Town councilors opted Tuesday night to table a vote on hiring a moderator for a public visioning session about the future of town-owned Worumbo Mill.

The mill is used primarily as an event space, most notably for Tasty Tuesday, when several food trucks gather in Lisbon Falls every other Tuesday during the summer, drawing hundreds some days.

The visioning session would have been a chance for members of the public to participate in a moderated discussion about the future of the property. But many councilors Tuesday night thought they needed more information about the possible uses of the property before such a discussion.

“I don’t think it’s time to do this at all,” Councilor Dale Crafts said. “I think we need to find out what we have to sell, we need to put a value on it, we need to put a ‘for sale’ sign on it and allow these developers to come to us and say ‘I would like to do this.’ … Then we can decide if that’s what we want.”

Crafts and several other councilors feel there are a number of other town spaces that could also be sold, such as Graziano Square, for development to help offset taxes and promote economic development in town.

“We’re in bad shape and we need to cash up some of these properties,” Crafts said.

Property taxes in town dramatically increased last year after miscalculations in previous fiscal years kept property taxes too low, requiring the town to also dip into its reserve funds. A public outcry resulted in a slate of new councilors being elected last fall to help sort out the problem. Property taxes are expected to increase again this year.

Interim Town Manager Jim Bennett thought a public discussion on the future of the Worumbo Mill could help inform councilors on what members of the public would like to see done with the property. He believed many residents would want to weigh in, given the attachment many in town have to the property.

“I think it’s important enough a piece of a property and has such a presence in the community that allowing the community to have a dialogue about it before the council makes some decisions is a … I think it’s the right way to go about how we could potentially have the piece of parcel be more than what it is right now,” Bennett said.

Bennett had planned to facilitate the meeting, but realized a couple of weeks ago that he did not have the capacity, he said. He said he believes that out of the many other town properties, Worumbo Mill has the greatest economic development potential.

Councilor Fern Larochelle said he thought getting public input is worthwhile, but said he would like to have an outside firm look at the property and tell the town what can and cannot realistically be done with it.

“We can draw all the pretty pictures on paper, but if it doesn’t meet the requirements it just doesn’t work,” he said.

Council Chair Chris Camire noted that the process of determining the future of the mill is long-term, and that no immediate decisions are going to be made.

All councilors, except Nicholas Craig, voted to table the discussion for another meeting. It was unclear when the council will take up the issue again.