This article is from page 56 of the 2007-03-20 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 56 JPG
GREATER responsibility should be conferred on individual electoral ar- eas in order to enhance the delivery of services within the county.
That’s according to west Clare councillor Christy Curtin (Ind), who says electoral areas should be given a more expanded role in the decision making process.
He called on the county manager to outline his system of monitoring for the delivery of council services and management guidance within each electoral area.
Cllr Curtain stated, “The electoral area is the key unit within the coun-
cil for the implementation of policy decisions and the delivery services throughout the county. It embraces a defined landmass and its own charac- teristics and infrastructural needs”.
He added that the role and influ- ence of specific electoral areas had diminished since their creation eight years ago.
“However, its role has been limited and restricted since the creation of electoral areas in 1999 due primarily to the absence of a planning services clinic and a management ethos and co-ordination in each area. In this case, I strongly advocate that in or- der to redress the situation, the man- ager would as a matter or urgency
review the present arrangements for an expanded role and a mechanism for a broadened engagement with the communities of each electoral area.”
Clare County Council says the de- livery of services is constantly moni- tored.
According to Michael McNamara, Senior Executive Engineer, “There is a system of regular management team meetings which monitors the delivery of services from both a functional and a geographic perspec- tive.
“The annual budget, which in- cludes a report from the county man- ager on each of the services, sets out the programmes and the targets to be
delivered in the following year. This is supplemented by performance indicators across each programme ea cele yoy
“If circumstances do not allow for the delivery of a particular work programme, the members would be informed of the circumstances pre- vailing as regards that programme. Directors of services are delegated functions as area co-ordinators/man- agers. The area co-ordinator/manag- er 1s responsible for co-ordinating all services in their assigned electoral area, he said.
Clare County Council has six elec- toral areas – Ennis, Killaloe, Kilrush, Scariff, Ennistymon and Shannon.