14-06-18 Finance & General Purposes Committee Minutes

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CHEPPING WYCOMBE PARISH COUNCIL
Finance and General Purposes Committee

Report of the meeting held on Thursday, 14 June 2018 commencing at 7.45pm
in the Council Chamber, Cock Lane, Tylers Green, High Wycombe, Bucks HP10 8DS

The meeting is open to members of the public and press

Present: Cllr I Forbes Cllr C Leonard Cllr J Herschel
Cllr H Darch Cllr M Wilkes Cllr P Miller
Cllr C Dodds Cllr L Willis Cllr K Wood (ex-officio)

Before the meeting started Cllr Wood in her capacity as chairman of the council reported to members present that Cllr Pinner had resigned from the parish council.

FGP/18/001 Apologies for absence
Apologies for absence had been received a approved from Cllr J Gurney (medical)

FGP/18/002 Declarations of members’ interests in agenda items
There were none

FGP/18/003 Election of Chairman of Committee
Members were asked to elect a committee chairman to serve until the first Finance & General Purposes meeting of the new council year.

It was RESOLVED that;
Cllr Forbes be elected committee chairman

The procedure for electing the chairman and vice chairman of the committee will be by secret ballot, suspending Standing Orders, as resolved at the last full council meeting held on 13 March 2018

FGP/18/004 Election of Vice Chairman of Committee
Members were asked to elect a committee vice-chairman to serve until the first Finance & General Purposes meeting of the new council year.

It was RESOLVED that;
Cllr Herschel be elected committee vice-chairman

FGP/18/005 Staff Matters
1 Staff Absence Report
Members were asked to note that there had been no sickness absence of staff since the last committee meeting in February.

2 Deputy Clerk update
Members were asked to note that following the interviews for the above post we had not been able to recruit. The position had been offered to two candidates, neither of whom for different reason could accept the position.

Members were asked to note that one of the above candidates was currently assisting in the office on a temporary basis until their house sale completes.

Members were asked to consider re-advertising the position after the summer break.

It was RESOLVED that;
Further advertising for the deputy clerk position would take place after the summer break.

FGP/18/006 Policies and Procedures
Members were asked to consider for recommendation to adopt at the next full council meeting. The following policy documents had been modified in line with SLCC recommendations for GDPR requirements;

1 Information & Data Protection Policy

It was RESOLVED that;
with the suggested amendments, mostly being English style, the policy be recommended to full council for adoption.

2 Retention & Disposal Policy

It was RESOLVED that;
the policy be recommended to full council for adoption, a couple amendments to the Appendix A of the policy were noted.

3 Management of Transferable Data Policy

It was RESOLVED that;
the policy be recommended to full council for adoption.

4 Electronic Communication Policy

It was RESOLVED that;
the policy be recommended to full council for adoption. The inclusion of councillor emails will follow once consideration of a cwpc email has been approved.

5 Data Breach Policy

It was RESOLVED that;
The policy be recommended to full council for adoption.

It was noted that the abbreviation of ICO should be expanded for clarification purposes. Any other typo’s or queries should be sent to the Clerk at once.

6 Standing Orders 2018
Members were asked to consider the changes to the Standing Orders. Members were reminded that items in bold type contain legal and statutory requirements and it is recommended that these be adopted without changing them or their meaning.

It was RESOLVED that;
The approved changes be made and the Standing Orders be recommended to full council for adoption.

7 Councillors Email Addresses
Members were asked to consider the setting up a ‘for council use only’ email addresses for each councillor, the following options were reviewed;
1. £7.50 + VAT per mailbox per month – you can use your cwpc.org.uk name and we will store your emails in Thame and you get Triumph Tech Support.
2. Office 365 will be £4.99 + VAT per mailbox per month – you can use your cwpc.org.uk name but you will be in a very large pond for support.
3. Free emails such as Googlemail. You won’t have any control over the accounts and you won’t be able to use your cwpc.org.uk name.

It was RESOLVED that;
the subject be taken to full council for further consideration between the use of a gmail account or outlook account.

8 Parish Council Website
Members were asked to note that a draft specification for an updated website had been received and was currently being reviewed by the clerk.

Members were asked to volunteer to be part of a working party for take the project forward.

The working party to consist of Cllr Forbes, Cllr Herschel, Cllr Miller, Cllr Darch and the clerk.

9 Freedom of Information Request
Members were asked to note that a FOI had been received in relation to the LED lighting project and had been successfully handled, with input from Cllr Herschel, Cllr Dodds and Zeta Specialist Lighting.

10 Salary Transparency
Members were asked to consider, for inclusion on the parish council website, a salary chart showing current salary levels.

It was RESOLVED that;
The chart be approved and uploaded to the website on an annual basis.

FGP/18/007 Health & Safety
Members were asked to note that there had been no incidents since the last committee meeting in February 2018.

FGP/18/008 Legal
1 Magpie Wood
Members were asked to note that the current owner of Plot 2 was now wishing to put the wood on the market. The clerk had contacted the owner to ascertain the potential price of the wood.

It was noted that the clerk should keep a watching brief and advise the vendor of the parish council’s earlier offer when the wood was first offered for sale.

2 Queensway Feedback
Members were asked to note the minutes of the meeting held at the Wycombe District Council offices with Elaine Jewel relating to the use of the above piece of land for a cemetery. No further action by this Council was proposed. The legal advice from WDC was still awaited and the Council may then review its position.

FGP/18/009 Neighbourhood Action Group
Members were asked to note the minutes of the last NAG meeting held on Wednesday 28 February 2018 at Tylers Green Village Hall. The next meeting is due to be held on Thursday 12 July 2018.

It was noted that none of the representatives on the NAG are members of the Finance & General Purposes Committee. A short report will be requested for inclusion on the next agenda rather than attaching the full minutes of NAG meetings.

FGP/18/010 Grants
Members were asked to consider the four grant requests as follows, with a view to making a recommendation to full council; members were reminded that the current budget this year was £2,000.

The P&TGRS Village Pre-School – grant for contribution towards equipment for sensory area at £5,000
Requested amount £2,000.00

Flackwell Heath & Loudwater Age Concern Day Centre – grant for contribution towards new minibus at £35,000
Requested amount £2,000.00

Tylers Green Middle School will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the school. Plans to commemorate the event and also link to the community to rekindle those relationships with former parents, pupils, staff and governors as well as open our doors to the residents of the village today, to show what learning looks like in 2018.

Some suggestions of projects as part of our 50th anniversary.

• A commemorative rose bush/tree £300
• A time capsule for 2018 £250
• A whole school art project working with an artist to create a mosaic to be hung inside school reflecting the ethos and values of the school £1000

Crosses on the Common – grant would cover the cost of the Public Liability Insurance, materials for the crosses, paint, notice board, flagpole, lighting, low fencing around the crosses.
Requested amount £500.00

It was RESOLVED that;
The following recommendations would be taken to council for approval, all grants recommended in principle;
Village Pre-school – grant award £250.00
Flackwell Heath & Loudwater Age Concern – grant award £1,000.00
Tylers Green Middle School – grant award £250.00 for time capsule
Crosses on the Common – grant award £200.00

FGP/18/011 Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL)
Members were asked to note that a further amount of £7,456.36 had been received for the financial year 2017/18. The CIL total now stands at £16,159.02 and this must be spent by 2021/22.

Members were also asked to note that Wycombe District Council had asked us as a service provider to put forward projects for the use of the CIL funding held by WDC by 15 September 2018.

It was noted that projects would be put forward for the WDC CIL funding.

FGP/18/012 In-house Audit
Members were asked to note the in-house audit report

1 In-house Auditors
Members were asked to approve a new member to the in-house audit team, Cllr Dodds being the audit lead for the current financial year 2018/19. The audit team will be asked to use the Governance and Accountability – A Practitioners Guide to undertake the audit.

It was RESOLVED that;
Cllr Willis would join the in- house audit team.

FGP/18/013 Internal Audit
Members were asked note the report from the internal auditor.

Members were asked to note that the Clerk will be preparing a revised Fixed Asset Register for early submission to the internal auditor to seek his agreement to our new approach. Whilst the values have no apparent value and had been frozen in the light of advice received from Mazars they are in the public domain and we would wish them to be seen as correct.

It was agreed that the recommendations in the auditor’s report be accepted and enacted.

FGP/18/014 Annual Return & Governance Statement
Members were asked to recommend to Council that the Annual Return and Governance Statement be approved and signed by the Chairman of the Council at the next Council meeting on 26 June 2018.
 

It was RESOLVED that;
the Annual Return and Governance Statement be approved and signed by the Chairman at the next full Council meeting for submission to the external auditor.

FGP/18/015 Project Summary Status
Members were asked to note the updated Project Summary Status form.

FGP/18/016 Reserves Position & 2017/18 Net Actuals/Budget by Committee
Members were asked to note the overview of the reserves using the current advice from the internal auditor.

Members were also asked to note the 2017/18 net actuals by committee.

FGP/18/017 Questions from council members and the public
There were no members of the public.

• Cllr Herschel advised that he was disappointed to hear that Cllr Pinner had resigned and was equally disappointed that there had been no advertisement in the newsletter about the vacancy created after Cllr L White’s resignation in February.
• Cllr Herschel also asked how much the advertisements for the deputy clerk vacancy had cost.
The clerk advised that in total £1,185.00 had been spent in Oct/Nov and March.

An advertisement would be placed in the village news section of the Bucks Free Press and also in Grapevine.

• Cllr Miller asked whether the parish council could apply for the silhouettes for the WW1 commemoration celebrations.
The clerk was asked to check the criteria.

• Cllr Dodds asked that the parish council support the Revive the Wye project with providing a grab lorry or skip to remove the rubbish/detritus from the Back Stream.
Revive the Wye could apply for a grant.

FGP/18/018 Accounts for Payment
Accounts for payment were circulated at the meeting for consideration by councillors.

It was noted that the RoSPA Safety Inspections would be available at the Open Spaces committee and that following confirmation from St Peter’s Church the electricity meter at Boundary Road Recreation Ground would be disconnected.

It was RESOLVED that;
the accounts for payment be approved and cheques numbered 9635 to 9647 be signed and direct debits to Castle Water, Certas Energy, E-ON, Shell (Fuel Card Services), Salix, Grenke and SSE be approved for payment.

The chairman thanked members for their attendance and closed the meeting at 8.37pm

Date and time of next meeting: Thursday 6 December 2018 @ 7.30pm