Declarations of interest:
MC is a member of the Football Club
18/102. Public Recess
No public
18/103. Minutes of the previous committee meeting held on Thursday 22nd November 2018
No amendments
The minutes of the meeting held on 22nd November 2018 were then approved on a resolution by DR and seconded by CB; all at the meeting were in favour.
18/104. Matters arising
None
18/105 Action Points from 22nd November meeting
Clerk
17/51 Clerk to sign up to SLCC course. DONE
18/70 Clerk to ask Came & Co for insurance breakdown for Tennis Club invoice. Ongoing
18/77 With advice from internal auditor, remove the Hot Chilli figure from the Xero system. DONE ON FEB 19 FIGURES
18/84 Create new document for the tender process to show the general process the council needs to follow. Need to add price breaks for different legal requirements. ONGOING
18/91 Arrange annual review of contract with Allbuild. DONE – NO ISSUES TO REPORT
18/95 Add costs of new pavilion heaters to asset register if over £100. DONE
18/95 Check with Sansums the process for adding AED’s to asset register – purchased in last financial year. DONE – ADD TO CURRENT REGISTER
18/96 Resolve the payment of the tennis court repairs invoice. DONE
18/99 Put reserves policy to Dec full council for vote. DONE
18/100 Ask other Parishes if they have a handyperson and for the relevant details to assist with our process of engagement. DONE – NO USEFUL INFO GATHERED
18/100 Arrange the engagement of a handyperson for the Parish at a cost of £10.00 per hour. ONGOING – ADVERT CURRENTLY “LIVE”
18/105 FINANCE. Review February 2019 to date figures & Auditor comments
The committee reviewed the figures circulated prior to the meeting. There were no comments. The removal of the outstanding amount for Hot Chili was noted.
MH advised the committee on the internal 6-month audit from Sansum and Co.
There was a posting error with the Clerk’s salary and HMRC payment which is being corrected. (Went to wrong expense code)
For financial year 2019/20 the budgets for the year will be added to Xero, so that payments can be allocated. This will allow committees to review their spend vs budget. Committees can review this on a quarterly basis. This is to be reported back in April Full council once figures are in place. This will also allow figures to be released to the public showing budget vs spend.
Matthew at Sansum to be approached to this data input work.
A proposal was made by MC to delegate a budget of £300 max for Sansum and Co to do this work at the Clerk’s discretion. Seconded by DR and all Cllrs in favour.
RESOLVED THAT: The clerk be delegated a budget of £300 to assist in budget data entry into Xero for Financial year 2019/20 for budget vs spend reporting.
18/106 FINANCE – Approve purchase of gazebo for £61.99
A proposal was made by DR to approve the purchase of a gazebo for £61.99 Seconded by IH and all Cllrs in favour.
RESOLVED THAT: The Parish Council purchase a new gazebo for £61.99
18/107 FINANCE – EGPA Expenditure – removal of dead tree at Rec ground – cost of £380 no VAT
A proposal was made by CB to approve the quote to remove the tree of £380.00 no VAT from Morgan Trees. Seconded by DR and all Cllrs in favour.
MC did not vote as he is a member of the Football Club.
RESOLVED THAT: Morgan trees be instructed to remove the dead tree from the Rec costing £380.00 no VAT
18/108. EXPENDITURE – EGPA Expenditure. KT Electrical extra flood light at Rec Hall to illuminate the football compound for security. £159.70 plus VAT.
A proposal was made by CB to approve the quote to from KT Electrical for additional flood lights. Seconded by IH and all Cllrs in favour.
MC did not vote as he is a member of the Football Club.
RESOLVED THAT: £159.70 plus VAT be approved for an extra security light to illuminate the football compound.
18/109. EXPENDITURE. Planning Expenditure. £5000 to hire planning/legal experts for planning applications.
The planning committee has voted for £2000 from the 18/19 funds to be moved to 2019/20 funds, there is already £1000 allocated in 2019/20 funds, and a request has been made for a further £2000 to be made available if needed from reserves.
A proposal was made by MH to move the £2000 from 2018/19 forward to be added to the £1000 funds for 2019/20. The planning committee can submit a new request if a further £2000 is needed from reserves. Seconded by MC and all Cllrs in favour.
RESOLVED THAT: A total of £3000 be made available to the planning committee for hiring a planning/legal expert for planning application advice. The further £2000 should have a new request submitted if needed.
18/110 CONTRACTS – STORM 12 month contract approval
The renewed contract had been presented to the committee in advance of the meeting.
The only changes were the additional annual service of the roller shutter at the Rec Hall and a general increase of £9.00 a month which includes the shutter costs and 3rd party supplier increases.
A proposal was made by DR to approve the 12-month renewal of the contract with STORM. Seconded by MC and all Cllrs in favour.
RESOLVED THAT: The STORM contract be renewed at the new costs for a further 12 months.
The Clerk will arrange an annual review meeting with Storm and to inspect the documentation folder for certificates etc.
18/111. POLICIES, LEASES and IT. New meeting protocol document
Not available – will move to next meeting.
18/112. POLICIES, LEASES and IT. Laptop and Email encryption
It was agreed that the Clerks laptop should have the hard drive encrypted which can be done with free software. MH to arrange.
With regards to mail encryption, Office 365 is used which already provides security.
Steven Maskell at SBC recommended that all emails be encrypted when sending which would require the recipient to have software to de-code the encryption to read the message.
The Clerk currently removes personal data from emails before sending.
The Clerk is to remind all Cllrs about not sending personal data via email. If possible, ask residents to email the Clerk direct.
Clerk to also remind Cllrs that all emails between Cllrs and Clerk can be subject to a FOI request so comments should be considered carefully.
It was agreed by the committee there was no further encryption of emails needed.
18/113. POLICIES, LEASES and IT. Twitter account for the council
It was decided Twitter was not needed and to remove it from future agendas.
18/114. STAFF & HR. Work mobile for Parish Clerk
The discussion was held as to whether the Clerk needed a work mobile.
It was decided to get a pay as you go mobile to see whether it met the requirements.
It was proposed by CB that a pay as you go mobile be purchased for the Clerk. Seconded by MC and all Cllrs in favour.
RESOLVED THAT: A pay as you go mobile will be purchased for the Clerk.
18/115. STAFF & HR. Information only – Mandatory pension increases in April 2019
Figures for Clerk will be: (Currently 2% of salary paid by employer, and 3% paid by employee) changing to 3% employer and 5% employee payment from April)
Clerk payment currently £23.35
CPC payment currently £19.46
No vote was required as this is a statutory requirement.
18/116. STAFF & HR. Change to Clerks pay scale according to updated NALC grading scale and increase of salary.
The information was circulated to Cllrs before the meeting. The re-structured pay scale from NALC would change the Clerks grade from 37 to 31 and increase the per hour salary to £17.57.
It was proposed by CB that the recommended changes to the Clerks pay scale and salary by approved from April 2019. Seconded by IH and all Cllrs in favour.
RESOLVED THAT: From 1st April 2019 the Clerks pay scale and salary be updated.
18/117. STAFF AND HR. Approve Clerks webinar costs of £60 plus VAT for “Managing Local Council Elections”.
It was proposed by CB that the cost of the webinar be approved. Seconded by MC and all Cllrs in favour.
RESOLVED THAT: The webinar costs for the Clerk be approved.
18/118. STAFF AND HR. Approve Clerks attendance at 4 training sessions to start the qualification with CiLCA (the recognised Clerks qualification) at a cost of £220 plus VAT
It was proposed by CB that the cost of the course be approved. Seconded by IH and all Cllrs in favour.
RESOLVED THAT: The course costs for the Clerk be approved.
18/119. STAFF AND HR. Handyperson job update
The role has had 3 applicants so far so no current requirement to pay to advertise the role.
No further action needed at present.
18/120. STAFF AND HR. Become an accredited living wage employer
The Council currently pays all staff and direct contracted staff above the minimum living wage. The Council would ensure that this minimum wage was met should the cost increase in the future.
There is a cost to becoming a living wage employer which the Finance committee did not feel was prudent to spend precept funds on.
There was no proposer to become a living wage employer
The Clerk will contact the Cllr who raised this issue to advise.
18/121. Any other Business
None
Meeting closed at 20.32
ACTION POINTS TO BE COMPLETED BY NEXT MEETING DATE
Clerk
18/70 Clerk to ask Came & Co for insurance breakdown for Tennis Club invoice. Ongoing
18/84 Create new document for the tender process to show the general process the council needs to follow. Need to add price breaks for different legal requirements. ONGOING
18/100 Arrange the engagement of a handyperson for the Parish at a cost of £10.00 per hour. ONGOING
18/105 April full council agenda – report to committees on budget vs spend figures every quarter.
18/105 Talk to Sansums about inputting data for budget vs spend on Xero
18/106 Buy new gazebo
18/110 Arrange annual meeting with STORM and review folder of docs they hold for us
18/111 Meeting protocol doc – move to next meeting
18/112 Remind Cllrs about sending personal data via email and ask them to get residents to email the Clerk direct. Also remind about FOI requests and emails
18/114 Buy a pay as you go mobile
18/116 Change Clerks salary and pay scale from April 2019 – include letter to Clerk
18/120 Advise Cllr on Living Wage vote
Cllr Matt Harris
18/112 Arrange for free software to be installed on Clerk’s laptop for hard drive encryption