GREENFIELD — Nearly half a million dollars has been raised in donations and pledges by the Greenfield Public Library Foundation with two weeks to go until the City Council votes on whether to spend taxpayer money on a new library.
The amount of money the library foundation has raised has come under the microscope as one of the main swing votes on the council has indicated he wants to see more private donations committed to the $19.5 million project, toward which the state is willing to pay nearly $10 million.
By Wednesday afternoon, the nonprofit foundation had raised $470,000 and “pledges continue coming in every day,” said Ed Berlin, vice president of the Greenfield Public Library Board of Trustees and chairman of the Greenfield Library Building Committee.
At the center of all of this pledge-talk is Precinct 1 City Councilor Verne Sund, who has made it clear he wants to see more money being donated to the effort than the number that appeared to be below six-figures at December’s City Council meeting.
There also is a planned protest on the Greenfield Common Thursday at noon by a group called Viability Greenfield, which has members who have intellectual and physical disabilities. The rally will respond to comments made by Sund at the December meeting downplaying the current library’s accessibility shortcomings, a selling point for a new fully accessible library. Sund implied people with disabilities and in wheelchairs can get around the library if they try.
In a letter published in the Recorder Dec. 31, Sund, seen as a swing vote on the 13-member council on this issue, said that with a decline of industry and without a replacement of equal value, he sees Greenfield unable to pay for a new library and fire station without significant help from donations.
He pointed to the “rumors of large donors” for the library project, which have been floating around town in recent weeks.
“Unfortunately, if I represent the people in my district, I cannot believe in rumors, nor can I vote on an issue without having the facts before me,” Sund wrote, explaining why he is currently a “no” on the library.
Sund’s “no” vote could eliminate the possibility of the City Council approving city funding for a new library.
The council has until April 30 to make a decision on funding the library, before the $9.4 million state grant would lapse. Originally, the council had to vote by mid-January, but the library’s Board of Trustees was given an extension by the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners on Nov. 1, given uncertainty in town following the unsuccessful bid for a public safety complex. The extension was never publicly discussed, but was first reported by the Recorder.
The council needs to vote in a two-thirds majority to approve the spending of $19.5 million on a new public library. The council is likely short one vote, which would require Sund to swing.
At a December council meeting, with a couple hundred people packed into the Greenfield High School auditorium, the library vote was shelved to January. After Sund delivered a public comment indicating he was not inclined to vote for the library, Councilor Sheila Gilmour called to table the vote. Her fellow “yes” votes on the council followed suit.
In the days leading up to the December council meeting, Timothy Farrell, a former selectman and chairman of the Greenfield School Committee, announced a $25,000 pledge from his family company, Gilmore & Farrell Insurance, to the library.
At the meeting, library leaders could not give a definite number to councilors who wanted to know how much money had been raised to that point by the campaign.
When Gilmour called to table the vote, she said she was willing to vote about raising more money and getting a handle on a firm figure, “If that’s a big concern, I’m willing to wait.”
The waiting is waning now, with less than two weeks until the vote comes back to the full council on Jan. 16.
The council has a chance to approve a new public library for Greenfield, which comes in at a total cost of $21 million. Mayor William Martin cut the cost to $19.5 million, requesting the library supporters to raise $2 million for the 26,800 square foot proposed project. The cost of the library is reduced by a $9.4 million grant from the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners that was secured in July. The true cost to the taxpayer comes in closer to $10.1 million.
The library would be built adjacent to the current 15,300-square-foot library, in the historic landmark Leavitt-Hovey House, built in 1797 and incorporated as the town’s library in 1908. The new library would be fully accessible, which is a constant criticism of the current building. There are different plans with what to do with that town-owned Leavitt-Hovey House, including selling it to a local business. To build a new library, the current fire station, which is also on the replacement list, would have to move. Building a new library and fire station at the same time has raised concern from some residents about a potential strain on the taxpayer.
Sund will come further under the spotlight at noon when Viability Greenfield rallies on the Greenfield Common to protest his comments made at December’s council meeting.
He explained how he has traveled the world during his time in the service and he saw libraries that were less accessible than Greenfield’s public library. He found people with accessibility challenges were able to get to what they wanted.
“Whether they’re disabled or not,” Sund said in December, “they get there.”
His comments momentarily left an almost entirely pro-library crowd aghast. The words also followed a public comment earlier in the meeting in which Joannah Whitney, who uses a wheelchair, cited the needs for a new library. She explained how libraries are important social spaces in a community, which is vital to the wellbeing of a town and its people.
“This opportunity is denied to some of our neighbors,” Whitney said in December, “not because they don’t want to come to the library, but because using this building is so difficult.”
Those who want to donate to the Greenfield Public Library Foundation, may visit www.greenfieldpubliclibraryfoundationma.org for more information. The website is not set up to take donations directly online, but rather encourages you to print out a pledge form and send it to the foundation’s PO Box 470 in Greenfield.
All donations go through this federally recognized 501(c)(3) charitable organization. The non-profit was formed in January 2018 as the formal way to collect donations to the Greenfield Public Library Foundation’s Building Capital Campaign.
You can reach Joshua Solomon at:
jsolomon@recorder.com
413-772-0261, ext. 264