ELLENVILLE – The ornate light fixtures in the cavernous lobby have gone dark. The front desk is empty, the phones silent, the rooms vacant. The Nevele Grande Resort and Hotel, an iconic fixture of Ellenville and Wawarsing, is closed. Despite all of this, General Manager Sandra Young has faith that in a month's time, she'll be able to unlock the resort's front doors.

"We're closed for a month until either Joel [Hoffman, the property owner] comes up with funding or a new buyer — somebody comes up with an offer," she said. Young, along with Convention Manager Lori Jamison, sat down to an interview on Monday in the hotel's lobby. According to Jamison, the month long closure is "more of a reorganization" while the resort's owner, Joel Hoffman, works out a new means of funding the resort. Hoffman will try to raise capital or, in the best case scenario, finally find a buyer for the property, which has been for sale since March, 2008.

Since that time — and certainly before then, too — rumors have swirled about the area regarding the resort's fate. In the months that followed news of the resort being put on the market, further problems have plagued the property, from a small fire which broke out on the roof of the pool building in May last year, to a burst pipe this past January that turned the resort's Golden Gate building into a veritable ice cave. The resort was also struck with over $40,000 in fines by New York State for lapses in its worker's compensation insurance coverage over the course of a few years originating in 2005, a class E felony.

Recently, the maintenance on the resort's once legendary golf course ceased, causing it to become overgrown and unusable, while staff members who went unpaid either left for greener pastures, or continued to work without pay, as was the case just two weekends ago. With only about 50 staffers, all of whom worked despite knowing that a paycheck was likely not to come for some time (if ever), the Nevele Resort hosted a group of 1,300 from the New Jersey-based Bethany Church. Young said that she was buoyed by the tremendous show of support and spirit from the staffers who stayed to help the weekend go smoothly — "they worked as hard as they ever did.…I had a great team," she said. And in spite of the skeleton crew, Young reported that the church group enjoyed their stay — so much so that they had just called that morning to schedule their return to the resort for next summer.

"People think that we're crazy, and it's a shame that there are people out there that want to see the hotel fail," said Jamison. "But the only people that it's going to hurt are the community."

In fact, just as the resort was preparing to close its doors, it provided three truckloads of food to Ellenville Community Action, which then distributed the food to local charities and food pantries. Young said that she didn't want the nearly $2,000 worth of food to go to waste, and was glad the resort could contribute to a good cause, especially at this difficult point for the Nevele.

Jamison said that she's worked in the hotel business for over 20 years. While she only joined the staff a few months ago, she has been working a significant portion of that time without pay, saying that continuing on is a matter of pride, and that the resort's significance to the community and its history is part of why some of these staff members refuse to quit. And that significance is evident in talking with any Ellenville or Wawarsing resident, each of whom has their own memory of the resort's impact. Indeed, mention the Nevele to most any New York City or Long Island dweller of a certain age group, and they'll tell you all about summers spent on the Nevele's grounds in their youth.

"It's hard to give up, there's just so much potential for this place," said Young.

"This is one of the last major hotels left," added Jamison. "The [tour] groups don't want to see it fail. There are groups that can't go anyplace else because there aren't any more facilities large enough. I worked at the Concord for years. Groups that I handled there — this is the only place left for them to go.

"It will hurt everyone if this hotel closes for good," said Jamison.

As dedicated as Jamison and Young are to the resort — Young even said members of her family came with her to volunteer in recent weeks — the resort's power and water are now cut, due to the inability to pay the utility bills. However, even though the property is vacant, having these utilities turned off still creates a problem. According to the Town of Wawarsing's Building Code Enforcement Officer, Barron Berg, cutting water and power creates hazards regarding emergency mitigation, specifically for fire suppression and control.

"On vacant premises, what the rule is, you can disable the sprinklers if you remove all the flammables from the building. Think about all those mattresses and beds and such that are in there — that hasn't been done, and that would take a heck of a lot of expense to do.…it's an illegal situation."

But collecting fines on the violations is the fiscal equivalent of trying to get blood from a stone.

"What am I going to do, join the list of suitors in bankruptcy court? Frankly, I don't really know what to do about it," laments Berg. "I'm very concerned about the whole situation."

Also concerned are many of the employees who are owed weeks of back pay. One such employee walked into lobby during Young's and Jamison's interview, asking if there was any word of forthcoming paychecks. A former employee, Bob DePalma, who was the last person in charge of the golf course grounds, painted a dire picture regarding what's owed by the resort for his and other employees' time there.

"They haven't paid the employees' federal, state, social security — and in my case, child support, since January. There've been countless calls to the department of labor that go unheeded," he said.

Young said that DePalma has been paid in full, and assured that Hoffman has every intention of paying the employees what they're owed.

"Joel Hoffman is not going to take people's money," she said. "He's going to pay everybody. Everyone will get paid to the penny.… He said, 'give me time, I will pay everybody.'

"I'm in the same boat, it's not like he's paying me and not paying everybody else. I'm in the same boat," Young added.

Over the course of the month, Young and Jamison will be coming back to the grounds for three days a week, just to make sure that everything's kept in order for the resort's eventual reopening. Of course, the Nevele being able to actually open its doors after this proposed month of closure isn't guaranteed — that Young and Jamison continue to put time and energy into the resort is both a sign of their dedication, and a sign of their faith.

When asked what will happen if the doors don't reopen in a month, Young wouldn't entertain the scenario.

"Something will happen — either a new buyer will take over, or Joel will come up with a solution. [Joel is] not planning to keep it closed forever.

"Something's going to happen," she said.