westmeath – Ashefield

Minutes of the 2012 Ashefield Residents Association AGM

Ashefield Residents Association held their 2012 AGM on April 26th in The Newbury Hotel, Green Bridge, Mullingar.

1. Meeting Opening

The meeting was opened by Mr. Joe Gettings, Treasurer.

2. Accounts for 2011

The accounts for 2011 were presented by Treasurer Mr. Joe Gettings. (Full accounts available on www.ashefield.com.) These were unopposed and accepted.

3. Annual contribution for upkeep-of green areas

The residents contribution is currently €30 per house. It was pointed out that is the lowest in Mullingar. Other estate contributions range from €50 to €100. It was decided to leave the annual contribution at €30 per house.

4. Additional Remedial Works

The prospect of engaging in additional remedial works in the estate such as replacement of the house number street signs and repair to the estate walls near the Ashe Road entrance was discussed. As there is sufficient funds to complete the grass cutting for 2012, it was decided that these activities would be undertaken if estimated additional cost of this activity was collected in 2012.

5. New Constitution

The Treasurer, Joe Gettings presented a new constitution for discussion. However the quorum of 10 persons required to adopt the new constitution was not present. Therefore the discussion was suspended until a quorum could be convened. Full details of the constitution is available at www.ashefield.com.

6. Election of new committee

Mr Joe Gettings stepped down from the position as Treasurer. The election of the association officers for 2012 commenced.

Treasurer: Mr. John Scales went forward for this position. He was elected unopposed unanimously.
Chairperson: Mr. Joe Gettings went forward for this position. He was elected unopposed unanimously
Secretary: No one was available for this position. A decision was made to try and co-opt a resident into this position

7. Closing of meeting

The meeting was then closed

Ashefield Accounts 2011

Details of the 2011 bank account transactions and balance summary for Ashefield Residents Association are as follows:

Date	Lodged By	Source	Purpose	Withdrawn	Lodged
17-May-11	J.Gettings	2011 Collection			€170.00
			J.Mc Donald (Grass cutting)	€180.00
21-May-11	J.Gettings	2011 Collection			€235.00
31-May-11	Credit Union	2011 Grant			€200.00
10-Jun-11	D.Conroy	2011 Collection			€350.00
14-Jun-11	J.Gettings	2011 Collection			€60.00
17-Jun-11	D.Conroy	2011 Collection			€197.50
01-Jul-11	M.Colvert	2011 Collection			€380.00
06-Jul-11			J.Mc Donald (Grass cutting)	€270.00
22-Jul-11	J.Gettings	2011 Collection			€50.00
30-Jul-11	D. Conroy	2011 Collection			€80.00
19-Aug-11	W,meath CC	W,meath CC			€300.00
07-Sep-11			J.Mc Donald (Grass cutting)	€360.00
05-Oct-11			J.Mc Donald (Grass cutting)	€360.00
14-Dec-11		C.U. dividend			€10.18
14-Dec-11			Affil Fee C.U.	€0.90
14-Dec-11			Donation C.U.	€1.00
30-Dec-11			J.Mc Donald (Grass cutting)	€90.00

Summary
		Total Collected & Lodged to Credit Union 2011			€2,032.68

		Credit Union Balance Brought Forward from 2010			€1,564.91

		Petty Cash Forward from 2010			€120.00

		Total Funds Collected 2011+ Brought Forward From 2010			€3,717.59

		Total Withdrawn from Credit Union in 2011			€1,261.90

		Petty Cash Spent 2011			€46.00


		Credit Union Balance			€2,335.69

		Petty Cash Balance			€74.00



		Overall Balance			€2,409.69

Plans for a new litter bin near the Ashe Road entrance

Conor, an Ashefield resident, got in touch with Westmeath County Council regarding the litter problem on Ashe Road near the estate entrance and green area. Their response was:

I refer to your letter re the above and wish to advise that Mullingar Area Office will seek to erect a new bin at the pedestrian crossing on Ashe Road near Tesco entrance.

This will hopefully help to reduce the litter dumped over the wall into the green area. Thanks, Conor!

Home heating oil prices for June, 2010

It may be the longest day of the year but having oil in the tank to heat your home during the inevitable shorter and colder days can’t be forgotten about. Since our last oil price check in April, the carbon tax for home heating kerosene kicked in at the start of May. This added an extra €43 to the cost of 1000 litres of kerosene.

However, even with the introduction of this tax and accounting for the rising oil prices, there has been a dramatic change in the oil prices per supplier. In fact, it’s quite an eye opener.

The most expensive supplier on June 21, 2010 for delivery to Mullingar town is Flynn Fuels (€740) and the least expensive is McGee Oil (€620) for 1000 litres of kerosene; a whopping €120 difference between the two. In this chart below, the April 1st prices are in blue and the June 21st prices are displayed in red.

Even accounting for the carbon tax on home heating oil and rising oil prices, we noticed wide variations in price increases by supplier between the period April 1 and June 21, 2010. As shown in the chart below, for 1000 litres of kerosene, Flynn Fuels increased their price by €140 whereas McGee oil raised their price by just €20; not even enough to cover the carbon tax.

*No updated information for Topaz Energy was available – they didn’t answer the phone despite multiple attempts.

Price differences by supplier between April 1 and June 21, 2010

*No information for Topaz Energy was available – they didn’t answer the phone despite multiple attempts.

As before, the prices quoted above should be considered valid for June 21, 2010 for delivery to Mullingar only and were based on the best cash or credit card price quoted. In this case, no differences between cash and credit card payment were noted.

If any supplier wishes to revise their prices downward, we welcome them to contact us at info [at] ashefield.com and we’ll note it here.

Bin wars

In what is being described as ‘bin wars’, the confusion over who legally owns the refuse and recycling bins originally given to local residents was addressed by the council recently. In this week’s Westmeath Examiner, they report that:

County Manager Danny McLoughlin said that 14,000 Blue Bins and 1,000 Brown Bins had been purchased by Westmeath County Council over the past six years and delivered to its customers for their use in the Council’s waste collection service, but having taken the decision to get out of the refuse service, they had legally sold them to Oxigen Environmental, as part of the public tendering process.

In addition to the bins, the database of customers was also sold to Oxigen. This explains why you might have seen their stickers plastered on the bins after leaving them out for emptying. However, the Westmeath Examiner also reports that someone from a refuse company entered private property during the night to place a sticker on a bin. This of course, is illegal so please do report any instances of trespassing to the Gardaí.

The situation seems to be somewhat clearer now. McLoughlin continues:

“…if people did not want to do business with Oxigen, they should phone the company and ask them to take the bins away: “People should give the bins back because they don’t own the bins, these bins were transferred to this company legally”

Read the full article

Both Allied Waste Management and Wallace Recycling will continue to empty the bins as normal. Unlike Oxigen, these are smaller local companies employing local people in a tough market so it makes sense to maintain your support for them. In particular, Allied Waste has been serving Westmeath for the past five years and are less expensive than Oxigen’s normal bin tag prices also.

Home heating oil price check for April

Here are the prices from 11 suppliers of home heating oil (kerosene) for April 1, 2010. There’s not a huge difference in prices for 1000 litres of oil for cash payments. The companies marked with an asterisk (*) are Hamills and Whelans. Hamills quoted €630 for credit card payments and €610 for cash.

Whelans Oil is a local company based in Grove St., Mullingar, and from experience offer the best value as they will deliver out of hours (even late at night if you’ve ordered that day) and won’t leave you stuck.

Please note that these prices are only valid for April 1, 2010 and are subject to change.