OUSTED Pakenham Hall president Ron Carroll has said his removal after more than 20 years at the helm should serve as a warning to other community organisations.


He was removed as president after a record crowd of about 25 people voted Lynette Squires into the role on the hall committee, ending the reign of Mr Carroll, who was first elected on to the committee in 1964.


This week Mr Carroll said the hall’s previous meetings had never attracted so many people.


“The principle of people who have never been involved, apart from the occasional patron … to come out and take over, I don’t think it sends a good message to the town, and I think it would be a warning to other organisations.”


“From memory, I think the only public representative we have ever had at an annual meeting was a councillor,” Mr Carroll said.


“There were more people there, outside of committee members than have come along in the past 30 years.


“They came along to put forward the views of that group – I think they want the hall bigger.”


Mr Carroll, who is now vice-president, said he was not upset “in any shape or form” about being removed from the position last Thursday, just months before the hall’s demolition.


But the new president, Lynette Squires, said the community needed a larger hall facility. “We have a lot of schools in need of a bigger space and charitable organisations needing to have functions at a lower cost,” she said.


“There are a lot of smaller groups like the Yakkerboo Art Show that I’m sure could do with a slightly bigger hall.


“The toilet facilities are antiquated, the kitchen could be updated to a caterer’s type kitchen and we probably need a separate tea and coffee facility.


“When the hall was built the population was approximately 1500 people – now we have many thousands.”


Former Cardinia Shire mayor Kate Lempriere said it was disappointing that the new library would increase in size but the hall would stay the same.


“Schools and organisations host functions outside of the shire.


“The townspeople built the hall and they should not be excluded from it now,” she said.


“Four months to finalise the plans is rush, rush, rush. It is undemocratic and not good enough.”


Mrs Lempriere said the new hall should be bigger than the Cardinia Cultural Centre so that community groups and schools could host functions there and keep profits within the shire.


But council spokesman Paul Dunlop said it was likely the new hall would remain the same size.


“The dimensions of the new hall will be determined following discussions with user groups. The size has not been finalised with plans currently only at the concept stage, but it is anticipated the new hall will be of similar size to the existing hall,” he said.


“Pakenham’s award-winning Cardinia Cultural Centre was established as the premier events venue for the local area, with the ability to cater for functions ranging in size to up to 500 or more people.


“It is intended that the new hall in John Street would be used for smaller functions or activities.


“In addition, it is expected the facility will also provide meeting room space for community groups and organisations such as the University of the Third Age.”


Cardinia Shire mayor Bill Pearson praised the former committee and said they had done ‘wonders,’ with the hall booked for 50 of the 52 Saturday nights last year.


He said that to his knowledge, only three bookings were lost because of the hall’s size.


Life member of the Pakenham Hall Committee and secretary for the past 37 years, Graham Treloar, said Mr Carroll was first elected president in 1984.


“We only have six months to go, so I’m disappointed because we could have had only two secretaries and presidents in the history of the hall,” he said.


“Mr Carroll has served the people of Pakenham with distinction in the past 42 years.”