A good-sized crowd came to the community center in Marbletown on Monday evening to plan for the center’s future. Much-needed funds to repair and update the building make that future now feel bright, just a year after controversy and community angst as the town contemplated selling off the building.

The community center has attracted a $79,000 grant from Partners for Climate Action Hudson Valley, a nonprofit focused on facilitating green energy grants in the region.

Vanessa Bertozzi represented the group to discuss possibilities like a geothermal energy system included in the grant. Bertozzi, a trustee on the board for the Village of Rhinebeck, has developed the Building Decarbonization Grants program for PCAHV. She led the Climate Smart Community Task Force in Rhinebeck to its bronze certification. She believes that replacing the building’s boiler with a geothermal heating and cooling system will be a big step in a green direction.

Town administration, for its part, has had a change of heart and is now set to replace the old roof and undertake work on the building’s foundation.

Wendy Saul, one of the central figures in preserving the building, started discussion by laying out the general situation beginning with listing funding sources. She mentioned Tom Konrad’s constant work identifying and applying for grants. “The next steps in the decarbonization effort,” she said, “requires roof and foundation work, then we add insulation, get rid of the boiler, and then go on to the geothermal project, which is pretty exciting.”

She finished off by suggesting the building will become a “green energy hub.”

Town Councilperson Daisy Foote followed Saul, and said that what she wanted to see was to “get the building into as healthy and sound a condition as possible.” She mentioned that work will begin on the roof in the fall. She felt that “we have to get started on this in September.”

Then the meeting broke into three workgroups to discuss issues under three broad headings. The first topic was green practices, and came with a question: “When using the building, what can we do better?”

Next, “What’s working and what’s not – ways to make the MCC more attractive, useful and technologically up to date,” followed by “Programming ideas and the future of the MCC.”

Daisy Foote who sits on the Town Board was present, alongside new board member Mary Ann Van Benschoten. Foote told the Shawangunk Journal that she was pleased with the turnout for the meeting and the obvious enthusiasm for the project, but cautioned, “We have to be careful not to spend too much. We must be responsible to our taxpayers. However, we’re happy that this building will become solid, leak proof and the mold is going to go away and all those things will be taken care of. But, beyond that we’re going to have to take it carefully.”

Foote was non-committal about the September timeline for the roof work. “Scott Davis [of Peak Engineering] thinks he can do that, but I have to check with [Town Supervisor] Rich [Parete] about that.”

There are incentives to make sure it goes quickly. Foote had concerns about delaying until after election season, when the weather worsens.

And there is the grant money, which can be lost after a year if there are delays. Foote recognizes that issue and says the board will act quickly.

When the groups came back together to share the ideas they had been discussing, most of the suggestions were clear and simple. Senior meetings and exercise equipment topped the list, along with movie nights, game nights, cooking programs (once the kitchen is renovated!), even communal singing. All great ways for the community to come together.

Nancy Plumer, organizer and community activist, was excited about the move towards energy efficiency, and said, “It was great to see so many people come.” She believes that the MCC will grow into an even more important resource in town, bringing people together for all kinds of activities and programs.

But the clock is ticking to get the work done in time.

This article was edited on 8/2/2024 to correct the timeline and properly attribute quotes from Wendy Saul and Daisy Foote.