Finance and General Purposes Meeting Minutes 10th July 2024

1/1007. RECEIVE ANY DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

Christmas Smile - Cllrs K. Hardy, D. Scaysbrook and K. Bonsall.
Finance & General-Purpose Working Party - Cllrs K. Hardy, D. Scaysbrook, A. Burgin, R. Butler and K. Bonsall.
Labour Party Member - Cllrs A. Wetton, A. Burgin and J. Stephenson and D. Hughes.
Mansfield District Council Planning Committee - Cllr J. Stephenson.
Meden Medical Services PPG - Cllr K. Bonsall.
Staffing Working Party - Cllrs J Stephenson, K. Hardy, K Bonsall, N McGuiness, P Dackombe.
WPC Room Hire (Ferocious Dog) - Cllr K. Bonsall.
Vibrant Warsop Subcontractor - Cllr P. Dackombe.
Warsop Carnival Committee - Cllrs P. Dackombe and K. Bonsall.

2/1007. APOLOGIES

Cllr P Dackombe.

3/1007. REVIEW, DISCUSS AND MAKE RECOMMENDATIONS REGARDING THE BUSINESS PLAN AND PRIORITY PROJECTS

The Priority List was discussed:

Remembrance: next meeting 24th July. PA System to be discussed later in meeting.

Christmas Event: discussed in Staffing meeting.

Speed Awareness: later on agenda.

WPC: reiterated deadline 17th July we’ve only got a week to get it to the designer.

Noticeboards: There is an issue getting into some of them. Cllr K Bondall happy to go round and check them all. Difficulties with the Meden Vale one may be a long term issue as it was put up after remedial work completed.

Parish Councillor Surgeries: Discussed where, when, how often? Looking at Warsop Town Centre, Meden Vale, other areas in the Parish where there is a natural gathering point. Discussed the difference between setting up a stall and formal surgeries. We would need to advertise, signposting other services e.g. logging a pothole. Check with Library and Age Concern if we can pitch outside.

Website and Social Media Presence: This will be led by A Cooper (Clerk) however with Social Media we can have individual Councillor pages to build a presence, if we wish. Anyone doing this should be mindful of the Social Media Guidelines.

Bingo Site: Approach Cllr R Butler to see if he would like to lead on this and what support he would need. A Working Party could bring in other professional groups and businesses.

Town Centre Toilets: Support Cllr N NcGuiness to present the bid to MDC. Cllr McGuiness to talk to Cllr A Burgin B on how to get MDC support. We may have to write to get permission from MDC to undertake any census of usage.

Warsop Parish Council Review: Look to see if there is any historical statement of purpose. Surgeries/stalls will provide us with some information to support this review. Start process formally in October.

Training/CPD: one training session already completed which was very useful. The Chair is to check with MDC if we can piggyback on any relevant MDC training. Councillors may want to consider observing Scrutiny meetings at MDC. They can only observe but may be useful. Chair to find out dates so the Parish Councillors are aware if they want to attend.

RECOMMEND: The council approve the priority list, recommended dates and action described above.

4/1007. REVIEW, DISCUSS AND MAKE RECOMMENDATIONS ON THE INVOICE FROM SECOND ELEMENT

We have been advised by Second Element that a glitch in system means we’ve been undercharged for Legionnaires work for a number of years. Gemma has checked and we have had the services we’re being charged for, unfortunately we didn’t notice the undercharge either. The outstanding invoice is approx. £900.

RECOMMEND: to pay the Second Element invoice when received.

5/1007. TO DISCUSS THE PAYMENT OF RENT TO LIFESPRING BEFORE THE CONTRACT HAS BEEN AGREED

We’ve paid rent to Lifespring without having a formal contract in place, Amanda has picked this up from our last meeting. Liz Phillips is wanting a sit down meeting with WPC to put this in place. Liz Phillips is to send a blank template of the lease agreement noting the items that need to be agreed. – this will be sent to Clerk/Asst Clerk and Chair/Vice Chair copied in. We then need a meeting to agree these so Liz can put it past her board. The lease agreement will start from the 1st May so it will cover the payment made retrospectively.

RECOMMEND: Chair to arrange meeting between Warsop Parish Council and Lifespring to agree the rental contract and get it in place before any further monies are paid.

6/1007. TO REVIEW AND RECOMMEND BANK SIGNATORIES

We need a new Bank Signatory to replace Gemma (Asst Clerk). There was discussion of who this should be, the Chair is unable to take this role due to a conflict with their employment. We currently have a requirement for 3 people to authorise bank payments so that this wasn’t just Clerk and Asst Clerk.

RECOMMEND: Cllr K Bonsall to become a third signatory. Requirement on Bank Account to be reduced to 2 to authorise rather than 3, as it will now be the Clerk and a councillor.

7/1007. TO REVIEW, DISCUSS AND MAKE RECOMMENDATIONS ON THE STANDING ORDERS WITH REGARD TO WORKING PARTIES AND COMMITTEES

The council changed Standing Orders in May 2023 to make F&GP and Staffing, Committees rather than Working Parties. The Clerk explained in the May meeting that Working Parties were only intended to be short term. In June 2023 this was altered back due to the F&GP for June not being quorate. Items consequently had to be resolved under the Clerk/Chair update on the Agenda, resulting in concerns from councillors at the meeting. (A Working Party does not need to be quorate.)
This has been brought back for discussion following the training session attended by councillors 24th June 2024 when the Trainers were concerned that we had Finance as a Working Party, especially if the meetings were not accessible to the public. The Chair advised that whilst a Committee is the best way forward we still need to be mindful about being quorate for these meetings. It was discussed that we now have a larger number of councillors so meeting the required numbers was less likely to be an issue.

RECOMMEND: Attendance at F&GP to be monitored and we change to a Committee if we are confident these meetings will be quorate. Final decisions would still be made at Full Council.

8/1007. TO REVIEW, DISCUSS AND MAKE RECOMMENDATIONSON THE PA SYSTEM AND GENERATOR FOR REMEMBRANCE SUNDAY 2024.

Cllr K Hardy attended a site meeting with Maddy Pritchard (Vibrant Warsop) and a representative from Electric Bear Group Ltd to look into hiring a PA System and generator for Remembrance Sunday. This company has been used by Vibrant Warsop and they recommend their services. They have provided a quote for both a PA System and a generator. This quote has been discussed with Gemma (Asst Clerk) and also with Maddy Pritchard. Whilst the generator price is higher than the cost of the one we use at Christmas, this is much quieter and shouldn’t interrupt the Service. They will also provide a Site Map for the Event Management Plan and manage Health and Safety around the equipment. Cllr D Barlow said it was important we have a guarantee on the sound quality promised and money back if this is not achieved.
We have room within the £3000 budget providing we are getting the road closure partly covered by Cllr B Eddy. Plus we may be able to access funds from the ROLO fund being set up by Vibrant Warsop.

RECOMMEND: Accept the quote for £870.00 but ensure we highlight the requirements on H&S, Site Map and generator noise. Also get confirmation that the sound will meet our requirements. Get written confirmation from Cllr Eddy regarding any contribution to the road closure. Look into additional funding.

9/1007. WARSOP CARNIVAL: UPDATE AND FINDINGS

The meeting thanked Cllrs K Bonsall and N McGuiness (plus their husbands) for the work they put into the Parish Council stall at Warsop Carnival. The stall was a great success with around 40 questionnaires completed, and lots of interaction with the public. The questionnaire results were discussed and the findings noted.

RECOMMEND: Thank you to Cllrs K Bonsall and N McGuiness, and further use of the questionnaire on any stalls or surgeries.

10/1007. TO DISCUSS AND REVIEW THE LENGTHSMAN SCHEME

Cllrs N McGuiness and K Bonsall have looked into the funding for this, currently there is funding available of £1150 for the remainder of this year. Nether Langwith and Edwinstowe employ someone under this scheme, and further funds can be accessed. There was discussion around employment costs, payscale, risk assessments, liability insurance and storage of equipment needed. Cllr D Barlow was concerned that this had been discussed by the council before and decided against, she wasn’t sure if there was any new information here to change the original decision.

RECOMMEND: Cllrs N McGuiness and K Bonsall look into this further and bring it back to council with full costing.

11/1007. SELECTION OF TWO COUNCILLORS FOR POLICE LIAISON ROLE

We have been made aware that the police are no longer in a position to attend Parish Council meetings or to provide crime statistics. It was suggested at the FCM in June that we could have a Police Liaison Councillor to meet with them prior to a meeting and bring back the information. Cllr D Barlow expressed concern about the future lack of police presence and wanted confirmation that this was definitely the case.

RECOMMEND: Chair to send email to clarify the situation with regard to WPC attendance and figures and how we can take this forward.

12/1007. POLICE SPEED GUNS

We have been given training dates for Speed Gun training: 25th July (evening), 4th, 10th and 11th August in the afternoon. Anyone who attended the previous training will need to attend again. We can discuss Risk Assessments with the trainer.

RECOMMEND: Identify 2 dates to take training forward

13/1007. DISCUSSION AND RECOMMENDATION ABOUT WPC ADOPTING THE CIVILITY AND RESPECT PLEDGE.

RECOMMEND: Defer to September meeting.

Next Meeting Wednesday prior to FCM in September.

14/1007. CLOSE MEETING

The meeting was closed at 7.34pm.

These will be presented to Full Council on Monday 15TH July 2024.