Published: Thursday, 18th June, 2009 9:00am

Project manager sought to ease Council merger

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Changes at Fermanagh and Omagh District Councils are moving ahead over the coming months as the councils" seek to recruit a Transition Project Manager to assist in the convergence and preparation of the new council in May 2011.

A recruitment campaign began in the local press last week in the search for the candidate, who is expected to work on a fixed term basis with the current chief executives, senior council staff and the transition committee on the challenging two year project.

The Transition Project Manager post will be the main senior appointment made to deal with the process. A consultancy exercise maybe involved at a later stage although the Councils have yet to decide whether this will be necessary.

Last year the Stormont Executive, in a compromised plan between Sinn Fein and the DUP, agreed to reduce the number of councils from 26 to 11 by May 2011.

It was agreed that the new 11 "super council" model, which was planned by the Department for Environment under the leadership of then DUP Minister Arlene Foster, would build a firm foundation for community planning and strong local government.

But the decision to merge Fermanagh and Omagh councils was not welcomed by all political parties-most notably the UUP.

One Fermanagh Councillor described the merge as a 'shotgun marriage' suggesting that Fermanagh council would have been better placed with Dungannon council as it wouldn"t have to pick up the heavy assets and liabilities bill incurred by Omagh Council over the years.

A team building day at the lough Erne Golf Resort was held last month between councillors of the respective Councils and was dubbed by some as a "bloody waste of time" while others described it as "productive".

The voluntary transition committee comprises 16 councillors from Fermanagh and Omagh and is currently providing the "scope work" with councillors working together to explore different ideas in order to make way for the creation of the new 'Fermanagh & Omagh District Council'.

Following legislation, the voluntary transition committee will then develop into a statutory committee by January 2010 with the council taking the shape of a proxy council and a Chief Executive designate is expected to be appointed.

Under that time frame, the committee will then have to make the possible contentious decision on where the headquarters of the new council will be based.

There will be a restructure of Departments and repositioning of jobs with voluntary redundancies expected-depending on the council make-up.

Speaking about the imminent changes over the next year, SDLP Councillor John O"Kane, who sits on the Voluntary Transition Committee said despite the councils" differences, the sooner the new council is formed the better so that a new corporate vision can be established.

'I think we are working towards a stage where the Council will have more control in the long run and we won"t have to consult with government departments over certain decisions. There are some issues that both Councils don"t see eye to eye on and that is inevitable. There are some difficulties surrounding the issue of assets and liabilities and there is no doubt that Omagh has more debt than we have, but we are where we are on this and the decision will not change.'

He said the committee must not lose sight of the interests of the ratepayer during the transition process, 'The focus must be on the ratepayer and the fact we have the ability now to deliver a more efficient and user-friendly service when this council merges in 2011. It should not be a competition on who"s the better council or councillor, it should be a partnership based on trust similar to what the Good Friday Agreement was based on. Inevitably with any type of change there will be teething-problems but we will get through these and they will be resolved through time.'