Advisory Finance Committee recommends $12.4M borrowing for Town of Westborough library repair project

The Westborough Advisory Finance Committee voted to recommend that Town Meeting approve borrowing $12,405,173 to fund the construction phase of the Town of Westborough public library repair project.

Library Director Kate Caraccio and Ed Baldwin, chair of the library building committee, told the committee on March 3 that the plan is a repair‑focused project — not an expansion — aimed at replacing failing HVAC and electrical systems, restoring windows, replacing a slate roof and adding restrooms and a fire suppression system. "This is a repair project," Caraccio said, adding that the building "currently" has no fire suppression system and will need to install one.

Why it matters: committee members said the repairs address systems that are past end of life and increasingly difficult to maintain or replace. Caraccio said many elements date back decades and some items were deferred during earlier renovation planning; Ed Baldwin said the construction low bid came in substantially lower than earlier estimates.

Cost and financing: Baldwin presented an updated fiscal picture, saying the building committee "are estimating $12,405,173 for the actual construction phase" and that total project cost estimates ranged roughly from about $13 million to as high as $14 million depending on contingency and soft costs. He reported roughly $1.5 million spent to date on schematic and design phases. Baldwin said the low construction bid received on Feb. 19 was approximately $8.3 million and that professional and administrative fees, contingency and owner‑procured items account for the remainder.

Contingency and soft costs: several committee members pressed the presenters to further vet non‑construction, owner‑procured and contingency line items (roughly $4–5.5 million in the current estimate). The project's owner’s project manager, Brian Flores of Vertex, said the renovation nature of the work justifies a conservative contingency (he described the figure as roughly 11.5 percent in the presented budget) because invasive work can reveal hidden conditions.

Timeline and service continuity: Baldwin said the team plans to move library operations into a temporary location (community center space) before construction and estimated about 12–14 months of construction with a reopening projected in August–September 2026, subject to final procurement and fit‑out timing.

Next steps: the committee’s recommendation moves the borrowing request to Town Meeting. Multiple committee members indicated they wanted a final pass on soft costs before casting a final vote at Town Meeting; one member said they would abstain on the committee recommendation pending that review.

The building committee and project website will publish additional detail before Town Meeting; the presenters said they will provide a schedule‑of‑values after contract execution and expect tighter owner‑procured estimates (moving, temporary library fit‑out) in the week before the warrant meeting.