A Residents Association is what is requried to deal with this matter effectively.
Local Authorities and Government Departments take notice of democraticallt elected representatives - its in their DNA, if you will.
Get an ad hoc group together to organise the first meeting.
1. The Ad Hoc Meeting
Your house, for your focus group, who will form the nucleus of the association.
2. Preliminaries
There are many issues for residents associations to address, not just the lighting issue and what you start today will probably continue into future decades.
For your group, you have a specific agenda to do with lighting, but it can be a very useful exercise to hold a first meeting of a small interested group to draw up a questionnaire for circulation to all the houses in the estate.
This questionnaire can help focus people on the issues they would like to see addressed and advertise the fact that someone is seriously and very democratically thinking of setting up a formal residents association, as opposed to merely a one-issue pressure group.
This questionnaire should especially be sent with a covering letter to explain it and include as part of its recipient list any houses with troublesome youths in them as well as the loca elected representatives.
This will put the former on notice that the merde is about to hit the ventilating machine and the latter will love this as another means to reach their electorate.
Expect individuals from both groups to attend the first formal meeting.
Also invite the Garda Community Officer, who should be informed and given a contact number as a matter of course.
Naturally you will need to deliver and collect the survey - this is known as a character building exercise in the depths of winter.
The group doing this will tend to form the hard core of the committee of the association and you'll have to give a point of contact - expect some inquiries.
3. The Venue
This should be a venue which can accommodate the largest number of residents you may get, as opposed to merely the number you are likely to get.
Begginings are very important and leaving thirty people outside the door would be terrible after they had gone to the trouble to attend.
Places such as local community halls, hotels or even someone's office building may be available - ask around.
Hotels are useful venues since they will have floor staff and perhaps security personnel to deal with hecklers and the like.
They will also know how to set out rooms for public meetings with top table, entrance security point/table seating, PA system, lighting, etc.
Many hotels will offer the facilities free or for a nominal sum in the hope of attracting custom and perhaps sales on the night in the bar or loung or even the restaurant afterwards. Don't be afraid to solicit their support.
4. The Agenda
Normally you will set up the first meeting so you can control the discussion to a productive end for the benifit of the majority.
The survey referred to above can be very useful for this exercise as it will be inclusive avoid a lot of late calls from people from the floor of the meeting on the night.
Appoint someone at the ad hoc meeting to be the point of contact for the hotel.
Appoint one person to open the meeting and either propose themselves or someone else as Acting Chairman.
Others may have different suggestion, or take things in a different order but the first agenda can be fairly simple and consist of something like.
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Title: Wonderment Grove Residents Association Inaugural Meeting
Meeting Location:
Meeting Date and Time:
Agenda;
1. Acting Chairperson [to be proposed and seconded]
2. Acting Secretary [to be proposed and seconded]
3. Agenda. [to be proposed and seconded with any amendments or inclusions proposed to be deferred to AOB for this first meeting]
4. Chairperson's Address:
5. Call for Committee Members to Stand for Election
6. Committee Elections, followed by election of officers during the meeting.
- Chairperson
- Vice-Chairperson
- Honorary Secretary
- Honorary Treasure
7. Estate Completion
- Lighting
- Roads
- Foorpaths
- Drainage
- Open Spaces
- Flooding
- Legal Advice.
8. Council Services
- Pedestrian Crossings
- Road Repair
- Foorpath Repair
- Drainage Cleaning
- Road Sweeping
- Flood Risk
9. Residents Concerns
- Ant-Social Behaviour
- Under Age Drinking
- Drug Use
- Cars in the Estate
- Dog Fouling
- Clean Up Day
- Garda Liason Officer
- Neighbourhood Watch Scheme
10
. Any Other Business [AOB]
11. Closing Remarks
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If the elections are left until the end by then people are tired and less inclined to stand or remain in attendance.
The elections need a degree of organization and nominations or the putting forward of names could be dealt with as part of the survey.
More importantly the legitimacy of the Committee is better placed IMO if the committee is elected first and either ratifies the Acting Chairman and Secretary or formally votes in others.
The meeting can then proceed on a formally constituted basis.
The important thing is that the trouble makers and members of the Council get the message that you are not to be trifled with any longer.
If you want to look at how things can be done here are some useful links:
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http://www.coisinbhir.com/association.php
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5. The First Newsletter
Promore your new organisation, set the discussion agenda within the estate, offer sound advice and police contact numbers.
You should issue this as en enclosure to a Letter from the Chairperson, reporting on the results of the first meeting, to be delivered to each resident's door.
6. Formal Organisation and Membership
After you get going, you can decide on the way forward, the formal structure of the Association and the twin issues of Membership and the Annual Subscription.
The meeting about the Charter or Memorandum and Articles of Association depends on the size of the estate and level of response.
A large group requires better regulation, simple as that.
7. Caveat
The advice I've given above is necessarily remote and cannot be relied upon in the event of any dispute.
However, if you want to be heard, set up an Association, not just a Committee and expect people who benefit from your free efforts to pay an annual sub.
Organise some community-building acitvities to help generate good will and co-operation within the estate and consider the neighbourhood watch scheme seriously.
The running of a Resident's Association is a hugely time-consuming exercise and you'll need people to step up to the plate each year to take over - don't burn yourself out.
HTH
ONQ.