The Tokomairiro Co-operating Parish council will meet next month to confirm what restoration works and improvements will be made to the historic and dominant structure.
A record 504 submissions late last year, supporting New Zealand Historic Places Trust plans to place a category 1 registration on the 120-year-old building, means the council now has to consider if and what improvement would be carried out, council secretary Marion McGuigan said yesterday.
One council group had been formed last year to handle the registration process but it was unclear if that group would handle the next stage, or if another body would be set up.
An action group had yet to be formed but the council would meet in the second week of February and that would be on the agenda, Mrs McGuigan said.
"We're just in a wee bit of limbo at the moment, but that should be cleared up at the next council meeting."
The council had every intention of making improvements to the church but, as yet, there was no definite plan on how that would happen.
"Once we know which direction we are taking, I'm sure things will start happening."
The ultimate aim was to see the church looking much better than it has in recent years, Mrs McGuigan said.
Late last year, the trust's Otago-Southland area manager, Owen Graham, said the church had considerable heritage value and its registration underlined how important it was to the Otago region.
The church, built in 1889, was designed by architect Robert Arthur Lawson, whose work included Dunedin's Municipal Chambers and First Church.
