CONTROL OF DOGS
Under the Control of Dogs Acts 1986 & 1992, all dogs except those used wholly for official duties by the Gardai, Defence Forces or the Custom & Excise Services. Section 2 of the Act makes it an offence for a person to keep a dog unless he/she holds a licence for the dog or a general licence covering any number of dogs at specified premises. Carlow County Council and Kilkenny County Council operate a joint Dog Warden Service with two Dog Wardens based at Paulstown. This joint service is currently is being provided by the ISPCA until December 2016 with a possibility of a further extension.
Licences issued 1 January 2016 to 31 December 2016 = 2,195 Income €36,230.

DOG BREEDING ESTABLISHMENT ACT 2010
The Council has also developed protocols for risk assessments and inspection guidelines to act as a template for site assessments. It is now the Councils intention to conduct at least two unannounced inspections on each registered Dog Breeding Establishment (DBE) each year. The Council is currently reviewing the procurement of veterinary services for the Food Safety Authority and dog control services.

CIVIC FUNCTIONS
Personnel in Corporate Services co-ordinate and hosts all civic functions which range from meeting visiting school groups, delegations, Ambassadors, Ministers through to recognition functions and full Civic Receptions . Civic Receptions are generally held in the Council Chamber or the theatre space in the former Town Hall.
During 2016 there were two civic receptions held, one for Orla Jackman and the second for Carlow Camogie Team. The awarding of a Civic Reception is a function carried out by the Council's Corporate Policy Group in committee. Civic Receptions are particularly well attended and are usually held on Friday evenings. A number of receptions were also hosted by the Municipal Districts of Carlow and Muinebheag.
Cathaoirleach's Reception - Orla Jackman, Tullow - In recognition of her amazing life story and extraordinary fundraising efforts for children living with cancer.

Cathaoirleach's Reception - Carlow County Junior Camogie Team - To honour the achievement of the team On winning the 2016 Liberty Insurance All-Ireland Premier Junior Final

BUSINESS IN THE COMMUNITY
The Council has been involved for several years now in an initiative with an organization called the "Schools to Business Partnership", whereby the Council has a link with Carlow Vocational School. Under this initiative, the Council delivers a programme with transition year students who visit the Council and attend brief talks from different staff about their work for the Council ("a day in the life"). The student also have a site visit, to locations such as the Fire Station, Library etc. The final phase of the programme involves the Council's HR Department delivering CV and interview preparation advice, followed by a Council team attending at the school, conducting mock interviews and delivering feedback. The annual assessments of the scheme have been very positive over the last number of years.

CORPORATE PROPERTY
The Corporate Affairs Section is responsible for all Corporate Property and the maintenance and upkeep of same. It is also responsible for leases of property to and from other parties. Following the abolition of the Town Councils, the County Council is now also responsible for all former Carlow and Muinebheag Town Council properties and leases There is a recent value for money study carried out by the Department of Housing, Community and Local Government on this subject which is currently under review, to ensure that corporate property management is in line with sector best practice.

BOUNDARY REVIEW COMMITTEE
In June 2015, independent statutory committees were appointed to review the local government boundaries at Athlone, Carlow, Drogheda and Waterford. In each case, the committee was asked to carry out a review of the boundary between the respective local authorities and to make recommendations with respect to those boundaries and any consequential matters that they consider necessary in the interests of effective local government.
The Committee reviewing the boundary at Carlow consisted of Mr. David O'Connor (Chair), Mr. John Martin, and Mr. Ollie Killeen. Personnel in Corporate Services in Carlow and Laois County Councils have provided administrative support to the Committee on the process. A Public Notice was placed in the paper in late 2015 with a closing date of 5th February, 2016, inviting public submissions and advising the Minister for The Environment, Community & Local Government had established a statutory boundary committee to:

• carry out a review of the Boundary between County Carlow and County Laois
• make such recommendations with regard to that boundary, and any consequential recommendation with respect to the Municipal District of Carlow, that it considers to be necessary in the interests of effective and convenient local government and
• prepare and furnish to the Minister for the Environment, Community & Local Government a report in writing of that review and its recommendations

The terms of reference, details of members of the committee, and other information were provided at www.carlowboundaryreview.ie
A total of 119 submissions were received and following review of the submissions, the committee has made recommendations with regard to the boundary and any consequential recommendation with respect to the Municipal District of Carlow considered necessary, in the interest of effective and convenient local government and have prepared and furnished to the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government, a report in writing of its recommendations.
The Boundary Committee is independent in the performance of its functions.

PROGRESS ON IMPLEMENTATION OF CORPORATE PLAN 2015 - 2019
The Council has an overarching plan titled the "Corporate Plan 2015-2019", adopted in January, 2015, which sets out (inter alia) the Council's principal activities, strategic organisational objectives and strategic functional objectives. In turn, a number of other plans/reports are derived with reference to the Corporate Plan. These include the Annual Business/Services Delivery Plan for each Directorate. The Schedule of Municipal District Annual Service Delivery Plans, The Chief Executive's Monthly Progress Report and the Annual Report itself.
In addition to the above reports there are a number of other mechanisms by which progress on the objectives/targets of the Corporate Plan is reviewed. These include online reporting to LGMA and NOAC in relation to service indicators and the consideration and review of service indicators by the Management Team, the Cross Functional Team and the Council. Service indicators are a highly transparent mechanism of reviewing progress against both previous performance and the performance of other local authorities of similar scale.
Additionally, members of the Cross Functional Team are reminded at their meetings to review progress of their sections against the Corporate Plan. Certain elements of the Corporate Plan are also reviewed by Internal Audit and the Council's Audit Committee.

ANNUAL BUSINESS/SERVICE DELIVERY PLANS FOR EACH DIRECTORATE
During the currency of the Corporate Plan, each directorate develops an annual plan including strategies, actions and indicators designed to achieve the objectives of the Corporate Plan. These plans are developed early each year and are a tool to link strategies, actions and tasks from the Corporate Plan by detailing how, when and by whom, individual actions will be achieved. The Annual Business/Service Delivery Plans for 2016 were signed off in the first quarter of the year and will be reviewed as part of the Performance Management Development System (PMDS) for 2016.

SCHEDULE OF MUNICIPAL DISTRICT ANNUAL SERVICE DELIVERY PLANS
These Plans involve a schedule of the proposed works of maintenance and repairs to be carried out during each year for each Municipal District. The adoption of the Schedule of Works is a reserved function of each Municipal District and review of progress on the Schedule of Municipal District works is also a mechanism for a review of progress on the implementation of the objectives of the Corporate Plan.

CHIEF EXECUTIVES MONTHLY PROGRESS REPORT TO COUNCIL
The Chief Executive prepares a report on the performance of each directorate/section during the month following the previous monthly report. This report is an agenda item at every monthly Council meeting and questions are taken from members on any aspect of the report. This report also serves as a mechanism through which members have oversight of the progress on the implementation of the Corporate Plan. A copy of the Chief Executive's monthly report is also forwarded to the Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government each month.

SERVICE INDICATORS
The National Service Indicators have been refined over the years under the guidance of the National Oversight and Audit Commission (NOAC) and the Local Government Management Agency (LGMA). The remit of NOAC in relation to indicators is to provide scrutiny of the performance of local government bodies against relevant indicators (including indicators relating to customer service) that the Commission considers it appropriate to refer to.
The aim of NOAC in this regard is to have a smaller set of performance focused indicators which have an emphasis on financial performance, customer service and which maintains comparability year on year.
The role of LGMA is to co-ordinate the collection of data, compilation of tables and commentary and presentation of data.
The Council is in the process of developing and refining targets in relation to the indicators and will present them to management team, elected members and the Audit Committee. The target in the local government sector is to publish the data in Quarter 3 of 2017 (2016 indicators) in order that it be timely and relevant. The Council has briefed its Cross Functional Team who are tasked with populating the returns, which is now a significant annual task in each section to ensure accuracy and timely submission of returns. Corporate Affairs co-ordinates the data in Carlow for LGMA and NOAC.

CONFERENCES ATTENDED BY COUNCILLORS IN 2016

Carlow County Council, Athy Road, Carlow. R93 E7R7 Tel. +353 59 9170300.