Half Million Dollar Jump in Library Project Costs
Photo: Shutterstock
By Mickey Rathbun
On Wednesday, July 23, Town Manager Paul Bockelman shared the results of the rebid of the roof for the Jones Library project in an email to the Jones Library Building Committee (JLBC). The rebid came in approximately half a million dollars higher than listed in the contract with the general contractor (Fontaine Brothers). Although the bids were received by the town on July 15, the town had declined to release them earlier.
The rebidding of the roof was necessary because the original bidding documents from fall 2024 called for an artificial slate roof to replace the existing genuine slate roof on the historic section of the library. However, as a result of the Section 106 historic review process, which had not been completed when the construction project went out to bid, the town later acceded to the Massachusetts Historical Commission’s recommendation that the roof be replaced with genuine slate.
The town appealed to the Attorney General’s office in January 2025 for permission to rebid only the roof sub-bid, for which permission was granted. Because the change in roofing materials would require a different skill set by the subcontractors, a new pre-qualification process was supposed to happen as well.
In a March 2025 memo, Bockelman informed the Town Council that “The library architect, Finegold Alexander Architects (FAA), estimated the additional cost of shifting from synthetic to natural slate roofing to be $228,000” and said that the rebidding would be done by late spring/early summer. He signed a construction contract in April 2025, without knowing the final cost of the roof. District 1 Town Councilor Cathy Schoen offered a warning about this in March saying, “I think it’s highly unusual to not have the contracts in hand when we go to sign them, and to say ‘we’ll just eat into contingency.’ Originally, we were going to rebid the roof to see what the slate roof installation, not just the cost of slate, would be before we went to a contract.”
Notification of the roof rebidding was via an addendum to the BIDDOCS folder on June 18 and hardcopies of the bids were received and opened on July 15, 2025. Despite the needed change in pre-qualifications, only the previously prequalified eight roofing firms for the project were invited to submit new bids, four of whom submitted new bids.
J.D. Rivet & Company of West Springfield was the low bidder, with a price of $1,684,700. This is $490,700 more than what is carried in Fontaine, the general contractor’s contract, which used the original low roofing bid price of $1,194,000 for artificial slate. The other three bids ranged from ~$1,7 to $2.4 million.
Bockelman’s email to the JLBC indicated that “Fontaine’s contract value will need to be adjusted to cover the increased scope and cost of the roofing work.” The General Contractor typically also adds an administration fee to the new bid amount.
Bockelman also noted that the additional half million in cost would come out of the project’s contingency fund, dropping it from the ~$3.6 million reported in November 2024 to $2.8 million, or ~7.6% of the project budget. These figures represent a ~25% drop in contingency from what Bockelman reported to the Town Council in March 2025. Project contingency is meant to cover all additional cost increases that the project incurs resulting from unforeseen developments, such as cost increases for materials and labor and unknown structural problems that could arise as demolition and reconstruction begins.
This was always the plan. Begin construction and tearing down the library and then hand the bill to the town which will be forced either to pick up the tab or do without the Jones.
And this is just the beginning of the predictable cost overruns and shortfalls in fundraising. All these (predictable) expenses will be passed on to us.
It would be helpful to get an update on the fundraising since it’s a big number to raise. Many are wondering about it and Amherst is the back up for unmet costs.
It’s part of the old neocapitalist playbook:
Privatize the profits,
Socialize the losses.
The problem:
How do we identify the profiteers, and how do we hold them financially accountable?
[ https://www.investopedia.com/terms/p/privatizing-profits-and-socializing-losses.asp ]
It appears that UDrive is a perfect location with lots of parking and bus access. The rent is a small fraction of what the interest on the $46m debt will be. Jones should stay on UDrive and repair and restore the 1928-1993 buildings as a downtown branch and secure home for Special Collections. It’s not too late if we act fast. The legal fees will still be less than the repairs and debt.
Hilda’s suggestion is brilliant! Was this option ever considered? It means, of course, an entire reworking of the project. Is it too late to do this?
Good idea, Hilda.
Where are the candidates for Library Trustee who will commit to financial accountability??
I am excited by Hilda’s idea!
Is it possible to get Hilda’s idea above to a town vote asap?
Especially in light of the now $500k (more sure to come) library cost overruns?
Holey moley, this is one of the important benefits lost by the passing of Town Meeting …thinking outside the box and doing so for the health and welfare of town residents instead of for special interests and vanity projects. You go Hilda! And thank-you for your continued commitment to what is honest and true.
Hilda’s idea would have been useful a few years ago but I’m afraid the library ship has sailed. Too bad for the 7000 property owners who make up the tax base and who are going to support an ugly library built to support a 50,000 person population (I guess the Amherst College, Umass and Hampshire students don’t have access to libraries) for which we can thank Austin Sarat and Sharon Sharry, who pushed this through instead of a reasonable remodel. Library patronage is dropping – it’s half what it was 10 years ago – which makes this project even more inappropriate.
Perhaps the 1928-93 Jones Library could have a similar fate as the Delaware River?
Half a century ago this week, a similarly destructive and over-priced boondoggle
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tocks_Island_Dam_controversy
was scuttled by direct action (and sympathy of USSC Justice as well as of two governors for a neighboring state), the area became a national park, remaining to this day a favorite place for those of us who love to camp, canoe, hike, and ride — as well as preserving prime alluvial plains land for farming and wildlife.
Who will volunteer to be the “campers” and “canoeists” and “hikers” and “riders” and “farmers” and “wildlife” for the Jones?
or
Like the folks who organize to sit peacefully in the tops of old-growth redwoods to prevent them from being felled, maybe we need a team of good ol’ Town Meeting members to peacefully occupy the 1928-93 Jones Library building to ensure the wrecking ball doesn’t fall!
When are the wrecking balls arriving on the Jones Library site to begin demolishing the building? Anybody know?
Kathleen (and everyone else),
Great question – but no answer has been provided. Amazingly, no one at the building committee meeting last week provided an updated project schedule and staging plan and no one asked for one (except for Town Councilor Pam Rooney who was advocating for her constituents and trying to get information to share with residents who have been asking for this).
When will it start? How long will it take? How will downtown be impacted by construction vehicles, staging, etc.? I feel like I’m watching an SNL skit: “Nobody knows”
Thank you, Hilda. If anyone in this Amherst knows about library renovations, it would be you. Your beautiful and extremely generous gift to all residents, is reflected in your huge donation to the town, to renovate the recently completed North Amherst Library. Thank you!
One of the greatest ways to truly problem solve is to freely listen to ideas. Some people have the amazing ability to think “out of the box.” Many times these ideas are the ones that resolve a problem.
It is quite obvious to many that Amherst has an unresolved spending problem. There seems to be an endless “wish list” and reaching into taxpayer’s pockets to fund these “wishes” happens very often. Unfortunately, many feel they have little to say about the spending and no control over it.
Hilda has been in town longer than most. She knows the politics, the games and the players. She has been involved in real estate, so she knows the costs of renovations and cost overruns. She is well read and well educated. She knows much of Amherst’s history. She has always been active in town politics.
She has come up with an “out of the box” possible solution to a huge issue in town. Not an easy one, but probably still doable.
Perhaps, people should really listen and see if there is a way to relook at this increasingly costly, overpriced Jones Library renovation project.
At least consider the idea, bring it to a town wide vote, and give it a chance to help the town control its overspending.
Brilliant. Hilda’s idea is based upon extensive knowledge and significant experience in service to the town. It should be brought to vote.
Thank you Hilda Greenbaum and all the people responding so positively to her idea. I hope this idea, or something similar to it, gathers momentum and is put to a town wide referendum. My sense is that much of the continued support of the Jones library demolition, addition and renovation is coming from the wealthier members of Amherst. I think a town vote, at this time, would show that the majority of people have soured on the project. We want good libraries in our schools, good schools, public works budgets commensurate with the rest of Massachusetts and more affordable housing.
Better than a referendum would be competitive races in all the precincts and town wide positions and candidates who could make the job of councilor doable by restructuring Council committees, who would not be beholden to political action committees to create the agendas for town governance, and who would not be cynical or duplicitous about the voices of town residents.
There is still time to take out papers and to formulate principles of town governance which would challenge its current impossible organization and the concentration of power which follows from it. Then let the voters know so that they can feel excited about the possibilities of the November election.