COLWALL PARISH COUNCIL
Minutes of the
meeting of the FINANCE & GENERAL PURPOSES COMMITTEE held in the Jean Simon
Room at Colwall Village Hall on Wednesday 21 November 2007 at 7.30pm
Present: Chairman – J Mills, Mrs N Carless, Mrs E Haynes, J Beard and W Leaper
Also present: Acting Minute Clerk Lis Kirkness and Karen Davis
1. Apologies for Absence. Apologies had been received from Councillors Hockett and Stace.
2.
Suspension
of Standing Orders
There were no members of the public present.
3.
Declarations
of Interest
The Chairman reminded those present of the need to declare any items of personal or prejudicial interest. There were no declarations.
4.
Minutes of
the last meeting
The minutes of the meeting held on 15 August 2007 were approved and the Chairman signed the minutes.
5.
2008/09
Budget
Copies of the draft budget having been circulated, Councillor Haynes thanked the Chairman for his hard work in preparing it. The committee discussed the proposed donation for churchyard maintenance, the Village Hall’s funding situation, the amount for the Clerk’s salary and the current situation regarding the Council’s support to the Post Office and its mandate from parishioners to do so. It was hoped that the Council taking out a lease then either sub-leasing for 3 years or purchasing the Post Office equipment would enable the opening of a Post Office by March 2008. This would be mentioned in the Newsletter. It was acknowledged that the £400 budget for Training might have to be increased to cover training for the new Clerk and new Councillors.
Councillor Leaper asked about the tree survey fund, but it was felt that, due to pressure on the budget, this would have to be postponed for a year or two unless financial assistance could be obtained from the AONB to reduce the amount needed from the Council.
Main Budget: It
was AGREED to accept the main budget which included a 3% increase in the
precept.
Post Office: Councillor Carless was working on the
detail of how best to support the return of a Post Office. The Chairman recommended adding £5,500 per
annum to the precept for a maximum of 3 years to support the cost of the Post
Office. This was AGREED.
Clock face renovation: The Chairman proposed paying for this from already-allocated funds rather than increasing the precept, ie diverting £5,658 from Parish Projects and £2,000 from Parish Plan to fund the renovation work on the clock. This proposal was AGREED. Councillor Leaper suggested that Council consider reviewing its procedures for overseeing large building projects such as this in the future.
6.
Annual
Internal Review
The Council’s Internal Control Procedures and Risk Assessments had been circulated. The Committee reviewed these documents and they were APPROVED. The Council’s Internal Auditor would examine these documents.
7.
Correspondence
i) Precept: The Council’s precept had to be decided by 4 January 2008 and the appropriate form completed. The Chairman would bring this to Council’s attention at next week’s full Council meeting, and after it was formally approved the Chairman, Clerk and Treasurer would sign the form.
ii) Review donation requests: The project outturn for 2007-8 was shown in the Budget. The Chairman suggested not paying the planned £500 to the churchyard this year because of pressures on the budget, so this figure should be altered to zero. The Committee AGREED that the cheques should be drawn next week.
iii) Letter from Air Ambulance: It was noted that this organisation covered Herefordshire, Worcestershire and other parts of the West Midlands, and was entirely self-funded. It was AGREED to recommend a donation of £100 from this year’s budget.
iv) Letter from Vitalise: This organisation provided holiday breaks for disabled people and their carers. As this was a national organisation with no local connection the Committee felt it was not appropriate to support it financially.
8.
Date of Next
Meeting
The next scheduled meeting of the Finance and General Purposes Committee would be held on Wednesday 23 April 2008.
The meeting closed at 8.45pm.