Finance and General Purposes Working Party Meeting Minutes 11 January 2023

1/1101. RECEIVE ANY DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

Association of Labour Councillors - Cllr A. Burgin.
Big Warsop Partnership - Cllr A. Burgin.
Finance & General-Purpose Working Party - Cllrs D. Barlow, A. Burgin, D. Scaysbrook, R. Butler, G. Morris and K. Hardy.
Friends of the Earth - Cllrs R. Butler and K. Hardy.
Friends of the Carrs - Cllr A. Burgin.
Friends of Warsop Vale - Cllr A. Burgin.
Green Party member - Cllr R. Butler.
Let Warsop Speak - Cllrs D. Barlow, K. Hardy & R. Butler.
Staffing Working Party - Cllrs D. Barlow, A. Burgin, R. Butler, K. Hardy, G. Morris and D. Scaysbrook.

2/1101. APOLOGIES

Cllrs D. Barlow, G. Morris and R. Butler.

3/1101. DISCUSS, REVIEW AND MAKE RECOMMENDATIONS ON THE PRECEPT, QUARTERLY BUDGET AND PROJECTIONS FOR 2023/24

Members viewed all the documents provided and suggested some recommendations for council to consider. Cllr Hardy also stated that the council must not allow a projected budget to go through council that shows a deficit.

The Chair stated he would like the council to consider funding the Remembrance Service and adding this to the events budget.

RECOMMENDED: The events budget be increased by £3,000 to £13,000 in total.

Trade waste costs were discussed, and Cllr Scaysbrook suggested that we may not be getting the best value for money. Parish Council staff will look at retrieving some quotes for trade waste.

The cleaning part of the service budget was discussed. Room hires in the TH have dwindled and the 3 organisations in the building already do their own cleaning and council staff have offered to cover cleaning their rooms as well as the communal areas. £6,000 for cleaning considering the circumstances is an area that can be questioned and possible reduced.

RECOMMENDED: The cleaning contract is cancelled which would reduce the service budget by £6,000 to £6,000 instead of £12,000. Cllrs who are available could also offer to rotate on the communal cleaning.

Warsop Parish News is another area that costs could be reduced.

RECOMMENDED: Reduce the paper down to 3 editions for the 2023-24 tax year. The editions would be July, December and March. This will be discussed again in 1 year.

Members discussed the precept and the current economic climate.

RECOMMENDED: 0% increase to the precept.

Some items that are under the professional fees budget are no longer required and can be removed/cancelled.

RECOMMENDED: Zoom and the 3rd subscription of Office 365 can be cancelled due to no longer using or requiring them.

Noticeboard repairs, TH front door repairs and PAT testing were discussed, and Cllr Scaysbrook proposed that he would be willing to look into the maintenance/repairs of the noticeboards and front doors. He is also able to provide a PAT testing service.

RECOMMENDED: The council allow Cllr Scaysbrook to look into the noticeboard and front door repairs as well as undertaking the PAT testing.

The premier account holds emergency funds for the council and is slightly over the holding threshold that is set in law and monitored by the external auditors.

RECOMMENDED: The last remaining money required for the projected budget should be removed from the premier account to the current account and used in the projected budget.
The remaining amount required from the premier account would be £4,296. The amount in the premier account works out to be 28.7% of precept and within the limits for audit purposes. The council are able to keep between 25% to 30% of the precept as an emergency fund. This emergency fund is to cover elections or surprise legal fees, etc.

4/1101. DISCUSS THE TREE INSPECTIONS FOR THE CAR PARK AND CHURCH YARD AND MAKE RECOMMENDATIONS

Members viewed the tree inspection reports for the car park and the closed church yard and the recommendations. There were a few trees that were noted as being urgent.

RECOMMENDED: All trees with a priority of 6 months or less should be quoted for. The Clerk is to go back to Forest Farm Tree Services to provide a quote to get the works done as quickly as possible.

5/1101. CLOSE MEETING

The Chair closed the meeting at 7.55pm.

These will be presented to Full Council on Monday 16th January 2023.