George will miss the cut and thrust of local government role

When George Lambden retired from Westmeath County Council on Friday last, over four decades of experience in local government walked out the door of the County Buildings in Mullingar.The Mullingar Area Director of Services hung up his boots last week after 29 years of service to the public in Westmeath. He leaves a tough act for his erstwhile colleagues to follow, with the recruitment moratorium holding sway.George has served under three county managers in Westmeath, and prior to that, he gleaned plentiful experience from working initially with the ESB, and with city and county authorities in Dublin and Offaly.He grew up at Assumption Villas, Mullingar, and attended St. Mary's CBS at both primary and secondary school level. From an early age, George knew a lot about teamwork."I was lucky to be on the winning St. Mary's All Ireland hurling team in 1968," he recalled, referring to the All-Ireland Senior 'B' Leinster Colleges final of that year. "We beat St. Mary's in Belfast in Croke Park, and that was one of the highlights of my school life."Later that year, George finished school, and got his first job working with the Electricity Supply Board in Athlone. He took his first plunge into local government in July 1969, when he joined Dublin Corporation (now Dublin City Council) as a clerical officer, based in Dame Street's City Hall.He married his wife Kathrina in 1974, during his last year at "the Corpo". "When you get married you get a bit of ambition," he quipped. "I was promoted to a position which would have been the equivalent of staff officer at Dublin County Council in early 1974."After working in the General Purposes section, George moved to Dublin County Council's Housing and Construction department, which was an eye-opener for the young civil servant."It was a very interesting time to be working in local government, particularly in Dublin," George told the Westmeath Examiner. "We were building something like a thousand houses a year in Dublin, which was huge at the time."I worked with the Senior Administrative Officer in Housing and Construction, and he was responsible for the entire building programme in Dublin County."Earning just £8 per fortnight during his time in Dublin Corporation - most of which went on a mortgage - George moved closer to home in 1977, taking up a more lucrative job offer with Offaly County Council."I enjoyed Dublin. It was a great learning process," he said. "It certainly gave me a grá for working with housing."I moved to the housing section in Tullamore, and it was a different experience. When I was in Dublin, you dealt strictly with building, but you dealt with all issues relevant to housing in Offaly."George bought a house in his native Mullingar, and commuted Tullamore. In 1981, he fulfilled a dream by returning to Mullingar to work with Westmeath County Council."I went straight into the housing section here," he continued. "I dealt with housing, sanitary and environmental issues. The staff structure was much different than what it was in Dublin."Myself and Eddie Hynes, who also retired this week, were the two adminstrative officers in housing for a number of years."George remained in this role for a decade and a half, until he was promoted to Acting County Secretary in 1997 - a position which existed under the old structures of local government in Westmeath.He remained in that position until May 2001, when Central Government instituted a root and branch restructuring of local authorities.George then became one of the Council's first Directors of Services, assuming responsibility for the Athlone area, Athlone Town Council, as well as housing, social and cultural matters.This was followed in 2005 by his appointment as Mullingar Area Director of Services, putting him in the driving seat of services in the largest local authority area in the county. Under this brief, he also had responsibility for Mullingar Town Council. Briefly, following the death of the late Peter Tone, he also acted as Director for the Coole Area.During his long service with Westmeath County Council, he has worked with three county managers: Jack Taaffe, Ann McGuinness and Danny McLoughlin."I had a long apprenticeship under Jack Taaffe, and I learned a lot from him. He was a great County Manager," George said.After enjoying the first weekend of his retirement, George says that he will miss the "fantastic buzz" of working in local government.He enjoyed the cut and thrust of working with public representatives, and marvels at the "teamwork" and "commitment to doing a good job" adhered to by Council staff."Being a Director of Services has its stressful moments," he said, talking about the pressure on public sector workers nowadays. "We're continuously under scrutiny. You're accountable to the elected members, area committees, strategic policy committees, audit committees and the local press, so there can't be much more transparency. "There's a fierce amount of reporting, and public reporting. But everything you do affects the daily lives of people, and while there's a lot of responsibility with that, there's a fantastic buzz from it."George has few regrets about his career. He would have liked to have seen the Central project in Mullingar come to fruition, but is confident that we haven't heard the last of it."Westmeath and Mullingar have changed so much over the years," he continued. "The local infrastructure has improved dramatically. We have a fantastic road network in Mullingar, and the main drainage finishes later this month. Then you have the area plans."I know since our County Manager, Danny McLoughlin arrived, he has pushed plans for the Robinstown, Ardmore and Mullingar South areas."All of this puts this town in a great position once the economy picks up, allowing Mullingar prosper well into the future."We have also worked hard in the recreational area, and there are signs of advancement here. In time, hopefully funding will become available for the integrated sports centre."At their recent meeting, members of Mullingar Town Council were the first to wish the former Council executive well in his retirement, and the tributes are not likely to stop there.But now that the day has finally arrived, what will George do with his time?"It's a bit of a culture shock, going from working long hours to having so much free time," he said. "But I'm very interested in sport. I'm a member of Mullingar Golf Club, and I have a huge interest in rugby, soccer and GAA. So, I'll make it my business to play more golf, and to get to more sporting events."George also enjoys travel, and two of his four children currently live in Canada and London, so he may be inclined to wander. He also likes to set aside time for reading and gardening.It's worth noting that in his latter days as Director of Services for Mullingar, George put a lot of effort into implementing the planned cycle route for Mullingar, as another feather in the town's tourist and recreational cap."I'll follow that with interest, and I hope to get hold of a bike and use it!" he concluded.