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NEWTON FALLS -- Village Council last week gave the first reading of legislation that would grant a lease to the Heritage Accord group, which plans to get inside the historic Newton Falls Community Center off Quarry Street to make needed renovations.
The Heritage Accord group wants to rehabilitate the building, which has been closed since late 2015 for lack of funding, to get it to where it can be used once again.
Village Manager David Lynch said the center has been a major topic of discussion around the community for many years.
A second reading of the legislation on the lease is scheduled for council's 6 p.m. Feb. 19 meeting. Then will come comments.
"We need to give the motion two readings to allow for more discussion," Lynch said.
Council voted 4-0 last Monday to approve the lease agreement. First Ward Councilman Zachary Svette was absent at the meeting.
Connie Smith Talcott, president of the Heritage Accord group, which was established last year, said DeSalvo Construction Co. has looked over the building.
"We want to restore as much as we can to the building's original architectural design. It will be a huge job," Talcott said.
Talcott said she and others with Heritage Accord have also worked with the Newton Falls Historic Preservation Foundation, which focuses on restoration of local buildings. The center has been placed on the National Register of Historic Places by the Ohio Historical Society and Trumbull County Historical Society.
Talcott said she plans to be at the Feb. 19 meeting. "That will be a very important vote. It will allow us to get inside the building to do what we can to restore and renovate it," she said.
Plans are for the center to provide recreational and other programming. Grants and fundraising money will be used for the building, not tax dollars, she said. Previously, those working to get the center opened again indicated work to improve the center was estimated at $755,000.
"We want the center to become self-sustaining. Once it is open, there are endless possibilities of what can be provided there for people of all ages," Talcott said.
Councilman at-Large Tarry Alberini said he wants to give the group a chance to bring the community center back to what it once was.
Third Ward Councilman Lyle Waddell said the lease agreement would allow the group to use their own money to update the center. He said there has been discussion of a place for the community to come for indoor recreational opportunities.
Waddell said some activities could also be offered at the former Newton Falls First Congregational Church purchased last week for $250,000 for planned office and meeting space.
Lynch said since becoming village manager and hearing from many people about seeing if the center can be reopened, he made it one of his goals.
The center was constructed as a United Services Organization building in the early 1940s and has served many different functions, including a place for senior citizens to go for meals and exercise. The single-story, 10,800-square-foot building with partial basement sits on a 1.32-acre site and was renamed as the community center in 1947. It was counted on by the citizens after the May 31, 1985, tornado that hit the village and left it without electricity for several days and the severe blizzard of winter 1979.
Talcott, a village native who is retired and living in Myrtle Beach, S.C., but comes back to the village, said there are only about a half-dozen World War II-era USO buildings left in the country. She said since being designated an historic site, it will be easier to get grant funds for work there.
From its creation in 1941, it was the site of America's very first USO facility specifically designed and built to serve, not only military men and women, but also civilian defense workers, she said. Others made in the same style and design were two in North Carolina and one in Louisiana.