May 2020 Minutes F&GP Cttee
Minutes of Cherry Willingham Parish Council’s Finance and General Purposes Committee, held remotely using Google Meet, on Friday 29th May 2020, at 11am.
Present: Cllr Brylewski (Chairman) Cllr Fleetwood (Vice-Chairman) Cllr Baker, Cllr Leader, Cllr Mellor and Cllr Palmer, Christine Hodgson (RFO) Cathy Doggett (Parish Clerk)
No Members of the Public were in Attendance
The Chairman welcomed everyone to the meeting and thanked the RFO for her help which had been invaluable.
05/20/1 Apologies for Absence
None received. However, Cllr Longley was not present.
05/20/2 Councillors declarations of interest, gifts and hospitality
None
05/20/3 Minutes of the Finance and General Purposes Meeting, held on 30th October 2019
The minutes from the last meeting were approved as a true record and it was agreed they would be signed, when it was possible to sign the actual paper document. It was noted that the minute’s title did not mention the year 2019.
Proposed: Cllr Palmer. Seconded: Cllr Baker. All in Favour (apart from David Leader who was not a member of the Committee at the time).
05/20/4 Parish Council Finances for the Year 2019/2020
Referring to the document entitled: ‘Final Accounts for the Year ending 31 March 2020’, the RFO went through the budget for each section and discussed how the budget had been spent.
There was a surplus of £13,498.
Balances as at 31 March 2020 (Page 4)
The RFO explained the current reserves for the Parish Council were £72,431.
Allocation of funds and balances.
The RFO explained that the General Fund is for the council to choose to spend as they see fit.
The Project Funds were for very specific purposes and normally any underspending would go into the General Fund, but the RFO had agreed to one exception being made.
The Cherry Fields project was underspent by £806 and this was due to a grant, which had been received from the Co-Op, which had exceeded the stated requirement to purchase finger posts. The Co-Op were agreeable for the excess to be carried forward to the next financial year and spent on another Cherry Fields Project.
The Development Fund had been there for a long time. This fund came from the sale of a plot of land. It was intended to be used solely for capital purposes, e.g. for the purchase of another piece of land or for the provision of a bridge over the River Witham
The Burial Ground fund increases with the number of receipts for burial plots. The funds were for Burial Ground purposes only and could potentially be used for the purchase of a new burial ground.
The Planning Committee was requested to look at how to best spend the money in the Community Improvement Levies Fund.
ACTION: Planning Committee
The Lady Meers Pond fund originally came from the Developers and will gradually reduce over the years.
The Heritage Society Fund was a historic fund as there was no longer a Heritage Society. The committee was advised that there may be a new Heritage Society forming when the new building in Cherry Willingham becomes operational.
RESOLUTION: To accept the allocation of funding. Proposed: Cllr Fleetwood, Seconded: Cllr Leader. All in Favour
05/20/5 Fees Received for the Parish Council’s Activities
The Parish Council pays for grass cutting around the village hall and the tennis court. The tennis club then reimburses the Parish Council £50. The Parish Council was charged £6 per cut by Glendale and it was cut 10 times last year. It was decided to keep the charge to the tennis club at £50 for next year.
The Parish Council agreed to keep the £5.50 per hour, for the hiring of the Millennium Hall unchanged. It was agreed that the burial ground fees should be reviewed by the Leisure and Amenities Committee.
ACTION
The playing field user fees were reviewed. Four clubs, the Bowls club, Cricket Club and two football clubs usually used this facility. Usually, there was a charge of £205 per club per year. However, as the clubs were unable to use the facilities, it was agreed that it was unfair to charge the clubs for using the playing field facility.
The Leisure and Amenities Committee were to discuss this matter and were going to ask the clubs to get a skip to remove some debris from this area in lieu of the waiving of this charge.
The RFO was to ask John Tomlinson (the previous RFO) to confirm whether this was a Finance Committee or Leisure and Amenities Committee matter.
ACTION: RFO
RESOLUTION: To waive the fees for all four clubs: Proposed: Cllr Palmer, Seconded: Cllr Mellor. All in Favour.
05/20/6 Internal Auditor
The council agreed to reappoint Andy Seymour, from Hurstons, who has his own business, as the internal auditor.
It was agreed that visiting the parish council in person within this financial year should be mentioned in the auditor’s letter of appointment for the year.
ACTION: RFO
Proposed: Cllr Mellor, Seconded: Cllr Leader, All in Favour.
05/20/7 Policies Pertinent to this Committee
There are several important policies: Financial Regulations, Procedures for Managing the Financial Activities, Procurement of Goods and Services, Risk Management, and Management of Assets.
As the Parish Council had been operating without a Clerk for a sometime, not all of these areas may have been upheld. The RFO had been operating as both RFO and Clerk.
The RFO was no longer paying small bills by cheque (only large ones). Instead online bank payments were being paid. The RFO was sending the Chairman and Vice Chairman an email every week or two detailing the online bank payments and asking them for authority to make the payments by email.
It was confirmed that emails were stored remotely using iCloud for security reasons, and not stored on the computer.
The Parish Council had previously purchased a software backup system for the main computer, which had failed to work. A refund of the purchase price of £24 should be sought.
ACTION: Cllr Baker.
The Parish Clerk and RFO were to look into the purchase of a memory stick and Office 365 for the creation of a backup system for the main Millennium Hall computer.
ACTION: Parish Clerk / RFO.
The RFO requested the deferment of any updates until the Parish Clerk until the next financial meeting. This was agreed.
05/20/8 Items for Report or Inclusion in the Next Agenda
Updates to Policies Pertinent to the Committee (RFO).
05/20/9 Date of the Next Meeting
The council would normally have a meeting twice a year, however the RFO would prefer quarterly meetings.
Proposed: Cllr Mellor, Seconded: Cllr Palmer, All in favour.
It was Resolved to have quarterly meetings for the Finance and General Purposes Meeting.
It was agreed that the next Finance and General Purposes Committee Meeting should be held during the end of September /early October 2020.