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Council chairman reflects on busy year

THE outgoing chairman of Omagh District Council, Mr. Liam McQuaid, has reflected on what he described as an 'extremely hectic but rewarding 12 months' during his term of office.
Mr. McQuaid, a long-time SDLP council member who is seeking re-election in the West tyrone area, was addressing councillors at the last full meeting of the present adminstration.
"Tonight's meeting affords me the last opportunity of my term of office to reflect on the main events and achievements of the last year and to publicly thank everyone who has assisted me during the course of what has been an extremely hectic but rewarding 12 months," he said.
Looking to the future, Mr. McQuaid said he was confident that the council's new chief executive, Mr. Danny McSorley, would guide the next administration through the minefield that is local government.
"Under his leadership I feel that Omagh District Council will continue to be a progressive and visionary one, demonstrating flair and innovation," said Mr. McQuaid.
Earlier in his report Mr. McQuaid said: "My year in office has been incredibly busy, full of contrasting duties and emotions. I have served this organisation for 28 years and four times now I have had the great honour of serving this council and the people of this district as chairman.
"I must admit that the role of chairman has developed greatly since my first term in 1980/81. I have found the past year a bit of a culture shock in terms of the sheer volume of engagements with which the modern chairman is faced and the range and nature of the work involved."
He continued: "The past year has been a year when we consolidated, improved and broke new ground. My first official engagement as chairman was to address the round table conference at the Mellon Country Inn."
Foundations
"That event laid the foundations for the development and launch of the Community Plan which took place just last week. I'm delighted and proud that the Community Plan took less than a year to develop and I would like to pay tribute to everyone who contributed to its formulation. especially the council staff and the staff of Omagh District Partnership.
"The launch of the Reimaging Strategy. Omagh 2010, in November focused our attentions on where Omagh should be in 10 years time and coupled with the Community Plan, we now have a vision for the whole district. I look forward to playing my part in the vision becoming a reality," Mr. McQuaid said.
"I was delighted also to have had the opportunity to provide the foreward for the first edition of the council's external magazine "In View" which was mailed to every house and business in the district. "In View" was a tremendous publication - it was informative, colourful, educational and provided an excellent synopsis of the key issues facing the Council and district.
"Through the medium of the magazine, the Council was able to present the public with an idea of how their money was being invested and encouraged the readership to reply with comments, queries and suggestions for subsequent issues. I am delighted to say that 95 per cent of the feedback we received was positive and encouraging," Mr. McQuaid said.
"There is an old adage that you cannot please all of the people all of the time. But my own personal view is that that is what we must strive towards in delivering best value to the people of the district. I am confident that we can achieve this."
Mr. McQuaid also said that the ongoing success of the new Assembly has been good news for the district.
"The Minister for Regional Development, Mr. Gregory Campbell, for example, in January of this year announced that the siting of the new Waste Water Treatment Works would be located on a greenfield site in Mountjoy. The council quite rightly felt vindicated that all the years of intense lobbying had paid off.
"This particular result was an indication of the benefits of local people dealing with local issues. Earlier in my term, 1 had the pleasure of welcoming Minister Campbell to Dromore to perform the official opening of the Dromore Bypass. This particular scheme was a source of great personal pleasure and pride as I, along with my council colleagues, had been lobbying for the Bypass for many many years."
Play facilities
Continued Mr. McQuaid: "This past year also consolidated the council's long held commitment to improving leisure and play facilities. Over the past 12 to 18 months we have spent £165,000 in the creation of five new play areas featuring the most advanced play equipment available, together with state of the art safety surfaces.
"Add to that, two multi-play area surfaces at Strathroy and O'Kane Park, allied to the football pitches develoment at Strathroy, a project which, I understand, is nearing completion and I am sure you will agree, we are doing our utmost to improve facilities in our area. Other leisure improvements include a three kilometre walk stretching from the leisure centre to the Cookstown Road, the provision of footbridges at the Hospital Road Community Centre and Retreat Close, and working in partnership with development groups in the Loughmacrory and Drumquin areas to implement environmental improvement schemes. 1 understand that further similar schemes are at an advanced stage of planning," said the outgoing chairman.
Continuing he said: "Landfill tax continues to be a tremendous financial burden on the council and I applaud the continuing efforts of our staff to educate the public and to inform them of the huge benefits of recycling at first hand, during a trip to Austria earlier this year and I can tell you we still have a long way to go."
Mr. McQuaid also said that cutting the sod at the new pilot development at Tattykeel for traveller families was certainly one of the high points of his year.
"Development of the Tattykeel site was high on the list of Council priorities when it was included with three other sites in a pilot project by the Northern Ireland Housing Executive. This was of particular interest to me because I worked on the development of the original site in 1982," he said.
"Progress also continued on the development of the site at Lower Market Street and I look forward to work on the other side of the street getting underway shortly. The removal of the Garden of Remembrance to a site adjacent to the County Hall was a deeply moving experience and 1 congratulate Council staff who have once again created a fitting area of solitude and serenity by which the victims of August 15 1998 can be remembered."
Sporting
On the sporting front. Mr. McQuaid said the Omagh district was once again to the fore.
"We had the visit of the Leicester Tigers Rugby Club to Omagh for their annual week-long training camp. Their coach, Dean Richards, spoke very highly not only of our excellent facilities but also of the warmth of the welcome they received during their stay. Those of you who follow rugby will know that just last week, Leicester Tigers were crowned European Champions, so perhaps we may be entitled to claim a little bit of credit for their success.
"The other rugby code also had its version of the World Cup in the British Isles and I had the pleasure of welcoming some of the organisers to Omagh at the end of August,"
Mr. McQuaid also said that Omagh CBS finally ended a 27-year wait for success in the premier competition of Ulster Colleges football when they shared the 2001 MacRory Cup with near neighbours and old rivals St. Michael's of Enniskillen.
"The young ladies of Dromore St. Dympna's GFC won the Ulster Intermediate Title, Omagh Academicals Rugby Club just failed in their bid to land the Towns' Cup losing out to Rainey in the final, while Omagh Town retained their premiership status," continued Mr. McQuaid.
However, he added that the loss of two great.heroes of motor sport cast a long shadow however over many sport followers in the Omagh district.
"The deaths of motorcycle legend Joey Dunlop in Estonia and rally ace Bertie Fisher, close to his home in Ballinamallard, robbed the people of this island of two of our greatest sporting heroes and their families and friends of two of life's true gentlemen. We remember them. Two other members of the Fisher family Bertie's daughter Emma and rally driver son Mark also lost their lives in the accident."
Mr. McQuaid said he had many personal highlights in his year of office, including meeting former president Bill Clinton during his recent trip to the province.
"1 found him a man who was genuinely interested in what help he could offer and my own view is that, irrespective of what you thought about him, he cared enough about resolving the conflict here to give it his best shot.
"I had the pleasure of spending St. Patrick's Day in New York and taking part in the main parade and I had the great honour of attending the Northern Odyssey spectacular to celebrate the end of the Millennium celebrations in Northern Ireland."
"But my own personal favourite, and certainly one of my most humbling experiences occurred during a small reception which I hosted for visiting children from Chernobyl and their host families. During the course of the conversation, I discovered that their outlook was extremely bleak and that their trip to Northern Ireland would be for the majority of them, the highlight of their lives.
"However the gratitude and sheer joy that those children expressed was truly inspiring and I must say will be one of the most abiding memories of my term in office," said Mr McQuaid.
He continued: "Of course there were downsides, most noticeably in the agriculture and tourism sectors, two industries upon which this district are particularly reliant. The Ulster History Park experience like all other tourism facilities endured a tough spell due to the prolonged difficulties caused by the foot-and-mouth crisis. This threat has impacted greatly on the agriculture industry which was just beginning to show signs, albeit slow ones of recovery, from the BSE crisis.
"Again, the management of the foot-and-mouth crisis, by the Minister for Agriculture, Brid Rodgers emphasised the benefits of having local people with an in-depth knowledge of local issues making the decisions. I congratulate the Minister and the Department of Agriculture for the way in which they dealt with the crisis," Mr. McQuaid said.
As well as paying tribute to retiring councillors, Mr. McQuaid expressed thanks to council staff at all levels and to the local press.