July 2, 2004		2004-R-0535
USE OF MUNICIPAL BUILDINGS BY PRIVATE CLUBS
By: Kevin E. McCarthy, Principal Analyst

You asked whether a town can bar a private club from charging dues or fees at its meetings held at a town-owned senior center. The Office of Legislative Research is not authorized to give legal opinions and this memo should not be considered one.

Municipalities only have those powers expressly granted to them in the statutes and special acts and other powers that necessarily flow from these express powers (e. g. , Hennessey v. City of Bridgeport, 213 Conn. 656 (1990), Simms v. Canty, 195 Conn. (1985), Fahy v. Town of Trumbull, 22 Conn. Supp. 105 (1960)). The law does not appear to explicitly or implicitly grant municipalities the power to bar private clubs from charging dues or fees at their meetings held outside of municipal facilities.

However, municipalities clearly have the power to regulate the use of their own facilities. CGS § 7-148 allows them to manage real property for any public use or purpose and to control and operate recreation places and institutions for the elderly. They can allow some groups, but not others, to use their facilities so long as there is a rational basis for the differential treatment. Thus, it appears that a municipality could refuse to make its facilities available to for-profit organizations or nonprofit groups that charge dues or fees at meetings held at the facility.

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