Although the town’s finance and capital committees have voted not to repair the old library roof next fiscal year, the Community Preservation Committee last week reaffirmed its support for the project.
By unanimous vote at their April 10 meeting, members expanded the scope of the committee’s previously recommended $100,000 grant for roof repair to include a structural analysis of the roof and adjacent portions of brickwork as well. And though the committee discussed extending the sunset date of its grant by a year, it chose not to do so. If the money is unused as of June 30, 2020, it will return to Harvard’s Community Preservation Fund, earmarked as “historical preservation” money for use on a future project.
Whether the roof will be repaired in fiscal 2020, however, remains to be seen. Last year, the Capital Planning and Investment Committee recommended the town borrow $480,000 this coming fiscal year to pay for the work. But when the Select Board asked earlier this month to change the scope of the roof replacement warrant article to include an architect or engineer as well as necessary repairs, CPIC members balked. By unanimous vote, they retracted their earlier recommendation and instead approved $25,000 for a thorough study. The Finance Committee had already voted against repairing the roof next year. And while the Select Board has accepted the Finance Committee report, it has not made a recommendation of its own.
So now what? The Finance Committee has yet to review CPIC’s latest proposal and won’t meet again until May 1. The Select Board has yet to consider how it wants to proceed and is expected to deliberate at its meeting April 23.
Final resolution must await the votes of Annual Town Meeting, which convenes May 4. The warrant booklet has already gone to the printer, so changes to articles must be made from the floor. When Article 22 is introduced, listing all CPIC’s recommended expenditures, a committee member must move that $25,000 be added to pay for a roof study. When Article 23 is moved, recommending projects to be paid for with debt, CPIC must recommend that item 23-3, “Replace slate roof at old library,” be passed over. Likewise, when Article 26 comes to the floor, listing CPCs recommended expenditures, a member of the Community Preservation Committee will need to explain the changes made to the scope and language of its grant. Any one of these could spark lively debate. And should Town Meeting accept CPIC’s recommendation that roof funding be delayed, the vote on Question 4, Slate Roof for Old Library, at Town Election May 7 will be moot.
