BEVERLY — A city councilor accused Mayor Mike Cahill’s administration of being “almost dishonest” about the cost of a proposed library project that has ballooned to $18 million.
In a public hearing at City Hall on Monday night, Ward 1 Councilor Todd Rotondo criticized city officials for telling city councilors two years ago that the project would cost $3.75 million. Cahill is now asking the council to approve the project at a cost of $18 million.
“It wasn’t with malicious intent but it really was almost dishonest,” Rotondo said of the original $3.75 million estimate. “We weren’t presented a whole picture of the project originally.”
The comment prompted a heated exchange with Mike Collins, the city’s director of public services and engineering.
“I’m curious, were you insinuating that we were lying to you?” Collins asked Rotondo. “That’s the way I heard it.”
“I don’t think I said that,” Rotondo responded. “What I said was, well, OK yes, I would say that then.”
Rotondo said everyone he’s spoken with about the project assumed that the $3.75 million was a high price, but was the full scope of the project.
“So it almost is a little distrustful, yes,” he said to Collins. “So I’m sorry if that’s the way you feel, but yes it’s not a full truth.”
“It’s not how I feel, it’s how you feel, so I just wanted to clarify that,” Collins said.
The City Council did not take a vote on the project Monday night, instead continuing the public hearing until its next meeting on March 18.
The project calls for installing a new geothermal heating and cooling system at the Beverly Public Library on Essex Street as well as other improvements to the building. City officials say the HVAC system is failing and the building lacks humidity control, an important feature in the storage of historic records.
The City Council approved an initial $2 million for the project in June 2022 based on an estimated cost of $3.75 million. But when the project came back before the council in January, councilors were told the cost was now $18 million.
Rotondo asked Collins why the original estimate did not include such costs as accessibility upgrades and other “soft costs.” Collins said that estimate was “just a relative cost comparison of different options” and “wasn’t a fully developed project.”
“What we were asking for was money to pursue developing the selected option out to its fullest extent so that we could then come back to the council with a fully developed project and request funding,” Collins said.
Members of the project team hired by the city spent nearly two hours presenting details of the project. Bryant Ayles, the city’s finance director, said the city can afford to borrow money for the library as well as for two other upcoming renovation projects, to City Hall and the McPherson Youth Center.
The library project is in line to receive about $7.8 million in grants, incentives and credits under various energy programs, significantly reducing the cost for the city, officials said. They said the proposed geothermal system, which involves installing a “geothermal well field” under the library parking lot, will reduce the city’s greenhouse gas footprint.
“It will give us the best overall project and the lowest total operating costs and the lowest cost of ownership over the life of the project,” Collins said. “I still stand by that.”
If the City Council approves the project, construction would start in August and the library would be closed for six to eight months during construction, according to the project team’s presentation.
Beatrice Heinze, a Conant Street resident who spoke as part of the public hearing, said she thinks geothermal systems are “wonderful.” But she questioned the cost of the project, noting that as a taxpayer she is also paying for the credits and incentives that the city would receive.
“I take $18 million out of this pocket to Beverly. Then I take $8 million out of this pocket to the feds to give back to Beverly. Then I pay a big added-on to my National Grid bill to give a carbon credit back to Beverly,” Heinze said.
Ward 5 Councilor Kathleen Feldman said she believes the geothermal system “still makes the most sense long-term for our city.” “But the sticker shock was a lot for all of us to handle,” she said.
Staff Writer Paul Leighton can be reached at 978-338-2535, by email at pleighton@salemnews.com, or on Twitter at @heardinbeverly.