Jones Library Building Committee Chooses Officers, Recommends Field Trip
Architects rendering of the proposed renovated Jones Library. Finegold Alexander Architects. Photo: Jones Library
Report on the Meeting of the Jones Library Building Committee, January 27, 2022
Present
Austin Sarat (President of Library Trustees), Alex Lefebvre (Library Trustee), Sharon Sharry (Library Director), Paul Bockelman (Town Manager), Sean Mangano (Finance Director), Angela Mills (Executive Assistant to Town Manager), Anika Lopes (Town Council), George Hicks-Richards (Library Facilities Supervisor), Christine Gray-Mullen (resident), Ken Guyette (Owner’s Project Manager from Colliers), Ken Romeo (Colliers Senior Project Manager)
The meeting was conducted over Zoom.
Meeting Packet | Meeting Recording
The Jones Library Building Committee (JLBC) is a nine-member group charged with overseeing the design and construction of the Jones Library Renovation and Expansion. It is currently down one resident member for which interviews are being conducted.
The meeting began with election of officers. Austin Sarat was elected committee chair and Christine Gray-Mullen the vice-chair. Angela Mills will serve as clerk.
Owner’s Project Manager (OPM) Ken Guyette introduced his Colliers colleague Sr. Project Manager Ken Romeo who will assume day-to-day responsibilities for the project. Romeo has experience working on other historic building renovations.
Guyette said that his immediate task is to finalize a contract with Finegold Alexander Architects (FAA) to handle design work. FAA has initially proposed a fee that is 10% over budget, reported Guyette. He will work on lowering and consolidating the design fees.
Once the designer is on board the committee will create a project schedule. Sharon Sharry noted that conferring with the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners should be done ASAP. “They have some concerns,” she said. Sharry also advised a discussion with Eversource on possible energy credits.
A discussion of what subcommittees must be created resulted in identifying the need for three: design, outreach, and sustainability. The design subcommittee’s purview, it was stated at the previous JLBC meeting, will include historical preservation considerations.
Later on, a finance group and a subcommittee to oversee the move of library services to an interim location are expected to be needed.
Sarat asked what the work of the outreach subcommittee will entail. Town Manager Paul Bockelman responded, “The success of this project will be measured in many ways by how successfully we’ve engaged with the community along the way in terms of the design. There will be a lot of voices who have opinions, and we want to have ample opportunity for people to express those opinions. The most important thing is to be transparent and inclusive while making decisions in a timely manner.”
OPM Guyette followed by cautioning against paralysis by analysis. “We want to get input from the community,” he said, “but we must weigh that against what the professionals who utilize the building day in and day out [are saying).”
The meeting concluded with Bockelman asking if there are libraries that the committee should visit as examples of what the project team is thinking about. Christine Gray-Mullen suggested the recently renovated Providence Public Library, and George Hicks-Richards mentioned the Holyoke library as an example of a construction project where old meets new.
Director Sharry recommended the Cambridge Public Library. “They have a historic piece that is tacked onto a new piece. The sight lines are perfect. You know exactly where the elevator is… it is very clearly laid out. Cambridge is my number one.”
“They have more money than God,” Bockelman remarked.
His metaphor is apt. In 2009, Cambridge, with a population of 119,000 completed a $90 million expansion and renovation of its 1888-era library, resulting in a new building of 104,000 square feet. Amherst, with a population of 39,000, is expanding and renovating the Jones Library, built in 1928, at a project cost of $36.3 million. The resulting library will be 63,000 square feet.
Cambridge is ranked the fourth wealthiest community in the Northeast, and its property tax rate is the ninth lowest in Massachusetts. Amherst has the ninth highest property tax rate in the state, 372% higher than Cambridge’s. Income-wise, Amherst Center is the poorest community in Massachusetts.
The JLBC will next meet on Tuesday, February 8, at 4:30pm.
Re: “Amherst Center is the poorest community in Massachusetts.” Literally true, but the context is important: those with low income for statistical purposes include many college students, since the Amherst Center census tract includes the largest public university in the state. For many students, the money needed for tuition and dorm fees, or for $1,200 per bedroom per month apartments in private ‘dorms’ in the town center, understandably comes from parental support rather from their own earned income. Those students still show up as impoverished on statistical reports. This fact about our demographics is also important in understanding the claim that the Jones has a service population of 51,000, as the MBLS was urged to believe when library renovation funds were being applied for.
Important point, Steve. We need to understand Amherst’s demographics. 39,000 is often cited as our current population, but how many students are included in that figure? More to the point, how many homeowners pay the property taxes needed to fund not only the extravagant library expansion/renovation but a new DPW headquarters, a woefully overdue new fire station and what looks to be shaping up to be a marvelous new elementary school? Craig Meadows examined this issue a while ago, but based on the responses he received (none), not many Indy readers are concerned about tax increases. We need a larger community discussion.
Here’s Craig’s Letter: Capital Plan Portends Substantial Tax Increases For Amherst Residents
https://www.amherstindy.org/2021/02/26/letter-capital-plan-portends-substantial-property-tax-increases-for-amherst-residents/
Adding to Steve’s reply: Tax rates are deceptive. The number that is more informative is total tax bill. The average residential tax bill in Amherst is $8609, while in Cambridge, it is $10,692. Why? Because the median home value in Cambridge is $1.8 million! In Amherst it is $428,000. Of course this doesn’t mean Cambridge isn’t wealthy. They also have a huge commercial tax base, which I’m guessing has kept the residential tax rate down.
Steve and Gerry – Thanks, you raise a valid point that there is more to metrics describing Amherst and other cities than meets the eye.
What I took from the Town Manager’s remark was a suggestion that before becoming too enamored with the $90 million Cambridge Library renovation, JLBC members should remember that there is a limit to what Amherst can afford to spend on its building projects, and Amherst’s limit is much lower than Cambridge’s limit.
I agree with Christina that a serious look at Amherst’s high property tax rate and how it may affect housing affordability, homelessness, rents, business retention, student debt and economic justice is long overdue.