The Candelo community has voted unanimously for the town's hall committee to take over control of the currently empty Candelo Town Hall Cafe.
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Committee president Sam Martin said the cafe space has had three tenants in the five years, under a local government lease arrangement which he described as "complicated" and lacking in complete "transparency".
"It's an awesome community asset that should be managed by the community," he said.
"Now if the community wants we can lease out the space for things like pop-up events."
According to Bega Valley Shire Council, around 80 people attended a public meeting on Wednesday, July 17. Council said the move will create "flexibility to not only service the community needs, but also represent a potential source of income for the committee".
The community also voted for the hall's current kitchen to be moved closer to the cafe's kitchen, with the potential for the two to be combined.
A state government grant for redevelopment of the hall kitchen must be used by November, meaning work must begin as soon as possible, Mr Martin said.
"Council will now seek to have the existing grant funding deed varied to enable for the relocation of the existing kitchen to the rear of the hall by combining the committee room, store room and existing café kitchen spaces into a larger more flexible kitchen space," council said.
"A funding application has also been lodged to address subsoil issues at the site through drainage works."
The town's traffic issues were also discussed during the meeting.
"The discussions around traffic movements centred on providing safe access from the school into the park, providing greater connectivity to the showground and outlying streets in the town, and the movement of heavy vehicles through and around Candelo," council said.
"There was general support in the room for slowing traffic in the main street and the consensus was that local business heavy vehicle movement was acceptable, however measures should be put in place to prevent long haulage vehicles moving through."
Mr Martin said the committee is seeking new members, and will meet every second Wednesday of the month from 7.30pm at the hall.