Minutes of the Extraordinary Meeting of the Finance and Personnel Committee of Drayton Parish Council
held on Wednesday 16th September 2019 in the Village Hall, Drayton, at 6.15pm.
Present:
- Pat Athawes (Chairman)
- Matthew Lowy
- Tamsin Crane
- Shane McAleavey
Also In attendance:
- Claire Woollard
- Lorraine Watling (Clerk/RFO)
Public
None
72) Apologies for absence
Cllr Graham Webb.
Cllr Woollard was in attendance as the Chairperson of the Projects Board Committee. The committee recommended to Council that Cllr Woollard be appointed to the Finance and Personnel Committee.
73a) Declarations of Interest:
None
73b) Dispensations received by the Clerk:
None
74) The Minutes of the Meeting of 19th June 2019:
were approved as a true record.
- Proposed: Matthew Lowy
- Seconded: Shane McAleavey
- Resolved: Unanimously
75) Budget Review:
The Committee received and considered a draft budget review that had been prepared and distributed by the RFO. This contained suggested budget revisions which were mainly based upon the expenditure reports to the end of August 2019 and because the Council cannot currently adopt the General Power of Competence as it does not have sufficient elected Cllrs to meet the requirements.
ACTION The RFO will produce a final draft of the budget review for consideration by the committee at its next meeting on Monday 21st October.
76) Report from the External Auditor:
The Committee was due to receive and consider the report from the external auditor but this had not yet been received.
ACTION This item will be bought forward to the next meeting.
77) Review of the Effectiveness of the Internal Auditor:
The review of the effectiveness of the internal review for 2018-19 was received and noted. The review for 2019-20 will be undertaken after the internal audit has been completed.
78) Appointment of the Internal Auditor for 2019-20:
The quote and proposal from the current internal auditor for 2019-20 was received and considered. The Finance Committee will recommend to Council that Arrow Accounting be appointed as the Internal Auditor for 2019-20 and that a budget of £310 be approved for this purpose.
- Proposed: Tamsin Crane
- Seconded: Pat Athawes
- Resolved: Unanimously
79) Grants Forms.
To receive and consider suggestions from the RFO for revisions to the grants forms. This item was deferred until the next meeting.
80) Grass Cutting Contracts:
The future requirements were discussed.
ACTIONS AGREED
- Cllrs Crane, Woollard and McAleavey will review the current grass current contracts and the Councils additional requirements for the next three-year period.
- The RFO will confirm the requirements of the Councils Financial Regulations to Cllrs.
- This matter will be discussed further at the next Finance and Personnel Committee.
81) Updates to the Parish Council Risk Assessments:
The Parish Council risk assessments should be reviewed at least annually. A new risk assessment is required for the pond in Sutton Wick as it has recently been confirmed that this belongs to the Parish Council. The Deputy Clerk’s draft risk assessment for the pond was received and reviewed. This will form the basis for the risk assessment but requires some modification. The RFO presented a form and report that she had previously used when working for other councils. Cllr Lowy will compile a spreadsheet that will contain separate pages for the risk assessments, asset register and insured items so that they are available in one file. This will be discussed further at the next meeting of the committee.
82) Personnel Matters:
The caretaking contract was discussed. The RFO noted that future contracts should include weekly inspections of all play areas for insurance reasons.
ACTIONS AGREED
- All Cllrs on the committee will consider other future requirements of the caretaker’s contract. The current contractor’s views will also be sought.
- The Clerk/RFO will ask the caretaker to continue as usual until the future requirements have been confirmed.
- When the Council has confirmed its future needs a specification will be produced. The availability of the work will be advertised locally and notified to the current contractor and other potential contractors who have already indicated an interest. Potential contractors will be invited to quote for the work and submit copies of appropriate insurance documents and references that are relevant to the work that will be required.
83) Any Other Business:
None
84) The date of the next meeting.
The next Finance and Personnel Committee meeting will be held at 7pm on Monday 21st October 2019.
The meeting concluded at 7.40pm
Signed: Pat Athawes (Chairperson, Finance and Personnel Committee)
Date: 21st October 2019