A report on the regular meeting of the Amherst Town Council on Monday, February 2.3

ICE Resolution

In a vote that combined legal argument with emotional testimony, the Amherst Town Council on February 23 adopted a resolution calling for federal immigration agents to be held accountable when they violate Massachusetts criminal law. The measure passed unanimously, with two abstentions (Mandi Jo Hanneke-At-Large and George Ryan-D3) and two councilors absent (Lynn Griesemer-D2 and Sam McLeod-D5).

The resolution was championed by Councilor Jillian Brevik (D1) and co‑sponsored by several colleagues after months of organizing by local residents and civil rights advocates. It calls on state and local prosecutors to enforce Massachusetts criminal law against federal immigration agents who commit crimes such as assault, kidnapping, or unlawful detention, and urges Governor Maura Healey to end the remaining 287(g) agreement between ICE and the Massachusetts Department of Correction.

$1.6M Gift to Fix Middle School Auditorium Roof

The Council has thrown its support behind a plan to use $1.6 million in free cash to repair the Amherst Regional Middle School (ARMS) auditorium roof this summer, in tandem with the state‑funded roof replacement on the rest of the building. The unanimous vote to refer the funding plan to the Finance Committee sends a clear signal that councilors see the deteriorating middle school as both a regional responsibility and a core town asset that can no longer be patched and deferred.

The decision came after an extended debate over how to balance long‑standing road needs with the urgent request from the Amherst‑Pelham Regional School Committee to fully fund the auditorium roof now, while contractors are already being mobilized for the main Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) project.

Councilors repeatedly returned to the lived reality inside the middle school. Brevik described years of leaks and makeshift fixes: “We have a building where there are leaks. There are buckets lining the hallways. Ceiling tiles have fallen on kids’ heads… students have mopped up floors so that they could continue in performances.”

For Brevik, the issue went beyond a single project: “I really just do not think we should be accepting these conditions for children or educators and the staff at the school… When we accept these things, we’re accepting the degradation of our schools as a regular course of business.”

Regional officials stressed that while the auditorium roof is not old enough to qualify for the current MSBA program, it is already “very leaky” and generating ongoing repair and mitigation costs. They warned that waiting for some future funding round would almost certainly cost more.

Councilor Cathy Schoen (D1) connected the current request to a long history of delay: “The original estimate on the full roof while they waited to get into MSBA was 3 million. We’re now spending 10 million, 11 million for everything but the auditorium roof. Waiting has proven to have a higher expense tag.”

With the MSBA project finally scheduled, Schoen argued this summer may be the last, best chance to do the auditorium roof at a reasonable cost: “There’s going to be a crew there this summer doing the whole roof, except for this one piece. If the crew does the whole roof, it’s much less expensive in terms of setup costs… The setup costs become a high percentage of that 1.6 if it’s a standalone project.”

She also reminded colleagues that Amherst’s unusually high free cash balance is partly due to unspent ARPA money that had been banked rather than spent, and that the middle school building itself serves the town in ways that go beyond regional education alone.

Some councilors and Town Manager Paul Bockelman initially questioned why Amherst should cover 100% of a regional capital project, rather than approximately its usual 80‑plus percent share. But the District’s Finance Director Shannon Bernacchia was blunt about their capacity: “I just want to move away [from] that we have the money to do this because we don’t.”

She said draining the Region’s Excess and Deficiency (its version of free cash) and capital stabilization to pay for the roof would leave the district with no buffer for emergencies and would jeopardize the operating budget.

On the cost of further delay, Bernacchia highlighted another hidden expense: “If we have to do small repairs along the way, we also have to pay for asbestos abatement for every single repair… there is asbestos in the roof. That’s an additional cost… I do think that there’s great urgency for this and I think waiting will certainly cost more money than if we do it now.”

The question of fairness to the other three Region towns—Pelham, Leverett, and Shutesbury—ran throughout the discussion. Regional representatives noted that the smaller towns are facing steep assessment increases and deep cuts, and simply do not have the time or flexibility to convene special town meetings and come up with their shares in time for summer construction.

Councilor Amber Cano Martin (D2) put the focus back on students: “About 87% of the regional students are from Amherst… So what, we’re going to fix 87% of the roof so that it can drip on the other 13% of the students because we want to spite the other towns? That just doesn’t make any sense.”

She emphasized Amherst’s own stake in the building: “We clearly derive a benefit from this building, and it’s a worthwhile investment for our children, for future generations, for the children currently in the building, the health and safety of everyone in that building.”

The auditorium debate was intertwined with a broader roads funding plan that envisioned using $4.3 million in free cash for roads and sidewalks this year as part of a five‑year, $25 million effort. The motion the Council eventually passed directs the Town Manager to reduce that free‑cash allocation to $2.7 million and to bring forward a new $1.6 million free‑cash gift order for the auditorium roof.

A clause that would have explicitly pushed for some form of reimbursement or financial benefit back to Amherst from the regional district was removed by amendment, which passed 10–3. The final motion, without the reimbursement language, then passed unanimously. The Finance Committee will review the plan next and make a recommendation to the Council for a final vote on the appropriation at a future meeting.

Other Council Actions

In other business, the Council approved a proclamation to recognize the local Tibetan American community’s fight for justice for the people of Tibet on the 67th Anniversary of Tibetan National Uprising Day. March 10 is proclaimed as Tibet Day, and the Tibetan National flag will be raised in front of Town Hall March 10-17.

The Community Resources Committee (CRC) reported that they will have a draft of the solar clean energy bylaw will be available soon for the Planning Board to then provide input prior to the Town Council vote on a final draft. 

The Jones Library Building Committee reported that a topping-off ceremony for the library project was re-scheduled due to the blizzard, and that the project is on schedule for completion in spring 2027.

This post has been edited to clarify that the middle school funding vote referred the appropriation request to the Finance Committee for review and recommendation.

An artificial-intelligence tool assisted in the making of this article by summarizing a recording of the meeting which was reviewed and adapted by an editor.