Stonehurst privatization plan dies amid confusion on council floor

The Robert Treat Paine Estate will remain under city control, after the City Council this week rejected a request from a private company to take over the property’s operations.

Mayor Jeannette A. McCarthy last week informed the council about the private company’s proposal to take over operating Stonehurst. 

She recommended that councilors consider opening a formal bidding process to give interested companies an opportunity to make proposals for managing the estate. 

She asked if the council had “any objection to going out to bid.”

At Monday’s Committee of the Whole meeting, McCarthy said she could not answer many councilors’ questions or share details about the proposal submitted to the city until the council voted on her request, in order to avoid sharing information that could compromise the legitimacy of a potential bid process. In fact, McCarthy initially recommended councilors outright reject the proposal so she could provide details about it before deciding on whether to open a bidding process.

The Paine Estate, also known as Stonehurst, was the private summer home of Robert Treat Paine Jr., Lydia Lyman Paine and their descendants. The house and its grounds were designed by renowned architect Henry Hobson Richardson and landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted, respectively. The building, a National Historic Landmark that the City of Waltham has operated since 1986, is available to rent for events.

Speaking before the City Council’s Committee of the Whole on Monday, city Planning Director Robert Waters said the estate costs the city $267,000 per year to run and makes $50,000. 

Multiple councilors expressed confusion about what their vote would accomplish.

“There’s no appetite to vote on something that we don’t have all the information in front of us [for],” said Ward 4 Councilor John McLaughlin. “I just think people at home watching this are very confused.”

After some procedural confusion about how to move forward, during which McCarthy briefly endorsed filing the motion away without further discussion, the council voted near-unanimously to reject the bid so it could hear McCarthy’s report. Councilor-at-Large Paul J. Brasco voted “present.” 

McCarthy at this point clarified that a private catering and hospitality company had contacted the city seeking to take over sales and marketing for Stonehurst. The company planned to open it up for more events Friday through Sunday with priority for city events, bring in additional staffing, retain current staff and contribute to maintenance costs.

With those details in hand, the council discussed whether to open a public request for proposals to gauge private interest in running the estate and get specific proposals. McCarthy noted that even if the city put out the RFP, it wouldn’t have to accept any contractors’ bids.

The idea received some tentative support from councilors concerned with the Paine Estate’s finances, but other councilors said they were wary of handing over the reins of the estate to an entity primarily motivated by money.

“I’ve never been a big fan of privatization,” said Ward 9 Councilor Robert G. Logan. “At the end of the day, we retain that building for reasons that have nothing to do with making money.”

Ward 1 Councilor Anthony LaFauci made a motion to ask McCarthy to kick off a formal bid process, but Logan superseded that vote with a motion to permanently file away the request.

After multiple questions from councilors clarifying the meaning of the two proposals, Logan’s motion to file passed with 12 votes. LaFauci and Ward 8 Councilor Cathyann Harris voted against it.