AMHERST — A significantly higher bid for construction of an expanded and renovated Jones Library is causing Amherst officials to scrap plans for leasing a temporary location elsewhere in town, as well as raising worries about whether the new $97.5 million elementary school will face a similar challenging bidding environment.

Town Manager Paul Bockelman said Tuesday that due to the sole $42.7 million bid from Fontaine Brothers Inc. of Springfield, $7.2 million above $35.5 million cost estimates, he opted to not sign a lease for 101 University Drive, the Slobody Building, which had been selected as interim space for library operations during the project.

“I did not want to commit the town to any additional expenses,” Bockelman said.

Any temporary space will now have to be sought again, though any move won’t happen unless the project gets underway.

“The library won’t move until a (construction) contract is signed,” Bockelman said.

For now, the Jones Library will continue to operate from 43 Amity St., as well as continuing services from the Munson Memorial and North Amherst branch libraries.

Bockelman will make a decision by June 10 on whether to accept or reject the Fontaine Brothers bid.

He and Bob Pereint, the town’s special capital projects manager, have been meeting with representatives from Colliers International and Finegold Alexander Architects to figure out what drove up the costs in the bid — whether it is market conditions or something specific to Amherst.

There are also discussions about options, including whether more money can be found for the project, whether costs can be reduced, or whether a rebid might be successful.

“One bid is always a bad sign; being 18% above what we estimated is a terrible sign,” Bockelman said

At the Jones Library Building Committee on Tuesday, Tim Alix, associate director at Colliers, said he was surprised by where the numbers came in.

“Estimators, we rely on them quite a bit to give us market conditions across the commonwealth, or to get as close to our market as they can,” Alix said.

Alix said a strategy would be to see where cuts can be made that don’t affect programming and the size of the building.

Ellen Anselone, a principal at Finegold Alexander, said the bidding environment may be better in the fall. “We don’t have $7 million to take out,” Anselone said.

“If we get more bids, I’m convinced we’re going to get a better price,” Anselone said, adding that lack of competition is one of the drivers of the cost.

The high bid for the Jones Library work is prompting officials to also examine whether a similar situation may unfold with the school project.

“There could be some concern for the elementary school,” Bockelman said.

Though he was quick to note it is a different project, with the new, three-story school being built on land adjacent to Fort River School, and doesn’t have some of the possible complexities that the Jones project does, including asbestos abatement, removal of the 1993 addition and historical preservation.

Bids for the school won’t come in until July.

Council President Lynn Griesemer said even though work has been taking place on the site, many residents aren’t aware that the work happening is just pre-construction.

“We do not have a final price for the school,” Griesemer said.

District 1 Councilor Cathy Schoen, who chairs the Elementary School Building Committee, told councilors Monday that cost estimates are to be presented to that committee May 17. These will be based on near final drawings that will go into the bid specification package.

Schoen said the site is being reworked for the new school building, with dirt being removed and brought in and aggregate piers being put in for the footings. That is all happening several months before a general contractor begins construction.

Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.