Ballyshannon Town Council - Minutes April 2010
MINUTES OF TOWN COUNCIL MEETING 6th APRIL 2010 –MEMBERS CHAMBER, BALLYSHANNON TOWN COUNCIL, BALLYSHANNON AT 6.30 P.M
In attendance: Cllr. Eugene Dolan (Cathaoirleach), Cllr. John Meehan, Cllr. Brendan Travers, Cllr. Rosaleen Branley, Cllr. Phonsie Travers, Cllr. Pat O’Malley, Cllr. Billy Grimes, Mr. Liam Ward (Town Manager) and Ms. Mary Daly (Town Clerk).
Apologies:
Cllrs. Brendan Gallagher and Val Murray.
Press: Mr. Michael Daly (Donegal Democrat), Ms. Elaine McGee (Ocean Fm)
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The Cathaoirleach, Cllr. Eugene Dolan welcomed all present and officially opened the meeting. Cllr. Dolan expressed his good wishes to Mr. Liam Ward on this his first meeting as Town Manager.
1.
Minutes of previous meeting – Tuesday, 2nd March 2010:
The minutes of the previous meeting held Tuesday 2nd March were adopted on the proposal of Cllr. Billy Grimes and seconded by Cllr. John Meehan.
2.
Matters arising from Minutes:
The Town Clerk circulated a follow-up report from the last meeting (Appendix 1).
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Sewerage Scheme
: Members requested an update on the sewerage scheme connections including information on fee’s and the timeframe involved.
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Playground
: Cllr. Phonsie Travers proposed that the caretaker who is responsible for opening and closing the public toilets in the Market Yard would also be responsible for opening and closing the playground.
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Dog Fouling
: Cllr. Phonsie Travers stated that he had received a lot of public support in relation to the issue of dog fouling and requested Donegal County Council to erect the dog fouling signage. Cllr. P. Travers also requested the local press to carry the details of the pollution act, which refers to dog fouling, Cllr. Meehan seconded this proposal. Cllr. Meehan stated that it was a matter of changing the mind set of people and called for the Council to provide a number of boxes around the town so that dog owners could deposit any dog litter collected. Cllr. Brendan Travers stated that Youghal Town Council provided 150 pooper-scoopers to dog owners, the Town Clerk agreed to contact Youghal Town Council before the next meeting to gather some information on their efforts to reduce dog fouling.
Cllr. Meehan proposed that the Traffic Warden who also has responsibility for litter, give a presentation to the students at Colaiste Cholmcille. Cllr. Brendan Travers seconded this proposal. Mr. Liam Ward stated that the Council had an Information Officer, Ms. Suzanne Tinney who should be invited to give this presentation. The members suggested that the Traffic/Litter Warden accompany her, as he was the local face. This was agreed.
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Road re-instatements
: Cllr. Grimes stated that it would be very important that any road repairs would be carried out at the same time as the re-instatements
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Tirconnail Street Sign
: Cllr. Meehan requested an update in relation to the street sign for Tirconnail Street
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Storage Container and Oil Tank
: It was agreed to put the Oil Tank on the agenda for the May meeting and the Town Clerk stated she would also have an update in relation to the storage container.
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Pay and Display
: Cllr. Grimes requested an update in relation to his queries with regard to ‘Pay and Display’, the Town Clerk stated that she had no response from the Council and would follow-up for the May meeting.
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Public Toilets
: No report was available from the Council, the Town Clerk agreed to follow-up for the May meeting. Cllr. Grimes stated that the public toilets were a disgrace, a health risk with no locks, no soap, no hot water and urged the Council to review them before the summer months and to put a ‘charge on the door’ to discourage any misuse of them.
3.
Managers Orders:
The Town Clerk presented the following Order for noting by members:
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Sealing of the Management Agreement – between the Town Council and the Abbey Centre Management Company Limited pursuant to Section 212 of the Planning and Development Act 2000.
4.
Motions:
Town Council Representative on DLDC
‘Under the Articles of Association of DLDC as set out by the Department, a director can sit on the board for 3 years. An agreement is in place to do a rota of the three towns, Letterkenny, Ballyshannon and then Bundoran.
Ballyshannon Town Council now call on Letterkenny Town Council and Bundoran Town Council to meet with Ballyshannon Town Council to review the current rota in relation to DLDC to faciliate a balanced input from the three Town Councils’.
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submitted by Cllr. John Meehan
Cllr. Rosaleen Branley seconded this motion. It was agreed that the Town Clerk would contact the other Town Councils with a view to organising a meeting of the three chairs.
‘Ballyshannon Town Council call on DCC/ESB to provide lights at the back of the houses at Ernedale Heights from numbers 15 to 20’.
‘Ballyshannon Town Council call on DCC/ESB to provide a new light at the bottom of St. Benildus Avenue’
‘Ballyshannon Town Council call on DCC to repair the green area in front of the houses at Ernedale Heights after recent footpath repairs from house numbers 21 to 26.’
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submitted by Cllr. Rosaleen Branley
Cllr. John Meehan seconded these motions.
‘That this Council requests the Minister for Health and Children, Ms. Mary Harney, T.D., to reverse the HSE’s decision to centralise all medical card processing to the PCRS Offices in Dublin’.
- submitted by South Tipperary County Council
Cllr. Phonsie Travers proposed the adoption of this motion, seconded by Cllr. Rosaleen Branley.
5.
Correspondence:
· The Town Clerk read a letter received from Mr. Brendan Flanagan, Gortarowey, Drumcliff, Co. Sligo requesting a meeting with members in relation to Sminver Bridge. Members agreed to meet Mr. Flanagan at 6.00 p.m. prior to their May monthly meeting (4th May). Members requested an agenda and information on who was attending the meeting prior to their meeting.
Cllr. Meehan requested that the Council would send a letter of congratulations to the following:
- St. Patrick’s Day Parade Committee
- Owen O’Malley-Daly and Iaron Madden, who have been selected on the Irish Junior Surfing Team.
It was also agreed that a letter of best wishes would be sent to May Walsh, Librarian following her recent surgery.
That concluded the business of the meeting.