Connecting YOUR Council

As a Candidate for Larne Borough Council, one of my aims is to engage more people with the Council, especially young people. I want more people to take an interest in what the Council is doing in their name, since the Council represents the people of Larne.

There are many  ways in which this could be achieved: through better use of the Internet and social networking sites to keep people up to date and connected with the Council, working closely with the schools and other organisations in the borough to allow young people to experience the Council Chamber when it is sitting. 

Ultimately, I would like to see Larne Borough Council leading the way with a Youth Council. This would not only engage young people with the Council hopefully into their later years, but it would also give them the platform to express their concerns and ideas in a way that would help the Council to connect with the youth, making the communication two-way.

Currently, the main ways for people to know what is happening in the Council Chamber are to attend meetings in person, or to read the minutes online. Since it has been exactly 2 months since the last set of minutes was uploaded to the website, I have written the following letter to Geraldine McGahey, the Chief Executive of Larne Borough Council. I await her reply...

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24 March 2011

FAO: The Chief Executive

Dear Geraldine,

I am writing to enquire about Larne Borough Council’s procedures for publishing Council and Committee minutes on its website. As of today, the last available minutes are from 24^th January 2011 – exactly two months ago. During this period, two separate organisations in which I am involved have been the subject of business in various meetings, yet we are unable to view the relevant minutes.

Being the Secretary of several organisations, I know the importance of preparing official minutes as soon as possible after a meeting in order that all action points may be dealt with. I assume that the minutes of Council and Committee meetings for February and March have been prepared but not uploaded to the website.

I myself have previously made use of the availability of Council minutes online, and I know others who do the same. Publishing all minutes on the LBC website is not only good practice in making the proceedings publically available, but it also helps to engage members of the general public and those organisations affected by and with an interest in Council proceedings.

I should be grateful if you could advise me as to the procedure followed by those concerned with the taking and preparation of minutes, and would urge you to encourage prompt preparation and publishing of these documents as soon as possible after the meeting takes place.

Looking forward to receiving your reply, and awaiting the publication of the minutes,

Yours sincerely

Mark R W McKinty

Building Strong Leadership in Ballycarry!

I am pleased to be one of 5 members from Ballycarry Community Association (along with David, Carla, Lesley, and Carol) taking part in the Community Leadership Programme (CLP) organised by NICVA and funded by the International Fund for Ireland. This is the third (and final) year of the course, which will be a huge boost for the Ballycarry community.

Through training, facilitation and workshops the CLP will empower our group to make real differences in the local community. It will help the local community to take ownership of our  development and offers external support from NICVA and the University of Ulster. This programme will build the capacity of Ballycarry Community Association so that we will be able to work together to address issues, network with others and influence policies that effect local people’s lives. More importantly, however, we will be able to run a Community Association which is a vibrant group, organising events which matter to the people of Ballycarry.

These pictures were taken a few weeks ago at the first Round Table event, held in Galgorm, at which we met our facilitator, Bernard Black, got to hear from other successful groups in the programme, and had a really useful brainstorming session about what areas we need to improve on. I am looking forward to taking part in the workshops over the coming year, which will no doubt compliment the encouraging work of the revitalised Community Association over the past year.

 Our first session with our facilitator will be held in the Community Centre later this month, and then NICVA will carry out a governance survey on how the Association is actually run, making suggestions for improvement. The programme will also give us the opportunity to test our new and improved skills in organising a project in the Village, funded by the IFI.

Thanks must go to Dr. David Hume MBE for his hard work in securing this fantastic opportunity for the Ballycarry community. I'm sure I will update in the near future with more information on how we are all getting on...