The Corporate Affairs Department is responsible for the provision and management of a very wide range of services, which include County Council Meetings, Building Administration, Corporate Planning, Organisation Development, Franchise, Policy Research.

 

Register of Electors

A Register of Electors is produced annually. The Register is a list of all persons over 18 years of age resident in the County who are entitled to vote in Elections to the Dail, European Assembly, Presidential, Local Elections and Referenda.

Local Electoral Area	No of Electors
Piltown	15,136
Kilkenny City	13,457
Thomastown	12,169
Ballyragget	12,101
Callan	8,710
Kilkenny	4,912

 

In May 2006 the Minister for the Environment announced a package of measures aimed at assisting local authorities in securing significant improvements in the accuracy of the register. These measures were continued throughout 2007.

• Ensuring a minimum of two calls per dwelling by field workers where information was not obtained on the first visit or a form has not been returned
• Obtain information from the household only - no third party information
• Date of birth to be collected for all persons, where possible
• Use of a customized and user-friendly Register Work Book to record appropriate details
• Consistently adhering to the Department of Environment Guidelines as issued
• On-going publicity of the registration process
• Adequate back-up office staff to update the Register on an on- going basis
• Adequate checking and audit of the process

A total of 35 fieldworkers were employed on compiling the Register during 2007.

The Draft Register is printed on the 1st November of every year and distributed to Post Offices, Libraries, and Garda Stations thus providing people with the opportunity to check if they were on the Draft Register. A website is also available for this purpose www.checktheregister.ie

The Live Register is subsequently published on 1st February and comes into force on the 15th February.

Supplement to the Register: A person who is qualified to be registered but, for any reason, is not included on the published register, may apply to be included on a supplement to the register before the fourteenth day before polling day (Sundays, Public Holidays and Good Friday are excluded). Following the Electoral Amendment Act, 2001 applications to be included on the supplement to the Register of Electors must now be witnessed by a member of the Gárda Siochana.

Under the provisions of the Electoral (Amendment) Act, 2001, a person who is on a Register of Electors and moves residence from one constituency to another constituency or from one local electoral area to another local electoral area, can apply for entry onto the supplement at their new address, provided the person authorises the appropriate local authority to delete their name from their old address.

Section 66 Grants:

A total of 83 Grants were awarded under the above Scheme totalling €50,000.

 

 

Customer Service Initatives

BARCELONA DECLARATION:

Kilkenny Local Authorities' Draft Disability Implementation Plan has been developed by the County and Borough Councils in consultation with the National Disability Authority, Kilkenny access group and a number of representative disability groups within the County. The plan will be published following final public consultation in 2008. The Plan implementation team is made up of representatives from the Disability Sector as well as staff from all relevant sections of Kilkenny Local Authorities including Housing, Community & Enterprise, Roads, Information Systems, Partnership and Equality.

In 2007, access audits were completed on the Built Environment including public buildings, streetscapes, car-parking, parks and walks. Work began later in the year on auditing access to services and information and on production of the final Implementation Plan which takes account of the audit findings.

A funding application to the Department was successful and a number of works were carried out to facilitate access for all. These works included:

Libraries: Installation of Induction Loops at 8 branches and improvements to Loughboy branch internally & externally.

Borough Council & Electoral Areas: Streetscape improvements including various controlled & uncontrolled road crossings & accessible parking bays. The Councils are currently awaiting approval for funding from the DOE under the National Disability Grant Scheme to carry works identified as high priority in the Implementation Plan.

 

INFORMATION DESK:

The Customer Information Desk has played a significant part in delivering a higher standard of service to our customers as part of an on-going change process in the Council. The Information Desk was introduced in a bid to be more open and responsive to the needs of our customers. During this time the staff have provided an information service on all Council services as well as matters outside the remit of the Council.

 

Ombudsman Complaints

Complaints received	5
Complaints responded to	5

 

Freedom of Information

Applications b/f  2006	5
No of applications requests received 2007	26
No of requests granted	23
No of requests part granted	5
No of requests refused	0
No of requests withdrawn	2
Live cases at 31/12/07	1

 

Appeals

No of internal Reviews received		1
No of Appeals to Info Comm		0
Sources of Requests	Business Interests	9
	Staff	0
	Others	17
	Journalists	0

 

 

Number of Council Meetings + Payments to Councillors

Number of Council Meetings, Committee Meetings Held from 1st January, 2010 to 31st December, 2007.

No. of Ordinary Monthly Meetings.	11	Rapid AIT	9
Annual Meeting.	1	Goul Joint Drainage	2
Special Meetings of the Council.	3	County Development Board	5
Estimates.	1	Corporate Policy Group	11
Thomastown Electoral Area.	6	Water Safety	5
Kilkenny Electoral Area.	5	Joint Traffic Committee	5
Callan Electoral Area.	5	Briefing	1
Piltown Electoral Area.	6	County Enterprise Board	6
Ballyragget Electoral Area.	4	Woodstock	1
Rural Water Monitoring.	5	Integrated Area Plan	3
Traveller Accommodation	4	Barrow Nore Suir	10
SPC1 - Economic Development & Planning Policy	5	Kilkenny Community Action Network (KCAN)	10
SPC2 - Infrastructure, Transportation, Water Services & Other	4	Draft Development Plan	10
SPC3 - Environmental Policy including Sanitary Services, Fire Services, Emergency Planning	4	Development Contributions	2
SPC4 - Housing Policy, Social	3
SPC5 - Arts, Culture, Heritage, Tourism, Education	4

 

Payments to Councillors

:

Monthly Allowance :	€145,380.53
Training and Education Allowance :	€157,178.43
Representational Payment :	€440,574.38
SPC Allowance :	€30,400.00

 

Workplace Partnership in Kilkenny County and City Councils

During the past year the process of managing change through Partnership has continued with the process being embedded through local initiatives and the implementation of national policies.

Most of the work of the Partnership Committee throughout the last year has arisen through the need to meet commitments under the Towards 2016 Agreement. One of the key principles of the agreement is that commitments made and flexibility measures to be introduced are to be agreed in a partnership manner. Therefore 2007 has been a busy year for those involved in the partnership process dealing with significant issues as they arise.

The second phase of the Action Plans / Progress Reports of the 2016 Agreement were agreed by the partnership committee in March 2007. As part of the process which involves examination of plans submitted by a Performance Verification Group, a presentation was made by staff members from representative of all sectors of Kilkenny Local Authorities to the group in June 2007. Following this presentation, the Performance Verification Group expressed satisfaction with progress being made by Kilkenny Local Authorities towards meeting the change agenda.

The Partnership Committee which comprises of representatives of management and unions continued to meet on a monthly basis during 2007. Much of the work carried out within the process was achieved through the ongoing work of various working groups. These included a group set up to monitor the implementation of the nationally agreed contractor's agreement as it pertains to contracts to the value of less than €50,000. A working group was set up to examine procurement options i.e. traditional methods versus possible PP's. A working group was also set up to examine restructuring proposals for the outdoor services of Kilkenny Borough Council. This work is ongoing.

Amongst the worthwhile projects promoted by Partnership in 2007 was the programme of health promotion in the workplace with visits by HSE, staff from the health promotion unit to Callan and the machinery yard. A health check programme was carried out in September and October 2007 which was attended by 145 staff members.

The junior Achievement programme continued in 2007 with over 200 schools being visited.

Consultation sessions were held for staff regarding the proposed introduction of a time management scheme in 2008, these sessions were attended by 320 staff members of Kilkenny County Council and Kilkenny Borough Council.