Quincy council declines to advance Eastern Nazarene College purchase amid debt and transparency concerns

The Quincy finance committee met June 15 to consider two related orders from the mayor's office: an order to acquire the Eastern Nazarene College (ENC) campus and a separate appropriation of $22,500,000 to fund the purchase. After hours of presentations and council questioning, the committee voted not to advance the appropriation; the full City Council later voted down both the acquisition and the appropriation.

Administration Chief of Staff Mr. Walker opened the discussion by describing the plan as 'thorough, robust, and collaborative,' and said the administration structured the proposal to avoid long-term city debt while including options to sell city properties and pursue outside funding.

But several councilors said the administration had not provided a sufficiently complete financial picture. President Mahoney, citing recent bond-rating downgrades from S&P and Moody's and a Hilltop Securities report, said taxpayers deserve a full accounting before the city assumes further obligations: "Taxpayers deserve transparency," he said, arguing the council should have the full debt schedule and clear contingency plans before advancing the purchase.

Councilor McKee, who described the $21.5 million purchase price as potentially good value for 27 acres, said the city's RFP-style scoring framework offered useful protections but that the council needed detailed development concepts, evidence of developer financial capacity, and a two-year capital plan before she would support the appropriation. "On the face of it, the city buying this property seems like a no-brainer," she said, but added that "the devil is in the details."

Councilor Debona urged the council to approve the appropriation and emphasized wide community turnout for earlier workshops and the potential uses for the site, from a library branch to senior services. She formally moved the appropriation before the committee.

The committee took a roll-call vote and the clerk announced the motion to advance the appropriation failed in committee (6 votes against, 3 in favor). Later in the evening the full City Council took up both orders; after roll-call votes the council did not adopt the acquisition order or the appropriation, leaving the property in private hands for now.

Why it mattered

Councilors who opposed advancing the orders repeatedly cited the city's existing debt levels, short-term borrowing, and recent credit downgrades as reasons to pause. Several questioned whether projected proceeds from selling city properties could be relied on to offset costs once encumbrances and loans on those properties were taken into account. Others worried the administration's operating-cost estimates for carrying the campus (including staffing, monthly operating estimates and consultant fees) were optimistic.

Administration officials replied that much of the borrowing for school and other capital projects is offset by state reimbursement or dedicated revenue sources, and said the proposal contained multiple avenues for council oversight and community involvement if the purchase proceeded.

What the votes were

- Finance Committee (motion to advance appropriation 2026-077 to full council): failed (announced as 6 to 3 against in committee). - Full City Council (votes on 2026-076, land acquisition, and 2026-077, appropriation): both measures failed to obtain a majority and were not adopted by the council that evening.

What's next

Councilors and members of the public asked the administration to return with additional detail on the city's total debt position, the math behind any projected property-sale proceeds, clearer operating-cost assumptions for a two-year holding period, and explicit plans for preserving the campus's arboretum and wetlands. Several councilors said they would welcome an administration-led, collaborative process that provides that information before any future vote.

Speakers quoted in this article are drawn from the meeting record and are attributed to the names or roles they used in the meeting: Mr. Walker (chief of staff), President Mahoney, Councilor McKee and Councilor Debona.

Ending

With the council and committee declining to advance the ENC acquisition and appropriation, the next steps are procedural: the administration can revise its plan and return with additional detail, or the mayor may choose to pursue alternative options. For now, the council concluded the evening without authorizing the $22.5 million appropriation or the acquisition.