BRERETON AND RAVENHILL PARISH COUNCIL
DISTRICT OF CANNOCK CHASE COUNTY OF STAFFORDSHIRE
Minutes of the FULL COUNCIL MEETING
Held at: the Parish Hall, Ravenhill Park, Brereton, Rugeley. WS15 1DU
Held on Thursday 21st December 7.30pm
Cllrs Present: M Blackham (MB)(Chair), C Davies (CD), R Hall-Davies (RHD), C Harris (CH), S Merriman (SM), K Paul (KP), D Blocksidge (DB), J Gascoigne (JG)(Vice Chair), C Boulton (CB),
R Hall (RH),
Cllrs Absent: Apologies were received from K Theobald (KT), and A Cowdell (AC), (arriving late) which were accepted. J Johnson (JJ), which was not accepted.
In Attendance: J Smith (JS)(RFO/Caretaker), L. Featherstone (LF), PR Whibley (Clerk/RFO)
37. DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST IN ANY ITEMS ON THE AGENDA
None
38. FORMAL ANNOUNCEMENTS BY THE CHAIR
None
39. AGREEING THE MINUTES FROM THE PREVIOUS MEETING
Minutes of the meeting held on 16.11.23. were approved and signed by the Chair.
40. MATTERS ARISING
40.1 24.1a: LF, JS and PRW have met on numerous occasions and will present an initial draft budget during this meeting for the members to consider.
40.2 24.1b: KP sought clarification prior to taking action as to which agreement was with McAfee that was to be stopped.
40.3 24.1c: KP has cancelled the Service agreement with Agincourt TC by stopping the withdrawal of a fixed monthly fee. However the company continue to seek a monthly payment. The company have been informed that as they do not give the council any service, no such requests will be paid. The council agreed that it would robustly fight any more claims, even through the small-claims court process, if needed.
40.4 24.3a: KP was unable to complete her investigation with the bank on this matter. After discussion it was agreed that the clerk will make enquiries and report to the chair who will see whether he is able to find a more favourable quote elsewhere. (See 47a)
40.5 24.5a: JS has set up an Amazon business account on behalf of the council but will discuss with KP the finer details.
40.6 26.1a: The Hall Management Committee have decided not to send a letter to all present hirers with the new ‘terms of hire for 2024’ until after the Christmas holiday.
40.7 27.1a: DB has found it very difficult to talk to the person employed by MacDonald’s with responsibility for overseeing that the litter issue around their building is addressed.
41. PUBLIC PARTICIPATION
None
42. REPORTS FROM COMMITTEES / DISTRICT / POLICE
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42.1 The HMCE meeting was cancelled but an emergency situation occurred and an immediate decision had to be made. The lock on the front door was broken. As this meant that the Parish Hall was therefore not secure, the chair of the committee contacted a specialist to make the building safe. The technician managed to complete some work to temporarily secure the door but also noticed the inner door was also faulty. After discussion he said that to fix the outside and inner doors would cost £320. The council approved this work to be actioned.
42.1a. Resolved: That SM will contact the technician and accept the quote.
42.2 Quotes had also been sought to redecorate the Parish Hall. After a long discussion on them it was decided to go with the ‘best value’ quote. The accepted quote was to decorate virtually the whole building, which was used by the public, with the exception of the toilets, as they are having their own maintenance work completed at present.
42.2a. Resolved: That SM will contact the decorators who were successful and accept their quote.
43. STANDING ORDERS
These were not presented tonight. Some members have recently asked whether certain actions are permitted within the guidelines set out in the yet to be approved Standing Orders. The clerk has listen and is in the process of including these suggestions, as they do not break the official statutory guidelines, in the proposed Standing Orders of BRPC. These guidelines have had to be created as the previous council failed to leave a copy of the personalised BRPC Standing Orders when they resigned.
43.a. Resolved: That the clerk will complete the BRPC Standing Orders ready for approval in February 2024.
44. FEEDBACK FROM COUNCILLORS’ AWARENESS EXERCISE
The exercise showed that as all members were only recently elected this year, that there was a very wide opinion of which committees should be responsible for which elements of their responsibilities. This led to a discussion about the formation of a committee structure to meet these needs identified and the prerequisite for ‘Terms of Reference’ for each one.
45. RISK ASSESSMENT
It was highlighted that this document is one of the 4 important documents that the council should have and be annually monitored. Again, it was shameful that the previous years’ document was never passed-on by the previous council. The clerk presented a newly created version from scratch using detailed research of ‘good governance of parish councils’ for the members to scrutinise. It contained many elements which the newly appointed clerk was unable to state/identify were in place. It was agreed that the document would be placed on Google Drive to allow all members to substitute in the information needed to complete the elements that the clerk didn’t know. The clerk will place the document on the wall in the office for reference for the members.
45.a. Resolved: That the clerk will send the Draft Risk Assessment document to SM for placement on Google Drive.
45.b Resolved: That all members substitute information into the BRPC Risk Management and Assessment policy.
(If this could be completed before January 10th 2024, the clerk will attempt to finalise the document ready for approval at the next Full Council meeting on January 18th. Only the identified sentences which need attention will be displayed on the office wall. Please make any amendments by substituting in written answers to the red sections)
46. ASSET REGISTER
It was explained that the previous council had stated that they had in excess of £160000 of fixed assets but left no proof when they resigned. There was an exceptional audit of all assets inside the Parish Hall amounting to £75000. What was needed was a definite list of all assets which are owned by the present council with their values. Many of the assets had been gifted free of
Minutes Approved by Chair / Acting Chair : ………………………………… Date: ……………………………
charge but they still must be valued and placed on the list, as they are now owned by BRPC. These assets included the benches outside Ravenhill Park and numerous new Bus Shelters most of which were gifted by Brereton Million. It was agreed that merely a number of items was insufficient. It was strongly felt that the position of all assets and their condition should be known. The suggestion was agreed that photographs could be taken, so that the council is aware of the condition of each asset whilst also showing where the asset was situated within the parish. This also means that if an asset is found to be was damaged, then remedial action could be taken as soon as possible, to stop a health and safety issue arising. Yet another action which was not completed by the previous council, whilst the present council are having to implement this from scratch.
46.a Resolved: That a large map of the parish be placed on the wall so members can show where each asset is situated. (Whether any need to repair/replace)
47. BUDGETING 2023-2024 AND NEXT YEAR
A Cowell arrived 8.05pm.
The Bank Reconciliation and the December’s Income and Expenditure figures were presented to the members. It was highlighted that the income was exceeded by the expenditure this month.
It was raised as to whether the culprit who vandalised the defibrillator had completed his monthly fine schedule. This will be investigated through the records of the Staffordshire County Court.
It was stated that the Parish hall had two insurance policies connected to it. The first for the contents and the second for the Hall building/replacement.
The software package that was bought by the council automatically receives the VAT back, but the Council needs first to register to get VAT digitally.
The meeting discussed further, the position concerning the bank account during the Covid times and that it had a negative effect on the way the finances were managed.
The internal auditors had previously, suggested that the council reduce the number of bank accounts it holds, down from five. The present council want to go one further and although all the capital in strictly within one account, the council approved the creation of only two finance accounts. The first an account to be used as a ‘working account’ whilst the second would be an interest account but one which allows for withdrawals without penalty.
An aide memoir was given to the members to explain the terminology and reason for the importance of budgeting and the method of calculating a Precept.
An excel spreadsheet was used to explain in more detail the way proposed expenditure minus income indicated the amount of Precept a parish council needs to fulfil its planned functions.
47.a Resolved: That the clerk would investigate interest bank accounts and report to the chair who will see whether he is able to find a more favourable quote elsewhere.
48. TWO HOUR MEETING TIME ELAPSED
The Chair asked the meeting whether they would extend the duration of the meeting to discuss an unexpected additional item. This was approved.
49. STAFFING
The clerk requested an earlier meeting with the Staffing Committee prior to this meeting as it had quickly become obvious that with the absence of any policies, guidelines or terms of reference etc., the clerk was having to spend all his time helping to create these prior to April 2024 for the approval of the new council. This meant that other tasks were becoming impossible to complete and sought support. It was fortunate that someone who had shown a previous interest in the financial elements of the council was still interested in taking on the role, but only as the RFO, not the clerk. It was agreed that the clerk would give up the RFO role
Minutes Approved by Chair / Acting Chair : ………………………………… Date: ……………………………
until at least May 2024, to give the clerk time to concentrate on helping to create the Governance structure necessary for the new council thus allowing this person who has already under gone Scribe training to assume the role of RFO. This was approved: Ten votes for with one abstention.
As previously discussed with members, another member of the staff was retiring at Christmas and her hours would be allocated to the caretaker, to continue with overseeing the increased demand on his hall and office responsibilities. This was approved unanimously.
48. DATE OF NEXT MEETING
Thursday 18th January 2024