project plans, funding to date, and frequently asked questions elsewhere on this website.
Current building plans are actually more sustainable than the existing building, both in terms of the environmental impacts of construction and ongoing operations. The project eliminates the use of fossil fuels entirely and creates a solar ready and net zero ready building, just as Town Council and voters approved in 2021. Find original details here: September 2021 sustainability report
The August 2024 sustainability analysis shows the positive climate impacts of current project plans. Plans to use low-carbon ceiling tiles, cement, steel, and sheetrock provide almost 90% of the carbon sequestering value of using cross laminate timber as originally planned, but which is beyond our budget.
Signed last month, the historic preservation MOA requires additional carbon friendly measures, including use of natural rather than synthetic slate and preserving additional woodwork for use on site and elsewhere rather than discarding the wood. These measures will further improve the Project’s carbon impact.
Read more about the Project's sustainability features.
Detailed professional estimates commissioned by the Library Trustees in 2020 concluded that the repairs required simply to keep the Library operational would cost the same amount ($14-16 million in 2020 dollars) as the Town’s commitment to the project ($15.8 million). Either option requires the Town to borrow these funds.
In October 2023, Town staff updated the estimates to account for inflation, showing basic repairs would cost $19-21 million in 2023 dollars. Importantly, these estimates do not include asbestos abatement, the extent of which was not known when repair estimates were made or complying with the state’s stretch code for sustainability.
In August 2024, the Friends hired Kuhn Riddle Architects to add details to the earlier repair needs assessments. This latest report does not include cost estimates.
Jones Library Accessibility Review and Recommendations (June 10, 2020) (PDF)
2014 Town Meeting approves funding for planning and design;
2017 Town Meeting approves MBLC application, including Town share of project;
2020-2021 Amherst Town Council process results in 10-2-1 vote to approve project funding;
November 2021 Town wide referendum confirms public support, with 65% voting favorably to fund the project;
September 2022 Amherst Town Council votes 8-5 to continue the project in light of cost escalations;
December 2023 Amherst Town Council voted 12-0-1 to amend the borrowing cap to reflect current project costs.
June 2024 Town Council revisits project after the project receives only 1 bid 18% over budget. Motion to stop project fails 4-8-1.
In addition to these formal, public votes and votes by the Trustees, Project leaders have worked diligently to engage the public in the capital planning process. Here’s a summary prepared last fall as part of the historic preservation review process.
Beyond the Town’s $15.8 million commitment and the original MBLC grant of $13.8 million we have now secured commitments totaling over $10.3 million including additional state funds, two federal grants, and community gifts of all sizes, all before the project was certain. While fundraising has been stagnant in recent months, many supporters have shared their intention to pledge and donate once the project moves forward. We look forward to launching the public phase of fundraising once construction is guaranteed.
Read more about fundraising, including the monthly funding update and list of current donors, and pledge your support online. www.joneslibrarycapitalcampaign.org/funding
Our $1 million NEH grant has not been cancelled. As of Thursday, NEH staff were still employed in the office managing our grant. The upheaval at NEH is real and the outcome is uncertain, but we have not received a grant cancellation letter like many other projects nationwide.
Our $1.1 million HUD grant remains viable. These are the earmark funds secured by Congressman McGovern in 2023 and are thus protected from the administration’s cuts.
The Jones Library Trustees have agreed to remit to the Town funds raised through the Capital Campaign by the time the MBLC makes its last payment, once construction is complete. Any shortfall can be made up by temporary borrowing from the Library’s endowment (a common strategy) or from external sources available to nonprofits at subsidized interest rates. The Trustees have committed to replacing any endowment funds used through ongoing fundraising.
Amendment #3 to Memorandum of Agreement - Between the Town and the Library (June 18, 2024) (PDF)
Amendment to Memorandum of Agreement - Between the Town and the Library (October 27, 2022) (PDF)
Memorandum of Agreement - Between the Town and the Library (April 2021) (PDF)
