Committee members said they had been “excluded” from the council’s plan to sell the hall.

Committee member Charmane Campbell admitted it had been a “difficult few years”, but said the committee had “bounced back”.

Mayor Christina Holmdahl said the council had a number of communications with the community, but received “no interaction” from the region back to the council. 

“Intentions were made clear in the public notices and items in the council agendas and we still got no response. It wasn’t until the sale sign went up that we heard from the community,” she said. 

Cr Holmdahl said the council passed a motion to sell the hall, but didn’t say when. 

“If the community can come back to us and demonstrate that there is a legitimate need for that hall to remain in the ownership of council, then we are happy to do that for a period of time,” she said. 

“We’re pleased the community has rallied and do believe there is a use for it. But from the council’s position, in the last four and a half years, we’ve only had three official bookings for that hall.”

Ms Campbell said it was a “communication breakdown”.

Concerned resident Stephanie Taylor said the hall was all the community had and “if we lose the hall, there is no real place for us to call our own”. 

Resident Jen Thompson suggested holding a forum with other regional hall committees to find out how to strengthen the committee.