Council Meeting 1st June 2010

Minutes

 MINUTES OF MONTHLY MEETING OF CLONAKILTY TOWN COUNCIL
HELD ON TUESDAY 1st JUNE 2010 AT 10.30 A.M. IN COUNCIL CHAMBER, OLD MILL, KENT ST, CLONAKILTY.
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Members Present: Cllr. Anthony McDermott (Mayor), Cllr. Aidan Pendlebury, Cllr. Phil O’Regan, Cllr. Kevin O’Regan, John Loughnan, Cllr. Humphrey Deegan, Cllr.  Cionnáith Ó Súilleabháin, Cllr. Anne Cullinane.

Officers Present: Moira Murrell, Town Manager, John Conroy, Town Engineer, Justin England, Town Clerk, Gerard Harte, Staff Officer.

Apologies:   Cllr. Michael O’Regan 
          
 

1.          CONFIRMATION OF MINUTES

a) Minutes of May Monthly Meeting

On the proposal of Cllr. Loughnan, seconded by Cllr. Kevin O’Regan, the minutes of the May meeting were adopted.

2.       MATTERS ARISING FROM MINUTES
 
a) Minutes of May Monthly Meeting

Cllr. Kevin O’Regan referred to item that was discussed at the May monthly meeting– Audit of Shop Fronts and signage. The Town Clerk informed him that at the time of the meeting 52 properties within the Town had being examined.

Cllr. Ó Súilleabháin referred to the Footpath/Hoarding bordering Scally's Supermarket. The Town Engineer confirmed that he was liaising with property owner on this matter. Cllr. Ó Súilleabháin suggested that double yellow lines should be put along the footpath.

Cllr. Loughnan referred to item under Any Other Business- Satellite Dishes. He noticed that there had been a reduction in the number on Strand Road. 

Cllr. Cullinane noted that double yellow lines had been painted on Patrick’s Hill and commended the Town Engineer.

Cllr. Pendlebury enquired about the placing of street furniture outside premises. The Town Clerk confirmed that he was dealing with this matter.

Cllr. O’Suilleabháin remarked that he was pleased to see that legislation had been passed that outlawed the selling of certain products in Headshops.

 3. VOTES OF SYMPATHY
    To: -
• Maria O’Leary, Clonakilty Credit Union on the death of her mother Rita O’Leary.

VOTES OF CONGRATULATIONS
  To:-
• Methodist Church Clonakilty on their 150th Anniversary.
• Clonakilty Community College on winning All Ireland Orienteering title.
• Cllr. Deegan and family on birth of their baby daughter.
• Myra Heffernan, staff member who is taking up a new position with Bandon Area Office.
• Clonakilty Lions Club on their New Charter.
• Maxol Ireland on the opening of their premises on the Western Road.
• Letter of best wishes to be sent to John O’Carroll, Traffic Warden after his recent operation.

4. STATUTORY BUSINESS OF THE COUNCIL
(a) Date for Annual General Meeting
A resolution was passed to hold the Annual General Meeting on
 23rd June 2010 at 10.30am.

5. REPORTS AND RECOMMENDATIONS OF COMMITTEES OF THE    COUNCIL

a) Flood sub-committee meeting
   The Town Clerk informed the Members of matters discussed at the Flood Sub-Committee meeting held on 26th May.
 
 b) IPB
Cllr. Phil O’Regan updated members on the Irish Public Bodies Annual General Meeting which she attended on behalf of the Council

 c) Joint Policing Committee
Cllr. Deegan and Cllr. Ó Suilleabháin attended a Joint Policing Committee Seminar on the weekend of May 22-24 at the Celtic Ross Hotel and reported to the Members.
 
 d) Employment Sub-Committee
 Cllr. O’Suilleabháin and Cllr. Pendlebury informed the Members that the sub-committee have met on a number of occasions and hoped to bring a report to full Council towards the end of the summer.
 
e) VEC Sub-Committee
Cllr. Deegan proposed that the Town Council should write to the VEC and to the Board of Management of Clonakilty Community College and request that they reinstate the Business PLC course. This was seconded by Cllr. Ó Súilleabháin.

6. REPORTS AND RECOMMENDATIONS OF OFFICERS OF THE      COUNCIL

a) Planning Applications
Planning applications that had been received since the previous meeting were laid before the meeting.
 
b)  Managers Orders
The Manager’s Orders signed since the previous meeting were laid before the meeting.

c) Application for Community Funding from Sustainable Clonakilty
Sustainable Clonakilty applied for funding of €2,420.00 from Clonakilty Town Council. On the proposal of Cllr. Phil O’Regan and seconded by Cllr. Ó Suilleabháin it was agreed that a grant of €1,200.00 would be allocated.

          
d)    Wastewater Treatment Plant
The Town Clerk informed the Members that officials met with representatives of Clonakilty Business Association regarding the Wastewater Treatment Plant and provided Members with an account of that meeting and progress to date. The Members are to be kept up to date on the matter.

e)  Windows and doors replacement programme   
Members were informed of progress to date.

f) Town Twinning
The Town Clerk informed Members that the Town was celebrating the 21st Anniversary of its twinning with Waldeshaff in August.

It is expected that 90 guests from Waldeshaff will arrive for the celebrations with a week long diary of events scheduled. On the Sunday various events are organised in Dunmore House Hotel and it is hoped that a symbolic renewal of the twinning charter will be signed between the two municipal authorities during the day in Dunmore.

Cllr. Phil O’Regan suggested that the renewal of the charter should take place in the Council Chamber and it was agreed that the Twinning Association should be contacted with a view to making arrangements.

7. NOTICES OF MOTION
a) Emergency Motion from Cllr. O’Suilleabháin
“That this Council write as a matter of urgency to Mr. Zion Evrony, the Israeli Ambassador to Ireland, expressing our condemnation of the recent actions of the Israeli armed forces against the international humanitarian aid convoy heading to Gaza, which resulted in the deaths of a number of people. If passed this motion will be circulated immediately to the other Town Councils in the state to be put on the agendas of their next meetings”.
 
On the proposal of Cllr. Cullinane and seconded by Cllr. Loughnan it was agreed to move the motion

The motion was proposed by Cllr. O’Suilleabháin and seconded by Cllr. Cullinane.
 
 Following contributions from several Members the motion was agreed. 

b) Motion from Cllr. Loughnan
"This Council calls on the Department of Environment, Heritage and Local Government to restrict any proposed reduction to the Local Government Fund Grant Allocation to Clonakilty Town Council for 2011 to the rate of deflation for 2010."

Cllr. Loughnan proposed a change in the wording as follows:

“That this Council calls on the Department of Environment, Heritage and Local Government not to reduce the Local Government Fund Grant Allocation to Clonakilty Town Council for 2011 below the amount received in 2010”.

The motion was proposed by Cllr. Loughnan and seconded by Cllr. Phil O’Regan.

Following contributions from several Members, the motion was agreed.

8. CORRESPONDENCE FROM GOVERNMENT DEPARTMENTS

9. CORRESPONDENCE FROM OTHER LOCAL AUTHORITIES AND          
PUBLIC BODIES

a)     Motion from Clones Town Council
"That this Council calls on Minister Batt O’Keeffe, Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment to work with the regulator to ensure that the UK/Northern Ireland business is re-opened with immediate effect to safeguard the 2800 highly skilled jobs at Quinn Insurance”.

 The motion was marked as read. 
 
         b)     Motion from Cobh Town Council
“That this Council supports the ‘Justice for Robert Delaney Campaign’ & the recently established website www.innocentvictimsofviolence.ie which was set up the Delaney Family as a forum of support and information for the campaign and furthermore calls on any citizen with information on the callous crime which resulted in Robert’s hospitalisation to inform the Gardai of any such information”.

This motion was proposed by Cllr. O’Suilleabháin and seconded by Cllr. Pendlebury.

The motion was agreed.
 
c)     Motion from Castleblayney Town Council
“That this Council demand that An Taoiseach, Brian Cowen, T.D., Brian Lenihan, T.D., Minister for Finance and the Government provide a financial aid package or reliefs for residential mortgage holders and S.M.Es, (small and medium enterprises) who find themselves through no fault of their own, having great difficulty meeting their financial commitments at this time”.

The motion was marked as read

10.     ANY OTHER BUSINESS

a) Traffic & Transportation Study
Cllr. Ó Suilleabháin enquired as to the progress of the study. The Town Clerk informed him that a meeting had being arranged for 21st June with the Transportation Policy Unit.

b) Water Supplies and Dry Weather Spell
Cllr. Ó Suilleabháin enquired whether the current dry weather spell and forecasted dry summer would have an impact on water supplies to the Town. The Town Engineer indicated that at present there were no concerns but would be monitoring the situation over the summer.

c) Convent Hill Road Repairs
Cllr. Ó Suilleabháin enquired whether it was intended to repair the left turning lane to Timoleague. The Town Engineer indicated that there were no plans at present to do road works in this area.

d) Future of Town Councils
Cllr. Ó Suilleabháin brought to Members attention a proposal by the Minster Noel Dempsey, Minister of Transport to the Government to examine the roles of Town Councils.

e) Sea Lettuce Action Plan
Cllr. Kevin O’Regan enquired about the Sea Lettuce Action plan. The Town Manager gave the Members an update on progress to date.

f) Footpath, Lady’s Cross
Cllr. Deegan enquired about the construction of the footpath at Lady’s Cross. The Town Engineer confirmed that contract documents are currently being prepared.

g) Wastewater Treatment Plant
Cllr. Deegan enquired whether the option of Public / Private Partnership is being explored. The Town Manager confirmed that the County Engineer is examining all options.

h) Astna Square
Cllr. Pendlebury enquired on progress on Astna Square. The Town Clerk confirmed that the Architects were still developing their design for the square.

i) Bus Stop, Showgrounds, Bypass Road
Cllr. Cullinane enquired as to progress of the bus stop at the show grounds. The Town Engineer confirmed that Bus Eireann and the Gardai were liaising on the matter.

j) Dog fouling
The Mayor requested that due to recent high incidents of dog fouling that a new campaign against dog fouling be initiated as previous campaigns have worked in the past.

k) NRA Delegation
The Town Manager informed the Members that a delegation consisting of the Mayors of Bandon, Clonakilty, Skibbereen and Bantry in addition to Members of the Western Committee would be travelling to Dublin on
22nd June to meet with the NRA regarding the N71.

        This concluded the official business of the meeting

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