CPA Committee’s First Pass Still Nearly $1.6 million over Budget
Photo: amherstma.gov
This meeting was held over Zoom and was recorded.
Present
Katie Zobel (Chair), Marc Barrette, Jonas Cox, Jason Dorney, Robin Fordham, Angus McLeod, Tim Neale, Bob Saul, and Ellen Keiter
Staff: Leah Carver (Senior Accountant), Sean Mangano (Finance Director), and Dave Ziomek (Assistant Town Manager)
The Community Preservation Act Committee continued its deliberations on January 22, 2026, about how to distribute its $3.1 million budget among 16 applications totaling $6.5 million in requests. After three hours of discussion, seven projects have risen to the top of their list, earning tentative support for full funding. They include:
Transport of Civil War Memorial Tablets $ 75,000
Amity Street Redevelopment $ 450,000
War Memorial Bathhouse $ 1,500,000
Strong House Stabilization $ 275,148
Part time Planner/Coordinator $ 90,000
Trails, bridges, & boardwalks $ 100,000
Town Hall Slate Roof $ 1,000,000
The committee indicated a desire to fund another five projects at less than the requested amounts:
Amherst Municipal Affordable Housing Trust $ 325,000
Skate Park at Community Field $ 20,000 (possibly full amount, $40,000)
Recreation/conservation signage $ 50,000
Mill River Historical Survey $ 75,000
North & South Cemeteries $ 50,000
There is disagreement about whether to recommend either not funding at all, or funding half the requested amount for two projects (Pickleball at Groff Park and the Jones Library project), and there is consensus to reject outright only one project (Mill River passive recreation). Consideration is being given to holding funds in budgeted reserve until Spring for the Goodwin Church Restoration, as the applicants have experienced some difficulty engaging in the CPA process, but the committee is sympathetic to the urgent necessity of the repairs to this historic building.
This left the committee with over $4.7 million in possible recommendations, but Finance Director Sean Mangano’s presentation at the last meeting indicated that they only had $3.1 million in available funds. Nonetheless, the committee has asked town financial staff to review their initial figures and propose a combination of cash and borrowing to cover the potential funding. The committee will meet again on February 5, 2026, to review that proposal, refine their list, and vote on what to recommend to the Town Council, which will make the final decision about what to authorize.
The Jones Library project got the second lowest ranking by the CPAC committee (averaging 2.6 out of 5 points) but the preliminary funding figure for this project floated at this meeting was $577,000. That’s about 20% of the total available CPA funding for this year ($3.1 million). That makes no sense. Several members of the committee do not want to fund it at all and only three members have spoken in support of funding, one of whom stated at the meeting that he has been part of the fundraising team for the project.
Meanwhile, the serious concerns raised about the prohibitions against using CPA money for this project (supplanting and violations of the Secretary of the Interior’s standards) have not yet been addressed by the committee
see https://www.amherstindy.org/2026/01/13/opinion-jones-library-request-for-more-cpac-funding-unjustifiable/
and the $1 million in CPA funding approved in 2021 that was supposed to be for Special Collections was borrowed and spent last summer on demolition phase work (this is documented in town MUNIS reports and approved general contractor invoices).
CPA funds are taxpayer dollars and there are rules that should be followed for their use. I hope that CPAC’s final recommendations will reflect those rules as well the needs of so many other valuable projects that rely on these funds but that don’t have the outsized influence that library project proponents exert at every turn.
The CPA Committee appears to be unaware that it is a conflict of interest for a member to advocate for or approve a grant to a charity that the member donates money to. To preserve objectivity, the member must recuse herself or himself from the grant discussion.
Three members of the CPAC rated the importance of the Jones Library request for $1,252,306 as 4.0 out of 5, while three members rated it 2.0 or below, with Robin Fordham recusing herself as an employee of the Mass. Historical Commission.
The three members who gave the library a “4” — Ellen Keiter, Tim Neale and Katie Zobel — are on record as donating to the Friends of the Jones Library in 2024. The Friends are the fundraising arm of the Jones Library and encompass the Capital Campaign for the building project which helped prepare the CPA grant application.
It is fine for these folks to donate money to the Library, but ethical standards dictate that they recuse themselves from discussing whether to recommend the Jones for CPA funds.