#12 False

This project has been one of the most vetted in Town history. The Town Council’s 10-2-1 approval of the project came after a decade of open, public meetings – planning, listening, surveying, revising, and dozens of presentations to the Library Trustees, their Feasibility Committee, their Sustainability Committee (charged with recommending features to make the building environmentally friendly), Town Meeting, the Historical Commission, the Community Preservation Act Committee, the Finance Committee, and the Town Council. The deliberations were conducted at an extraordinary level of detail that would not be possible in a town-wide plebiscite.  The Library’s website, https://www.joneslibrary.org/352/Jones-Building-Project, is a Niagara Falls of information developed during the course of it. During the pandemic, monthly live Chats discussed aspects of the project. At every step of the way, everyone had an opportunity to be heard. Amherst’s famous penchant for process was clearly satisfied  – except, as usual, for those who do not like the outcome.