AMHERST — Amherst officials are extending by an additional 15 days the public comment period for the Environmental Review Record associated with the Jones Library expansion and renovation project.

A legal advertisement printed in Saturday’s Gazette is publicizing the extension for comments, which can be received until April 28. The ad also states that a finding of averse effect on historic properties has been mitigated by the memorandum of agreement through the federal Section 106 process under the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966.

For the $46.1 million project to expand the building from 48,000 square feet to 63,000 square feet, the town is obligated to sign a contract by the end of April, based on a deadline set by the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners.

Members of the Town Council at a March 24 meeting presented several questions to Town Manager Paul Bockelman, including whether the $35.77 million bid from low bidder Fontaine Brothers, Inc. of Springfield remains intact.

Bockelman said there are uncertainties and questions about holding quotes from the general contractor, which was submitted last fall.

“We never know that until it comes time to sign the contract,” Bockelman said. He added that the budgeted amount for the project is $46.1 million, which includes $15.6 million from an MBLC grant, and “we don’t have a dime more than that available to us.”

But there is a possibility that there will be questions about bids from subcontractors, and whether trustees for the library can supplement the $15.8 million the town is putting toward the project.

Even with the questions about library officials and its capital campaign reaching a $13.8 million fundraising goal, the library could turn to loans and use the Jones Inc. endowment as collateral, Bockelman said.

Robert Peirent, the special capital projects coordinator for the town who is acting as the owner’s project manager, said the town wouldn’t sign a contract until filed sub bids are in.

District 1 Councilor Cathy Schoen said she worries about eating into the project’s contingencies because, unlike the ongoing elementary school construction on South East Street, where a new building is rising from the ground up, the library is a complicated renovation and expansion that begins with demolition of the 1993 addition. “I think we’re ever more at risk,” Schoen said.

Similarly, District 4 Councilor Pam Rooney said she wonders if $3 million in contingencies is enough for the various modifications demanded by the memorandum of agreement, including maintaining the slate roof and some of the interior’s mahogany paneling, “This is putting quite a burden on that contingency,” Rooney said.

The contract is risky also for District 5 Councilor Bob Hegner. “This particular contract, from where I sit, is way beyond a risk I’m comfortable with,” Hegner said.

Bockelman said the building has capital needs if the project doesn’t move forward, and the town would have repay MBLC the more than $2 million that was received in the first grant installment, which is already being spent.

Those wishing to make comments about the memorandum of agreement should send them to Peirent at peirentr@amherstma.gov.

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