Major Beverly Library Renovation Voted Down: City Council

BEVERLY, MA — A Beverly Public Library project that began as a $3.75 million proposed HVAC replacement and ballooned into a $18 million renovation in recent months hit a dead end in City Council Chambers Monday night when the Council voted 5-3 against authorizing $10.5 million in city funds toward the project.

The vote followed three public hearings and was held amid concessions from the administration about a need for more transparency about capital projects both involving the library plans and other ongoing projects.

In the end, Councilors who voted against the library project voiced concerns about the scope of the renovation in the face of forthcoming and necessary projects involving City Hall, central fire station improvements, and aging school buildings.

Councilors Julie Flowers, Kathleen Feldman and Danielle Spang voted in support of the authorization. Councilors Brendan Sweeney, Hannah Bowen, Steve Crowley, Matthew St. Hilaire and Todd Rotundo voted against the project. Councilor Scott Houseman was not in attendance for the vote.

The vote required a two-thirds majority to authorize the funds.

"The bottom line here is an addition was built 30 years ago — poorly," Mayor Mike Cahill said in making the case for the authorization. "The building hasn't performed for 30 years. ... I appreciate the sense that (cost adjustments were) 11th hour. I do. My hope is that you folks won't vote tonight. There's new information. There's a colleague of yours not here.

"The importance of these decisions. The work that has gone into this by everyone in this room and elsewhere my hope is that you folks see the wisdom in having nine people here when a vote is taken."

According to the administration, about $8 million of the estimated $18 cost of a geothermal replacement of the heating and cooling system would be paid for through federal grants, incentives, and energy credits and subsidies.

But the remaining price tag was still too much for the majority of the Council to accept — with Houseman's vote not enough to shift the result of the vote either way.

Sweeney proposed the Council consider making the roof and other accessibility improvements while re-examining the HVAC system and returning with a new proposal in two years.

"I am not saying not to do it," Crowley said. "I am saying that now is not the time to do it."

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. X/Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)