After four years in the works, a community driven plan to breathe new life into Clancy School’s former gym is moving closer to becoming reality. The refurbished Clancy Community Center, as its supporters now call it, could open in early 2025.
Launched in 2019 by community member Dani Morris with other parents and residents, the effort to repurpose the space — currently used by the school as a storage center — has been delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic, funding limitations, asbestos remediation and leasing fine print.
The lease hurdle was resolved in September, when the group agreed to a partnership with the board of the Clancy Old Red Schoolhouse and East Campus Foundation (CORS), a local non-profit entity that raises money for the preservation, beautification and operation of Clancy’s Old Red Schoolhouse and East Campus buildings.
After the Jefferson County Commission balked at taking on management of the gym building, CORS agreed to a three-year lease of the facility from Clancy School to the tune of ninety nine cents per year. The current goal is for the lease to last throughout the construction projects, with Clancy School continuing to insure the building.
“It seems like a Clancy organization ought to be in charge of a Clancy project,” said Mickey Senechal, who is currently leading the gym effort.
The county committed $70,000 in ARPA funding to refloor the gym. But a subsequent evaluation of the building’s roof identified leaks, forcing organizers to address those repairs first. “There’s no sense in doing flooring or lighting or other projects while they can be damaged by the leaking roof,” Senechal explained.
The committee is currently exploring bid options for the roof repair. While the selection process will be managed through the county, the committee hopes to use local talent as subcontractors throughout every stage of the project. Senechal anticipates the roof bidding process to be completed in coming weeks, allowing other subcontractors (flooring, lighting, plumbing, heating, etc.) to work indoors over the winter season.
Leah Lewis, project coordinator at the Jefferson Local Development Corporation (JLDC), who has been working to secure financial support for the project, said the gym restoration will fall into two phases.
Phase 1, she said, will include all repairs and changes necessary to open the center’s doors: elements like roofing and reflooring as well as installing new energy efficient LED lighting and replacing the furnace. Bathrooms will require renovations, including bringing at least one to ADA compliance standards.
Phase 2 will address secondary repairs, including installing more energy efficient doors, repainting the building’s exterior and addressing wear of sidewalks and the parking lot.
Lewis estimated that the cost of the first phase will total around $150,000, and has been working to help the committee offset these costs.
In addition to the $70,000 dollars in ARPA funding via the county, Lewis has helped the committee apply for a variety of local grants offered through organizations like Ash Grove, Town Pump and Blue Cross Blue Shield, as well as energy efficient heating and lighting grants from Northwest Energy.
Clancy Days earmarked an additional $1200 for the gym restoration effort in 2022, and Senechal anticipates another donation of an undetermined amount from this past year’s event. According to Senechal, “at this point there is some cash, but not a lot… Fundraising and community donation is an important part of the effort.”
Built in 1965, the facility served as the Clancy school district’s primary gymnasium until the new school’s 1993 construction. After moving to the new facility, the school still used the old gym for various events, and the community enjoyed it for adult recreational league sports, private gatherings and scout meetings.
However, as Clancy School District Clerk Jennifer Goehring told The Monitor earlier this year, use of the space by the school and community alike came to a standstill in winter of 2009 when the school board voted to forego repairs following a frozen pipe incident, instead choosing to convert the space into additional storage space for the district.
Senechal believes the building’s potential is wasted on storage, and that restoring and revamping the gym as the Clancy Community Center fills a great need in the community: practice space.
According to Senechal, gym availability can be hard to come by in the area. Some local teams, she said, go as far as bussing students over the hill into Helena in search of practice space. The committee hopes to alleviate this problem by providing an affordable option for local teams in their own community.
But Senechal also envisions it as a community space for all Clancy residents, extending beyond youth sports: “Our intention is it will be multi-use, for youth practices yes, but also adult recreational leagues and activities, maybe voting, blood drives, receptions, reunions, classes… Even just a large general meeting space is much needed here. There is just an endless list of things our community can do with something like this.”
Tax-deductible donations specifying support of the Clancy Community Center can be sent to the Clancy Old Red Schoolhouse and East Campus Foundation at P.O. Box 40, Clancy, Montana, 59634.
