The Hunt Memorial Building continues to tantalize the Village of Ellenville and the Town of Wawarsing. Opening it up has become something that is always pursued but never achieved. Frustration over this situation was clear in Ellenville Mayor Jeff Kaplan’s voice at the Village Board meeting on Monday, June 13.

There are two quite separate issues. The first involves the emergency shelter, with 20 bed spaces, which was brought up to state standards with a $1.2 million grant. That shelter is ready to go, except for some paperwork that still needs to be completed. What is holding things up is time and attorneys’ attention. The village and the town have to meet, discuss the shelter provision by provision, even word by word, to make sure everyone understands their role and their support. Then the village and town attorneys need to work together to draft and finalize the legally binding documentation for the shelter.

However, all the actual physical work has been completed and the shelter is ready to go, once that paperwork is completed. The village and town are working towards having the essential sit-down as soon as possible.

The other issue is the lack of a sprinkler system and HVAC on the main floor of the building. At the June 13 meeting, Village Code Enforcement Officer Brian Schug said he remains concerned that “there is no proper fire protection in that building” and there is an issue with “egress.” The projected cost of equipping the building with a sprinkler system and HVAC is more than $500,000. This kind of money can only come from a grant in the current budgetary situation. If those final pieces are completed, all the work that has been done — turning the first floor into a very nice space suitable for art shows, low volume/wattage musical events, and of course meetings of various kinds— may have been in vain.

A grant writer with expertise in this area is urgently required.

A third issue also came up when Mayor Kaplan mentioned that the Hunt Memorial Building was originally built (1917) with the Women’s Christian Temperance Union in mind. To go with that was a covenant banning the use of spirituous liquors, wine, and beers in the building. Kaplan said he didn’t think that covenant still applied, since the Women’s Christian Temperance Union had sold the building long ago and the village bought it from a private owner.

The Women’s Christian Temperance Union had its heyday in the 1930s, topping out at 370,000 members in 1931. Today there are about 5,000 members worldwide.