Today, Friday 30th May 2014, sees the last meeting of Tipperary Town Council. Tipperary Urban District Council later to become Tipperary Town Council served the people of Tipperary Town for 115 years from its establishment in 1899. The Mayor, Councillor Anna Tuohy Halligan stated that the town has come a long way in that time with the guidance and support of many councillors and staff and she hoped for a bright and prosperous future for its inhabitants under the new governance arrangements arising from the reform of local government.
The council is being dissolved to make way for a new unified Tipperary County Council which will replace all of the local authorities in Tipperary, including also North and South Tipperary County Councils, Clonmel Borough Council and the town councils of Carrick-on-Suir, Cashel, Nenagh, Templemore and Thurles. The Tipperary Joint Library Service will also be merged into the new council.
The opportunity for change arises from Government decisions in 2011 and 2012 which see farreaching reforms of local government that include reducing the number of local authorities throughout the country.
Tipperary County Council will be established on 1st June next. Services will be managed from the civic offices in Clonmel and Nenagh. Local delivery will be from the five municipal district offices located in Clonmel, Nenagh, Carrick-on-Suir Thurles and Tipperary Town. The changes will make council services more efficient and bring about annual savings of €6 million.
Forty Councillors will be elected to Tipperary County Council at the Local Elections to be held on 23rd May. They will represent the Municipal District from which they are elected as well as being members of the full county council.
Frontline services, including street cleaning, public lighting, road works, etc., will continue to be delivered in all areas through the network of district offices and outdoor teams on the ground.
A customer services team has been set up as part of the arrangements for the new council. The team can be contacted from Monday 3rd June on a new countywide phone number 0761 06 5000 for the cost of a local call; they will also be available through email on customerservices@tipperarycoco.ie .
There will also be a new, more interactive website for the new council from early June. In the meantime, further information on the merger is available on www.southtipperarycoco.ie and www.tipperarynorth.ie