Minutes of Finance Committee Meeting - 20th September 2018

Minutes

Declarations Of Interest

None.

18/61. Public Recess

No public.

18/62. Minutes Of The Previous Committee Meeting Held On Thursday 23rd August 2018

No amendments.

The minutes of the meeting held on 23rd August 2018 were then approved on a resolution by PW and seconded by DR; all at the meeting were in favour.

18/63. Matters Arising

None

18/64 Action Points From 23rd August Meeting

Action Points to be completed by next meeting date.

Clerk:

17/51. Clerk to sign up to SLCC course. ONGOING
17/96. Create a tender requirement document. ONGOING
Draft circulated to MH, IH and CB – add to next agenda.
18/22. Run off accounts report showing work Allbuild has carried out that is not Pariishing related. DONE & SENT TO CLLRS
18.25. Chase up Stephan Maskell at SBC on GDPR training. ONGOING – STILL NO REPLY
18/35. With Cllr Brady & Cllr Matt Harris – Look at options for Clerks hours or Admin assistant and report back at next meeting. ADD TO NEXT AGENDA
18/36. Look at options for ceiling mounted projector and new screen. ONGOING
18/48. Get quotes for Tennis court fencing repairs for next meeting. DONE
18/50. Invoice Football Club £150 for contribution to Xmas tree and electricity. DONE AND INVOICE PAID
18/52. Get quotes for Rec carpark work for next EGPA meeting. ONGOING
18/53. Add to next EGPA agenda – look at rest of the costs such as pitch hire and allotments to see if any increases are needed. DONE
18/54. With Cllr Denise Rogers – Look for manual for the Chapel radiator. Done
18/54. Check Rec ground maint figures for accuracy. DONE
18/55. Amend new allotment lease as per comment in minutes. DONE
18/57. Clerk to investigate insurance details and ask SLCC for details on hiring a handyman. ONGOING
18/58. Move Clerks hours/Admin assistant role to Sept meeting. MOVE TO OCTOBER MEETING – AS ITEM 18/35

The Clerk has a new action point add the softball costs to the next EGPA agenda.

18/65 Finance – Review & Approve September To Date Figures

The Committee reviewed the figures and MH inquired about the 2 NEST payments per month for pensions. The clerk confirmed that the auditor had recommended 2 accounting entries – one for the Parish Council contribution and one for the staff contribution.

18/66 Expenditure – Repairs To Fencing At Tennis Courts

Quotes received were from:
Allbuild £50.00 plus VAT,
Grass Valet £90.00 plus VAT
A proposal was made by PW to approve the quote from Allbuild. Seconded by CB and all Cllrs in favour.

Resloved That:

Allbuild’s quote be accepted to fix the tennis club fencing.

18/67 Expenditure – Precept Update For 2019/20

Election costs for 2019 were discussed. This could cost £11,000 if the election is contested – payments are due to SBC for their work organising the election plus election materials such as flyers and ballot paper etc.

It was decided that any election costs would come out of reserve funds to ensure the precept didn’t have to increase to accommodate this.

The cost for creating a cement pathway at the pavilion was changed to £550 from £350 after quote was received.

Costs for maintaining the planters was increased from /3100 to £150 on request from the Clerk who purchases the plants for the year.

It was suggested that the council leave unbudgeted expenses at £11,000 for 2019/20. There was $20,000 in the precept for unbudgeted expenses for 2018/19.

A discussion was then had on whether to leave the precept the same as last year at £135,000 or add a small % increase for inflation.

A 3% increase would take the precept to £139,050 and a 2% increase would be £137,000 approximately.

If a 2% increase was added, for a band D household of which there were 994 at the last count, the increase would be from £134.79 for the year to £138.20 per year.
A 3% increase would be £139.55 for the year.

It was proposed to set the precept at £139000 which would be a 2.96% increase.

A proposal was made by CB to approve precept on the draft budget. Seconded by PW and all Cllrs in favour.

Resolved That:

legal advice obtained advises that having a handyman as a contractor who submits monthly invoices is the best way to handle this situation.

The Clerk is to provide a list of jobs that a handyman could do throughout the year to gauge if there is enough work. A suggestion is maybe that a caretaker role would be more suitable. The workload is to be monitored for 3 months to see what work can be done by a caretaker. The Clerk will also list admin jobs such as updating noticeboards, meter reading and room set up.

18/69 Staff & HR – Future Clerk Requirements

This item has been moved away from the meeting agenda to be discussed in conjunction with item 18/68 above.

18/70 Any Other Business

MH reminded the Clerk that an insurance breakdown is needed for the invoice for the Tennis Club for 2018.

CB noted that the coach at the Tennis Club doesn’t contribute towards his use of the facilities. With the clubs dwindling numbers and profits it would seem of benefit for the Tennis Club to discuss this with the coach.

Meeting closed at 8.39pm

Action Points

Action Points to be completed by next meeting date