F&PC March 2022 Minutes

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Market Deeping Town Council - Finance and Personnel Committee

Minutes of a meeting of Market Deeping Town Council’s Finance and personnel Committee held on Wednesday 30th March 2022 at 7pm at The Town Hall, Market Deeping.

Cllr Lester presided over Cllr Miss Moran, Cllr Broughton and Cllr Shelton.  

The Clerk was also in attendance.  

No members of the public attended.

41. Chairman’s Welcome

The chairman welcomed everyone to the meeting at 7.00pm

42. Apologies for Absence

Apologies for absence were received from Cllr Mrs Redshaw. 

43. Declarations of Interest

There were no declarations of interest

44. Notes of minutes from the Finance & Personnel Committee meeting 5th January 2022

It was RESOLVED to accept the minutes of the meeting as a true and accurate record. Cllr Lester signed the minutes as Chair.

45. Clerk’s report

Members had received a copy of the report prior to the meeting.

  1. Both Clerks have taken Annual leave at the start of the year, which has made life back in the office busier.
  1. The precept has been finalised for 2022/23.  Work is being done to finalise the Annual Governance report for 2021/22.  This involves extensive preparatory work by the Clerk and an 8 hour Zoom call with our accounting software team at Rialtas on 6th May 2022.

The paperwork then needs to be completed and sent to PKF Littlejohn for external audit

  1. The pay rise of 1.75% for staff for 2021/22 was announced in March 2022.  This resulted in the Clerk having to calculate the additional pay due to staff between April 2021 and March 2022.

46.   Correspondence

Members had received a copy of the correspondence prior to the meeting.

Correspondence to be Noted – Received up to 30th March 2022

No.

Received from

Date Received

Subject

Committee Response

1.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Correspondence to be Acted Upon – Received up to 30th March 2022

No.

Received from

Date Received

Subject

Committee Response

1.

LALC

15.3.22

Website maintenance – costs for 2022-23 are £15 per hour.  Based on our usage for 2021-22 it has been suggested that we purchase an initial 20 hours at a cost of £300 per annum.  Additional 5-hour top-ups at £75 can be purchased if necessary and unused hours can be carried forward from this.

Agreed to purchase initial 20 hours with additional top-ups if necessary

47.   Omega report - Review of performance to date, budget/expenditure/income

The Clerk had provided members with a report prior to the meeting. Cllr Lester asked members if there were any comments on the Omega report.  It was RESOLVED that the next Finance and Personnel Committee meeting would decide how any monies underspent from 2021/22 would be allocated.

A discussion took place regarding the various cost centre codes for It was RESOLVED that the categories for each committee should be reviewed to ensure that they are providing as much information as possible to committees and that they are still relevant.  The Clerk will gradually review the committee’s codes starting with the Cemetery.

48.   Year-end closedown to include a review of earmarked reserves and potential under/overspend for 2021/22.

A discussion took place and it was RESOLVED to make the following changes:

EMR Res 350 – AOS work - £5,000 move to EMR Res 323 - Tractor

EMR Res 346 – Wet pour area - £18,250 move to EMR Res 334- New vehicle

EMR Res 343 – Grounds maintenance AOS - £4,000 move to EMR Res 323 – Tractor. 

Then delete EMR 343

Rename EMR Res 335 – Allotments £4,500 - Toilets

Remove the following EMRs which have a NIL balance

321 – Library
322 – Youth Group
325 - TH &C Contingency
337 - Grass verges
343 - Grounds maintenance AOS
349 – Move to digital Council

49.   For members to consider a revised meeting schedule or advise a future proposal for 2022-23. 

It was suggested that the Amenities and Open Spaces meeting could start at 6.45 and not 6.30pm. It was proposed to move the Finance and Personnel meeting date from 27th July 2022 to 29th June 2022.

It was RESOLVED that the proposed revised meeting schedule was acceptable and that the revised dates would be periodically reviewed and that any changes could be implemented if necessary. 
 
50.   Review of Council Staff Related Polices

i.   Council Vehicle Policy

ii.   Equality Policy

iii.   Leaver’s Policy

iv.   Lone Working Policy

v.   Performance Appraisal Policy

It was RESOLVED that any changes made to all the above policies were acceptable.  Cllr Lester asked the Clerk to put an item on the Full Council agenda for a working party to be set up to review all Council policies needing review.

51.   Review of asset register 

It was agreed that the paintings in the Town Hall Chambers were listed at an acceptable value and it was RESOLVED to accept the values shown in the Asset register.

52.   For members to consider a draft expenses policy 

It was RESOLVED to consider the expenses policy as part of the working party tasks (see item 50)

53.   For members to consider the uplifted quotation re bus shelter

It was RESOLVED to move this item to be discussed at the Planning and Highways meeting on 6th April 2022.

54.   For members to discuss Digital council progress

Cllr Lester explained that a quote was being obtained for a Company to oversee all digital provision for the Council.  The Clerk has completed a questionnaire outlining what is currently being provided and is awaiting further information.

There are Ear Marked Reserves of £12,496 for Digital Council.

55.For members to receive reports from the internal auditor

The clerk had issued members with copies of the reports prior to the meeting.  Sample transactions audited had all been handled correctly and members were satisfied with the reports.  Cllr Lester asked members if there were any questions and there were none.  

56.   Personnel – Consideration to go into Closed Session. To include:

Staff matters

It was RESOLVED to go into Closed Session to members of the press and public in accordance with the Public Bodies (Admission to Meetings) ACT 1960, which included: staff matters.

A discussion take place regarding staffing matters.

It was RESOLVED to come out of closed session.         
   
The Chairman thanked all members for their attendance and declared the meeting closed at 20.55 pm.
            
The next Finance and Personnel committee meeting is scheduled for Wednesday 29th June 2022 at 7pm, in the Town Hall.