July 2020 Minutes (2nd)
Minutes of an Extraordinary Virtual meeting of Market Deeping Town Council Held on Thursday 2nd July 2020 at 7pm
Zoom Meeting code 991 5654 6168
Password 404730
Present: Cllr Yarham (Chair) Cllr Brookes
Cllr Lester Cllr Miss Moran
Cllr Hembrow Cllr Mrs Redshaw
Cllr Miss Collins Cllr Shelton
Cllr Broughton Cllr Mrs Sked
Cllr Davis
The clerks were also in attendance. The meeting opened at 7pm.
46. Chairman’s Welcome & Introductions
The Chairman welcomed the members to the meeting and advised that together with Cllrs Mrs Sked, Miss Collins and Broughton he had attended a moving service for the late Cllr Bell.
47. Apologies for Absence
None received. The clerk was asked to contact Cllr Neilson in this respect.
48. Declarations of Interest under the Localism Act 2011
None were made.
49. For members to vote on a motion to approve a payment required to complete works on the play area of the John Eve field by FLP ltd.
The Chairman thanked Cllr Hembrow on behalf of members for the work involved in preparing the quotations for this project. Cllr Lester expressed concern that the scope of the work had changed and that protocol required three quotes from the three providers originally contacted for the additional work being carried out. As the matter had been outstanding for some considerable time the clerk was asked to advise members of the history of the project. The clerk explained that as the three providers had given different opinions on how the repairs should be made, she had asked for a quote from each of them based on the hurricane swing and the pendulum swing alone in order for the Amenities committee to be able to compare methods, products and pricing. The Amenities committee had examined the three quotes and had chosen FLP as the provider in their May meeting. Cllr Hembrow had been elected to meet with the FLP surveyor and had reviewed the work to be done. There followed a lengthy debate on whether to proceed in order to provide a useable play park for the community as soon as possible, or whether to go back to the two other providers originally approached to request additional quotes detailing the scope of the complete works. It was then proposed by Cllr Yarham, and seconded by Cllr Lester that the work be put out to tender to obtain 3 quotes for the total amount of work to be done (a complete quote is held from FLP). There was one vote in favour, 4 against and 4 abstentions, so the motion was Not Passed. There followed a further lengthy discussion that included a suggestion by Cllr Brookes to proceed with work to the value of £17,000 as approved in the May Amenities meeting. It was further noted that the council is not obliged to take the cheapest quote, and that for the work to be separated into two tranches would possibly incur additional fees in providing two jobs as opposed to one. It was then proposed by Cllr Yarham and seconded by Cllr Mrs Sked to approve the payment required to complete the works on the play area of the John Eve Field by FLP ltd. There were 3 votes in favour – Cllrs Hembrow, Mrs Sked and Miss Moran, 5 votes against – Cllrs Lester, Broughton, Miss Collins, Shelton and Mrs Redshaw, and 3 abstentions – Cllrs Davis, Yarham and Brookes. The motion was Not Passed.
50. Confidential/Personnel Matters: Consideration to go into Closed session to discuss:
Staff issues
The chair asked that the meeting be locked to prevent access to non councillors of the Town Council and it was proposed, seconded and Resolved unanimously to move into Closed Session to members of the press and public in accordance with the Public Bodies (Admission to Meetings) Act 1960, for members to discuss items that contained information of a confidential nature: staff issues. It was then Resolved with one abstention to come out of Closed Session.
The Chairman thanked all members for attending and declared the meeting closed at 7.55pm. The next scheduled meeting of the Full Council will be held on Wednesday 8th July 2020, using Zoom, with meeting access codes and passwords to be published with the agenda.