Minutes of the April Meeting... can be accessed here.  ¶ 17:09

  Richard Ronan MHK hears of the efficiencies of 'smaller' authorities. Member with responsibility for local Authorities, Mr Ronan MHK, met with Members of the three Commissions in Garff during March. The Commissioners of Laxey, Lonan and Maughold assembled in Laxey to hear Mr Ronan outline his views on the future of local government on the Isle of Man. Mr Ronan said that the aim was to restructure and reorganise local authorities with a view to making them more efficient. In other forums however Mr Bell and Mr Cretney have spoken of amalgamation of 'smaller' authorities into the town authorities. The implication of their words is that the number of authorities will be reduced to produce the often elusive 'economies of scale'. Actual analysis of the efficiencies of the town versus rural authorities can lead to some interesting figures, which were pointed out to Mr Ronan. He was advised that an investigation into the costs per head of Maughold's refuse collection service indicated that Maughold residents were charged almost half for their service in comparison to residents in some of the town authorities.  Another example of rural efficiency is expressed in the comparison between  the number of employees of one southern town authority (population just above 3,000) which has 15 full-time staff employed in non-office duties, with  the Joint Garff authorities (Laxey, Lonan and Maughold - population 4,331) which has one member of non-office staff and  the equivalent of 2 full-time office staff. (In Garff many services are fulfilled through the use of contractors.)
The Commissioners seek the views of ratepayers on the quality and efficiency of the services it provides. Comments on the government Ministers proposals to change the structure of local authorities through amalgamation with the town authorities would also be welcomed. Contact the clerk on maughold@manx.net or on 422148.  ¶ 13:25

  Commission has new Board from May 1st 2012 Five residents have come forward to serve on the Commissioners from May 1st. The new Board will consist of three current Members, Mr Mark Cowley Mrs Marinda Fargher, and Mr Robert Moughtin. The two new Members are Mrs Corrina Perks of Glen Mona and Mr John Quayle of Ballafayle. The five are likely to face challenging, but exciting, times in the next term of office; many changes are afoot including the drafting of new legislation to relax planning rules, the construction of new sewage infrastructure across areas of Maughold, and the proposals to bring changes to the local authority structure and manner in which services are delivered to the public. The Commission's AGM takes place on Wednesday May 2nd 2012.  ¶ 12:38