The 103-year-old building was closed to the public in March 2011 after an engineer's report found there was a high risk of complete structural failure of all stone walls in a moderate earthquake.
The building was reopened a fortnight ago, after a more detailed report by a different engineering firm assessed the hall as meeting about 80% of the national building standard, therefore it was no longer deemed to be ''earthquake-prone''.
The hall is owned by the council but managed by the Bannockburn Community Centre management committee, which manages the community-owned church.
Plans by the committee to upgrade the hall kitchen and make some repairs to the building sparked the initial engineers' report.
The facility was then earmarked for demolition and the community began fundraising for a replacement, but was still debating what form the replacement building should take.
A further engineering report was sought on options for strengthening the existing building and that revealed the hall was not earthquake-prone.
Cromwell ratepayer David White said it was great news the hall could be used again, ''but what a fiasco for the last three years, in time, cost, and inconvenience to the community''.
Mr White is the chairman of Historic Places Central Otago but was speaking as an individual.
A year ago, Mr White said the hall had been condemned without a fair hearing and asked for an updated engineering report on retaining and strengthening the building.
He believed the cost of doing that was less than half the $1.3 million cost of a new hall.
Now the hall has received a ''reprieve'', he has strongly criticised the Cromwell Community Board and council for spending about $75,000 of ratepayers' money on the matter over three years.
Council chief executive Phil Melhopt was unsure exactly how much had been spent, but it could be $75,000.
The two engineering reports added up to about $10,000 and the rest had been for different elements of the project, including designs for the hall upgrade.
The plans for the hall upgrade were still on the drawing board, so the money had not been ''wasted''.
The council was surprised and disappointed there was such a variance in the two engineering reports on the hall, and was considering any legal remedies it might have, he said. He said contrary to what Mr White said, the council did not ''get it wrong'' and the matter was not a fiasco.
The community board was ''absolutely right'' to close the hall in 2011 based on the information it had then.
A lot had been learnt, since the Canterbury earthquakes, about strengthening buildings and risk management.
Mr Melhopt said the decision about replacing the facility, when it was believed the building was an earthquake risk, came from the community.
