AMHERST — Amherst officials will have until the end of April to sign a contract with a general contractor to begin work on the $46.1 million expansion and renovation of the Jones Library.

The Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners, meeting in Marlborough on Thursday morning, voted unanimously to grant the extension requested by Town Manager Paul Bockelman and Jones Library trustees President Austin Sarat.

The appeal for an extra month was made to ensure the town has completed the federal Section 106 Historic Preservation Review and developed a memorandum of agreement, with support from the Massachusetts Historical Commission, to resolve the project’s adverse effects on historic aspects of the library and access a Challenge Infrastructure and Capacity Building grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities and an Economic Development Initiative grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

The vote came after limited discussion by the board and no oral input from more than a dozen people from Amherst who were on the call.

Before the motion, commission Chairwoman Vicky Biancolo said MBLC’s role is to build libraries. The MBLC is providing a $13.8 million grant, and an additional $1.69 million in inflation escalation money, for the project that will expand the building from 48,000 square feet to 63,000 square feet, provide a dedicated teen space and improved areas for special collections and the English as a Second Language program, and overhaul mechanical systems.

Biancolo acknowledged the numerous emails for and against granting the extension, which she said were read by members in advance of the meeting. She asked anyone who wanted to speak to the topic to wait until the end of the meeting.

Those observing the meeting via Zoom included Town Council President Lynn Griesemer and Bob Pereint, the special capital projects coordinator for the town, and elected library trustees, all there to support the extension, as well as members of the Amherst Historical Preservation Coalition and others who have concerns with the project.

The town has a $35.77 million bid from Fontaine Brothers Inc. of Springfield, one of two submitted for the project, which is $231,000 below the advertised cost of the work and would be signed at the end of the Section 106 process. A signed agreement must be included as part of the National Environmental Policy Act review required by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The regulatory 45-day review period before HUD can approve the project means the town can’t sign a contract with Fontaine until mid-April, at the earliest.

This marked the third time MBLC has provided an extension, including last June, when it gave the town an extra six months to find cost savings in the project. A second extension, through the end of March, was provided to allow for time for the town to work with the Massachusetts Historical Commission to resolve the project’s adverse effects and impacts to historical features of the existing library, such as the removal of some of the building’s historic millwork and several staircases, along with altering other historical features.

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