MenuMinutes of a meeting of Amble Town Council held on Thursday 23rd February 2012 following the meeting of the Finance Committee in the Council Office, The Quayside, Harbour Road, Amble.
1. PRESENT: Councillors Bilboe, Hinson, Weir, Rev’d Nicholson, Mrs Dargue and Mrs Lewis together with the Clerk, Miss Brown.
2. APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE: Cllrs Arckless and Palin, prior commitments.
3. ACCEPTANCE OF DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST: None.
4. LETTER OF SUPPORT FOR WELFARE PAVILION: Amble Development Trust required a letter of support from the Town Council regarding the renovations of the Welfare Pavilion. Cllr Hinson suggested it would be useful if the Town Council had a current working plan of the proposed facilities along with any future plans and proposed a letter of support be sent, this was seconded by Cllr Dargue and agreed.
Under Section 100A (4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the press and public will be excluded from the Meeting during consideration of the following items on the Agenda due to sensitive nature.
This was proposed by Cllr Bilboe, seconded by Cllr Mrs Lewis and agreed.
PUBLIC/PRIVATE
5. Review of Council Services
1. Specifics:
a) Accountancy including Salaries/ Gratuity-Pension – Cllr Mrs Lewis stated that she would be reluctant to outsource financing as the Clerk needed to be totally involved in order to carry out her role correctly, Cllr Hinson was in agreement, quotes however would still be investigated for best value. The statutory external auditors were BDO Stoy Hayward and this would remain the case for several years. Queries would be made with SLCC and NALC.
Cllr Nicolson left the meeting at 7.52pm
Cllr Mrs Lewis stated that by Central Government ruling pensions must be provided in the next 3 years. Cllr Weir stated that NALC were presently looking into pension provisions. Clarity was needed from Central Government regarding whether it would be mandatory for local councils to offer the Local Government Pension Scheme. The Clerk pointed out with the current work force, the Council contribution would be a minimum of £10,000 per year. Cllr Mrs Lewis requested the Clerk get more information from a pension advisor on the cost of advising about suitable pension schemes.
b) Commercial Waste Collections – currently reviewed annually. This would be delegated to the Clerk with the Chairman of the Cemeteries Committee for best value due to renewal being required for 1st April. The West Cemetery has and would still require 1 x 1100 litre general waste bin lifted once per week.
The Clerk enquired about recycling in the Cemetery, Cllr Mrs Lewis stated that whilst admirable, this had been discussed and tried in the past and it was difficult to ensure the public recycled and very time consuming for the staff. This would be moved to the Cemeteries Management Committee to discuss.
c) Assets and their Risk Management – Cllr Mrs Lewis commented that currently the assets list is updated on an annual basis, formulas for depreciation are available, the assets list would need to be updated with replacement costs for the War Memorials, cemetery gates, litter bins, seats, etc. It was proposed this be deferred to the Finance Committee by Cllr Mrs Lewis, this was seconded by Cllr Bilboe and agreed.
Cllr Bilboe decided to end the meeting at this point with remaining items to be discussed at a future meeting, date yet to be agreed.
d) Grave digging
e) Groundworks and Planting
f) Maintenance Tasks
g) Clock
h) Lightning Conductor
i) Shutters
j) Trees
k) Conservation- stone, marble, gates etc.
l) Insurance
m) Health and Safety/ Risk Assessment
n) Personnel/ Training
o) Suppliers- e.g. Fuel; Equipment; Servicing; Personal Protective Clothing; Grass/ Soil/Pesticides etc.; Cleaning Materials; Admin. Items; Photocopier; Utilities
2. Review of Employees and Salaries
3. Other Items- Grant Funding Policy
4. Date and time of next meeting – to be agreed.
The meeting closed at 8.16pm