Council's new property section unveils 'solid agenda'
Mayo County Council will begin refurbishment works on its headquarters later this year.
An extensive remit of work carried out by the recently established property section in Mayo County Council was outlined to members of Claremorris-Swinford Municipal District at their February meeting.
In a presentation to the forum, the council's Head of Property Julianne Gavin, whose official title is Senior Executive Officer, Property, Internal Audit, Organisation Change, Procurement and Parks and Recreation, told members that she runs the unit, which oversees non-residential council property, with the help of a number of teams.
Responsibilities include general maintenance of facilities such as Áras an Chontae, Glenpark and Mayo House in Castlebar, as well as valuations of non-domestic properties and registration of land. She noted that a good deal of land owned by the council is not currently registered formally through Tailte Éireann and that this needs to happen to avoid instances of adverse possession, which is achieved in part through managing grazing rights to keep lands occupied. She added that the council owns parcels of land throughout the four municipal districts, ranging from two acres to a 69-acre holding in Castlebar.
Providing examples of non-residential property disposals in the Claremorris-Swinford Municipal District, she said these include a number of sites in the Swinford Industrial Estate, a site in Abbeyquarter, Ballyhaunis to Uisce Éireann, nearly 10 acres in Millhill to Ballinrobe FC and also a disused reservoir in Kilkelly to a roofing company. Two more sites in the Swinford Industrial Estate are also due to be put on the market while another site there is not for sale at the moment, due to legal proceedings.
The unit also manages the Land Direct online land registry platform directory and Ms Gavin invited councillors to get in touch should they wish to look at land registry maps.
Upcoming energy efficiency works to be carried out at Áras an Chontae will be overseen by the unit also, she said, as well as the council chamber redesign, with work expected to start this summer.
The internal audit section is also based in the unit, she added, while current projects in hand include work on fire evacuation procedures, file storage and sorting out a large amount of files kept in the former swimming pool building, as well as work on the billing of electric vehicle charging around the various buildings. Future projects include work on the digitisation of payments to the council to improve workflow, “as we want to make it easier for customers to have their own accounts to pay rent and rates and fines or whatever, rather than coming into the office”.
Procurement is another area of responsibility as well as the management of the e-tenders portal, to ensure value for money and compliance with procurement legislation. Finally, Ms Gavin said the unit has responsibility over Parks and Recreation, including playgrounds, noting that the council has 130 various recreational facilities throughout the county.
The presentation was warmly welcomed by councillors who pointed out that Ms Gavin’s remit was an extensive one, with Cllr Michael Burke stating: “You have laid out a very solid agenda and at least now we have a contact in that section.”
- Published as part of the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.
