Declarations of interest: None
Public recess: No public
16/1. Minutes of the previous committee meeting held on 30th March 2016.
Amendment – Page 2 para 3. Change “Q&A document” to read “Information Leaflet”.
The minutes of the meeting held on 30th March 2016 were then approved on a proposal by Cllr Walton seconded by Cllr Cabrera; all at the meeting in favour.
16/2. Matters arising
Page 2 para 1. Cllr Harris had received the relevant charges from SBC as to how they charge each household band and what the average was for the area.
16/3. Action Points
Clerk to locate the document received from Cllr Harris and send to all on the Finance Committee again for reference.
16/4. Parishing costs
Cllr Rawlings advised the Committee on the work done to date in securing 3 “like for like” quotes from different contractors for the proposed Parishing work.
Rob Core from SBC attended each of these meetings with the contractors.
Cllr Rawlings then advised on the 3 tenders – AllBuild, Countrywide and Envisage.
For each area of work to be considered, Envisage was considered not to be priced competitively so AllBuild and Countywide are the two contractors that Cllr Rawlings recommends.
For litter bins and litter picks:
£7,500 for AllBuild although they didn’t specify if there was a separate waste disposal charge to be added to this cost. (Cllr Walton is going to confirm this with them)
£8,710 for Countrywide, including disposal of waste at £30.00 per week.
For grass cutting: (Based on 16 cuts per yearly season)
£6,770 for AllBuild with 16 cuts between March and October.
£7,680 for Countrywide (who quoted for 12 cuts a year from March to October but these figures reflect a 16 cut price for comparison purposes)
For comparison to current services, SBC cut the grass every 4 to 5 weeks.
For hedge cutting:
There was no specified price from AllBuild for hedge cutting – Cllr Walton to confirm with them.
£230.00 for Countrywide per cut.
Rob Core encouraged us to make sure AllBuild had a comprehensive H&S policy and the relevant training documents for all staff and machinery used.
As Countrywide are a nationwide franchise, their H&S record is more detailed with staff being fully trained as standard.
The committee was then faced with the decision and vote of whether to choose a smaller local company who would save us £2400.00 every year and have had very good local references, or go with a larger nationwide company for peace of mind at a more expensive yearly cost.
AllBuild had verbally agreed to hold their prices for 3 years, and Countrywide have stated in the quote that they will hold their prices until March 2017.
AllBuild also have a per hour handyman service which would be useful in the Parish.
It was agreed that regardless of the decision we would still retain AllBuild to empty the dog bins and Countrywide to do the maintenance work at the Recreation Ground and Cemeteries.
Cllr Costigan raised whether we should limit the contract to 1 year to start with. If we make our terms and agreed costings too restrictive for the contractor to make a profit then the quality of work may suffer.
The proposed time frame is a 3 year period, with an annual contract with a review after 1 year.
It was also clarified that when the grass is cut more often the clippings will mulch down and not need removing. The hedge at New Road can be trimmed each time the grass is cut.
Cllr Rawlings clarified that Countrywide may not be able to start until the end of June but AllBuild can start straight away.
Cllr Walton is going to clarify the training records and H&S policy for AllBuild.
Cllr Brady then asked Cllr Rawlings if we are ready to hold a Council vote on Parishing on the 23rd May? Cllr Rawlings advised we are ready. The service levels from SBC will start to drop leading to the wind up of services in 2020 and as a Parish we will be able to control the quality of the work easier.
It was therefore agreed that a vote can proceed on the 23rd May.
Cllr Brady has an action to talk to Kirsty Cole at SBC to find out what they would have charged us to get the same work done.
Cllr Walton is going to check that AllBuild could start immediately and also confirm their quote and their H&S records.
Should we award the contract to AllBuild they will increase their public liability insurance from 2.5 million to 5 million.
A proposal was then put forward that the Finance Council will check AllBuild’s H&S records and if satisfactory we recommend to the Full Council that AllBuild be given the contract for Parishing work.
Cllr Brady proposed, Cllr Bowles seconded, and all those at the meeting in favour.
Cllr Walton then thanked Cllr Rawlings for all the hard work, knowledge and hours he had put in to preparing the quotes.
Cllr Rawlings left the meeting at 20.20
Cllr Costigan raised with the Committee how we prepare the Parish for this change. We need to explain to the residents that the services from SBC will stop by 2020.
There are 3 questions to vote on:
1- Do we do the parishing work?
2- Who does it?
3- When does it start?
A question was also raised about extra Admin costs. What extra time will this take and who will do the work. It was pointed out however that the work carried out would be the same each month so the contractor will know what they are doing, and due to the nature of the work the jobs we are responsible for are not likely to be urgent. Anything urgent or dangerous in nature should still go to SBC in the first instance.
A leaflet needs to be prepared that has a FAQ section in, and also includes the Parish Plan information from Claire Maycock.
It was confirmed we will receive a pro-rata portion of available funds from SBC in 2016/17 if we take on parishing. Cllr Brady feels we should be given a greater % as we were not provided with all the facts we needed by SBC to enable us to make a decision by the original deadline.
Action for Cllr Brady to discuss this with Kirsty Cole.
16/5. Review Accounts
The monthly figures for income and expenditure were reviewed by the Committee and approved on a proposal from Cllr Walton and seconded by Cllr Brady. All those at the meeting in favour.
Cllr Costigan then raised the year end accounts and the fact that our figures are £2500,00 out of balance with our accounts showing funds that cannot be accounted for since the previous year end figures from 2014/15. Unfortunately the final figure for 2014/15 accounts cannot be located so Cllr Costigan is unable to reconcile.
Cllr Brady will talk to the previous Clerk Claire Maycock to see if she can assist at all.
Cllr Costigan to talk to last year’s internal auditor to find out how the accounts were reconciled last year.
Cllr Costigan to talk to a recommendation for an auditor this year provided by Cllr Walton. Ben Herbert on 741600.
Clerk to contact Grant Thornton to see if we can extend our audit deadline for this year.
16/6. Any other business.
None
Date of next meeting: A potential date of 23rd June scheduled in, Cllr Costigan to confirm after making audit enquiries.
Meeting closed at 20.54.