Extraordinary Meeting Minutes 31 July 2024

1/3107. RECEIVE ANY DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

Age Concern - Cllr R. Butler.
Birklands School Board of Governors - Cllr G. Simpson.
Christmas Smile - Cllrs K. Hardy and K. Bonsall.
Finance & General-Purpose Working Party - Cllrs J Stephenson. K Hardy, K. Bonsall, N McGuiness and P Dackombe.
Friends of the Earth - Cllrs R. Butler and K. Hardy.
Friends of the Carrs - Cllr A. Burgin.
Friends of Warsop Vale CIC Director - Cllr A. Burgin.
Green Party Member - Cllr R. Butler.
Labour Party Member - Cllrs A. Wetton, A. Burgin and J. Stephenson and D. Hughes.
MDC Planning Committee - Cllrs A. Wetton and J. Stephenson.
Meden Medical Services PPG - Cllr K. Bonsall.
Meden Vale Colts FC - Cllr A. Wetton.
School Board of Governors (Eastlands & Netherfield) - Cllr G. Simpson.
Sport 4 Kidz - Cllr G. Simpson.
Staffing Working Party - Cllrs J Stephenson. K Hardy, K. Bonsall, N McGuiness and P Dackombe.
Target 1 - Cllrs G. Simpson.
Vibrant Warsop Subcontractor - Cllr P. Dackombe.
Warsop Carnival Committee - Cllrs P. Dackombe and K. Bonsall.
WPC Room Hire (Ferocious Dog) - Cllr K. Bonsall.

Cllr Barlow asked for Swallow’s Green to be removed from her declaration.

2/3107. APOLOGIES

Roy (illness), Andy W (Prior Engagement), David H (Hol), Grant (Hol) Accepted unanimously

3/3107. OVERDUE PAYMENT TO LIFESPRING AND SETTING UP A MONTHLY STANDING ORDER

The Chair gave the background to the decision and that it had now been checked out with NALC. They have confirmed that as long as the council has allocated the funds for rent and is in the process of agreeing a contract with Lifespring then the payments can be made.

RESOLVED: Overdue payment to be made and standing order to be set up for future payments. Proposed Cllr Burgin, Seconded Cllr Barlow, passed unanimously.

The Chair made the decision to move Item 4 into the confidential section and discuss this as part of the Staffing Update.

4/3107. MATTERS ARISING FROM THE MINUTES OF THE LAST PARISH COUNCIL MEETING

There were no matters arising.

5/3107. DISCUSS AND APPROVED PAYMENT TO CHRIS MOSES HR & 5/3107 (CONFIDENTIAL) UPDATE AND DISCUSS STAFFING POSITION AT WPC

The Chair gave some background and an update: As a council we have agreed that a review of WPC is necessary, we moved this to the second half of the year due to a lot of upheaval from May onwards. This was to re appraise WPC now we no longer have the Town Hall.

However, Gemma’s resignation and further discussions with her about her role at WPC have identified the need to take this forward earlier than identified. We also have Amanda unwell.

Amanda:

Signed off until 25th August 2024 (after this she has 2 weeks annual leave booked.)

Need authority from council to make an Occupational Health appointment to see what we need to put in place for a successful return to work. We haven’t done this for some time, and it is overdue.

There were questions from councillors about what an OH appointment will achieve and how it is carried out. Cllr Barlow responded: we sought permission from Amanda which has been given. She can also give permission for us to contact her doctor. The OH will go through her Job Description what she does/ what she finds difficult and will make suggestions for reasonable adjustments. Cllr Burgin said we used MDC in past free but now they charge.

Cllr McGuiness gave some background to the interview process for OH as she has personal experience of this.

RESOLVED: Agree up to £400 (+ 10% if needed) + VAT for OH. Cllr Burgin to check with MDC, Cllr Hardy to check with those recommended by Chris Moses. The Council confirmed that WPC is keen to be a good employer and make sure we do everything right. Proposed Cllr Burgin, Seconded Cllr Barlow, passed unanimously.

The Chair continued the update and confirmed that Amanda does not want to review her JD until her return to work. He advised that Cllr Barlow is liaising (role was confirmed when Debra stepped down as Chair by Full Council) with Amanda and will advocate for her, as per the agreement by WPC to limit confidential staff information to a small sub-group. This approach has been checked with Chris Moses who says under GDPR we need to limit the number of councillors with access to confidential staffing information. 3 or 4 has risks, however 12 would be seen as unreasonable under HR best practice and GDPR. The Chair advised he was being particularly careful as he is aware that there was an incident pre covid when confidential medical information was shared to a confidential council meeting, and this became public knowledge. This isn’t intended to suggest anyone here would divulge confidential information; however, it gives some background as to why we adopted this approach.

Gemma:

The Chair confirmed that at the FCM 15th July council gave permission for a discussion with Gemma to see if she could be persuaded to stay. This discussion took place 18th July with Gemma, Cllrs Burgin and Hardy. As a result of this, Gemma agreed to extend her leaving date from 28th July to 25th August to give council time to look into different options. At this point Gemma is still intending to leave.

A review of Gemma’s JD is well overdue. We had plans to do this after discussion in her appraisal however this was delayed for a number of reasons.

At the HR meeting there were discussions around what we can/can’t do with regard JDs.

9/1007. WARSOP CARNIVAL STALL: UPDATE AND FINDINGS: Cllr McGuiness gave an update on the stall, and Cllr Hardy went through the findings from the questionnaire. The council were very appreciative of the time put in by Cllrs McGuiness and Bonsall and their partners in resourcing and setting up the stall.

RESOLVED: Thank you to Cllrs K Bonsall and N McGuiness, and further use of the questionnaire on any stalls or surgeries agreed. Proposed Cllr Wetton, Seconded Cllr Dackombe.

Job Roles:

The Chair confirmed that following this discussion we have looked at the roles with the Town Hall changes and the way Gemma has evolved her role since covid. This has resulted in a draft JD for consideration for Gemma’s role which we would need whether Gemma stays in the role or not.

Essentially the Events and Liaison Coordinator role has prime responsibility for coordinating and managing events. It would also include the production and management of Warsop Parish News and development of a new WPC website. We would also anticipate this role to work with council to produce the annual Business Plan. The SILA salary cap would also be removed.

Whilst the Clerk/Proper Officer role hasn’t yet been looked at yet, there are a number of areas such as Bid Writing, Social Media Management and Campaign Coordination which would be useful to add and also a greater emphasis on Finance Plan development, Policy writing and updating, and networking with other Parish Clerks to extend Best Practices. The Chair confirmed this will need to come back to full council.

Cllr Burgin stressed the importance of confidentiality regarding the draft JD which has been put together. At this stage we cannot go into formal consultation with Gemma as both roles need to be considered concurrently. So, it will depend on whether Gemma is happy with the progress made to either extend her resignation period further or withdraw it completely.

There was extended discussion on the content of the JD and whether there was too much included for 18 hours. Council was concerned about putting too much pressure on the Job Holder Cllr Burgin said we do need to protect staff, and it’s recognised that they both do a lot that is above and beyond. As a council we need to be aware of this and be flexible in return. We also need to work with the job holder to ensure we don’t ask too much in the time available.

Cllr Barlow said that as the new role reports to the Clerk but is expected to be carried out with minimal supervision, then it would be wrong to expect the Clerk to sign off on major events. It was agreed that this would be rewritten to ensure final accountability rests with the council, which is where it should be.

There was concerned expressed that we are setting up a JD just to keep Gemma from leaving. The Chair stated that whilst we do not want to lose Gemma this role is needed by the Council to meet our Business Plan objectives. Cllr Bonsall expressed concern that Amanda will come back and feel it’s been done without her involvement. The Chair said Chris Moses had recommended that we to speak to Amanda and make her aware, which has been done. Cllr Dackombe said if we take individual’s out of the equation and then this is what we need.

RESOLVED: Proposal accept draft agreement to take forward (with amendments)as new JD to remove the role of Assistant Clerk and replace it with an Events and Liaison Coordinator. This is to be taken it to Chris Moses. Also, we need a conversation with Gemma – Cllrs Stephenson and Hardy to meet with Gemma next week to see if she is happy with this and for us to take it to consultation. Proposed Cllr Burgin, seconded Cllr Barlow, passed unanimously.

The Chair said at the FCM 15th July council agreed we could engage with Chris Moses for HR support and a Zoom session was held 24th July 2024 where we were given the advice above in terms of taking this forward. We need authority to pay the initial invoice of £100 plus VAT and also, we need to decide how we will use his services in future. We can have individual meetings for an hour for the above cost or pay £150 a month to cover all queries/discussions (as long as they’re not excessive) which we can give a month’s notice on.

The Chair felt that given retention cost it would be useful to engage him retainer. WPC have used him before. Discussion on how we will use him and what will discuss. Cllr Barlow said that ideally it will go through the Chair. If there were any individual HR concerns, then these can come through Chair/Vice Chair and send these on. Cllr Bonsall was concerned about the time this would take and could we look at EGMs if needed to speed the process along. Cllr Burgin said we have to undertake a full consultation once the JD has been agreed by FCM. Retainer should work out cheaper, so we go through the process correctly to protect the council and ensure it meets the needs of the council.

RESOLVED: Engage Chris Moses on a retainer with a one month’s notice period and pay the initial amount of £100 plus VAT. Ask Chris how he wants to take it forward. Proposed Cllr Burgin, seconded Cllr Dackombe, passed unanimously.

The Chair said that once we have resolved the staffing issues; we need to start looking at WPC with regard to things like: vision, responsibilities, moving to Committees, renewing committee briefs etc. We will hopefully be able to start this around October, as planned.

In addition, we need to consider if Amanda is off for longer and if Gemma chooses to leave, we may need to look into getting a locum Proper Officer/clerk or agency support. Can we have council’s views on this and authority to contact NALC to see if we can get locum services, and also register with an agency for admin support.

RESOLVED: Proposal Contact NALC for recommendations and register our need to find out costs, if the situation requires this. Proposed Cllr Stephenson, seconded Cllr Dackombe, passed unanimously.

6/3107. DATE OF NEXT MEETING - Monday 16th September 2024