Communal hub seeks support

CORNWALL — In this town, many civic events are held at the United Church of Christ’s parish house. Lacking space elsewhere, many organizations use the building on Bolton Hill Road to bring people together for a variety of offerings.

But, as the Board of Selectmen heard at its meeting on Feb. 18, the historic structure has infrastructure needs, and church officials hope the town can provide some assistance.

Bill Berry, chairman of the church’s board of trustees, gave a presentation in which he noted the parish house hosts functions that extend beyond those of the church.

While they are pleased to be able to serve the community, escalating costs to maintain the structure have stretched the church’s resources and limited its ability to pay for needed upkeep.

“We are hopeful that the town, in light of increased civic use of our space, can help with these matters, he said.”

Berry spoke of the numerous ways in which the building is used, including the housing of the food pantry and medical equipment program. “Those are important ways that the UCC touches the lives of Cornwall residents and the Northwest Corner. Our parish house facility is, in many ways, Cornwall’s community center.”

It contains a kitchen licensed by Torrington Area Health District, allowing such gatherings as the New Year’s Day pancake breakfast and monthly senior breakfasts and lunches put on by the Park and Recreation Commission. The hall also is prepared to be a warming and phone-charging center during prolonged electrical outages.

Berry explained that the church does charge some modest fees to help defray operating costs, that include electricity, propane and heating oil, but maintaining a historic building can be costly.

A few groups give a contribution and this year Park and Recreation has put $3,000 in its proposed budget to pay for its use of the building.

Berry, touching on the premise of separation of church and state, emphasized that any money coming from the town would be earmarked for maintaining the facility and not put toward any religious function.

When asked to give a figure that the church is thinking about, Berry said perhaps about $15,000.

In researching its history, Berry said he learned from Jerry Blakey that the building was once part of Rumsey Hall, a private boarding and day school for boys. In 1949, the school moved to Washington, Conn. The school’s buildings had been owned by the town for which the school paid rent. Eventually the buildings became privately owned.

“In 1970, the parish house was moved a few hundred feet to its current location and became part of the UCC,” he said.

Berry estimates the building to be approximately 90 to 100 years old.

During the comment period, Michelle Shipp, chairman of Park and Recreation, said she and Park and Recreation Director Jennifer Markow (who is also a selectman) have been talking about the need for a town community center and that other residents have told her they believe it is needed.

“But they are clear they don’t want to build a new one,” she said. “The answer is always the parish house.”

First Selectman Gordon M. Ridgway said that while he understands the need to maintain the building, the proposed budget is already tighter than they’d like. He said the board will have to be creative and see how it might be able to give some help.