At first, everyone thought it was a joke. But Selectman Leo Blair was dead serious at the board’s Dec. 1 meeting when he asked the Harvard Cultural Collaborative (HCC), “Would you buy this building for a buck?” Blair’s radical idea followed a back-and-forth discussion between HCC board members, who were pushing for the selectmen’s support for their vision, and the selectmen, who were concerned about asking taxpayers to fund a renovation on yet another old building. Four of the selectmen were eventually on board with Blair’s idea, but Selectwoman Lucy Wallace did not express her support. HCC board members seemed taken aback, and a couple of them voiced concern that the offer seemed like an attempt to offload responsibility for the aging building onto them.
Six weeks earlier, the cultural group had gone before the Board of Selectmen to present its plan to lease the old library from the town for use as a cultural center. Following that meeting, the board sent questions to the group and received its answers in a packet earlier this month. The group returned to the selectmen’s meeting this week to address any follow-up questions from the board. But the board expressed a reluctance to continue any further discussions with the HCC until everyone had a better understanding of how much money would be needed to make the building wheelchair accessible.
Selectman Ken Swanton expressed his disappointment that the group was not planning on taking full custodianship of the building, including responsibility for providing accessibility. Swanton said he had understood from the HCC’s business plan that the group would be fully responsible for building maintenance, exterior and interior. However, in its written response to the selectmen’s earlier questions, the HCC stated it would be responsible for interior maintenance, but would expect the town to provide exterior maintenance, as well as any major repairs, such as furnace replacement.
Accessibility woes
Swanton also claimed that the HCC was “backpedaling” on providing accessibility for the building. He said he thought he understood that the group was planning to raise funds to make the building accessible. But the HCC’s response to the question of who would be responsible for ensuring that the building was compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was that “further conversation with the Board of Selectmen may be warranted to come to final agreement about accessibility.”
The HCC did, however, offer to retain an architect at its own expense to design a phased accessibility plan for the building, and to take that plan to the Architectural Access Board (AAB) for any required waivers or variances. While the selectmen acknowledged the generosity of that offer, Swanton said he was uncomfortable asking taxpayers to pay for accessibility of the old library. Blair added that the “political reality” is that the town would be asking voters for hundreds of thousands of dollars, and in return, would be receiving only $4,800 a year in rent. HCC Chairwoman Judith Eissenberg responded, “We came forward with a vision for an arts and cultural center. We didn’t come forward with a plan to fix the accessibility issues of the building and whatever other large issues there are.”
The selectmen have not yet met with the Architectural Access Board to discuss the building’s accessibility requirements based on the groups that are currently interested in using it. The School Committee has expressed interest in the old library for school administration offices, which are currently in the Bromfield House, another inaccessible building in need of repair. But the School Committee told the selectmen a few months ago that it would not stand in the way of the HCC using the old library as a cultural center. As a result, Blair said that leasing the old library to the HCC would mean that taxpayers would be footing the bill for repairs and accessibility for two old buildings.
The dollar deal
As Blair and Swanton continued to express reluctance to lease the building to the HCC before knowing how high the bill for ADA compliance would be, HCC members stated their own reluctance to go ahead with their plan to hire an architect to design phased compliance before knowing if the board supported their plan for a cultural center. With the discussion at a stalemate, Blair asked the group if it would buy the building for a dollar. That way, said Blair, the town would no longer be responsible for fixing the building, and if the building were owned by a nonprofit, the AAB might be more lenient about accessibility requirements. Modifications to the building would also be less expensive, he said, because it would not be a public building. Renovations on public buildings in Massachusetts are subject to the prevailing wage law, which drives up construction costs.
Town Meeting would have to approve the sale of the building, and Massachusetts law would require that either a sale or lease would have to go through the procurement process, Town Administrator Tim Bragan told the board. Selectman Ron Ricci added that he thought the procurement could be worded to narrow the accepted uses of the building so that it would fit only a nonprofit cultural center. Bragan said that he knew conditions regarding use could be added to a lease, because the town did that with the Center on the Common, but he would check with the state if those same conditions could be added to a sale.
Two weeks to think it over
The board asked the HCC to think about the proposal to purchase the building and return in two weeks with its answer. The HCC was clearly taken aback by this concept, and member Willie Wickman said to the board before leaving, “It puts it all on us, and totally relieves you of your responsibility for taking care of this building. It’s one-sided.” As the disgruntled members walked out the door, Wallace continued to ask that the board show some sign of support for a cultural center in the building. Ricci responded, “Not if it’s going to cost the town a lot of money.” Selectman Stu Sklar added that if the HCC were willing to purchase the building, he thought that both the selectmen and the town would be supportive of their plans. The HCC’s business plan and the selectmen’s questions and HCC responses are available on the collaborative’s website at www.harvardculture.org.
