Finance Minutes 29th May 2007
Minutes of a meeting of the FINANCE AND GENERAL PURPOSES COMMITTEE held in the Council Chamber, Drake Road, Tavistock on TUESDAY the 29th day of MAY 2007 at 7.15 p.m.
Present:
Cllr Mrs J Ramsey - Chair
Cllr Mrs M Govier - Chair Properties
Cllr M Harper
Cllr Mrs A Johnson - Town Mayor
Cllr Mrs J Metcalf
Cllr R Pike - Dep Town Mayor
Cllr P Sanders
Cllr D WhitcombIn
Attendance:
Town Clerk
Works Superintendent
One member of the press
Two members of the public
018. APOLOGIES
There were no apologies for absence.
019. MINUTES
The Minutes of the Meeting of the Committee held on 24th April 2007, previously circulated and adopted by Council on 1st May 2007 were confirmed as a true record and signed by the Chairman.
020. MATTERS ARISING
National Association of Local Councils (NALC) Annual Conference. Minute 512 referred. The last Council agreed that at least one delegate should go to the NALC annual conference in Bournemouth later this year, 5th to 7th October 2007. They had asked that ‘a n other’ be booked in to reserve a place, the name to be decided after the May elections. Members deferred the selection of a volunteer to full council, but RECOMMENDED that only one delegate should go to represent the Council.
021. MEETING OF THE PROPERTIES COMMITTEE HELD EARLIER THAT EVENING
The Chairman of Properties reported that the only recommendation with a financial impact made that evening had concerned the Chamber of Commerce project to place flower displays on Bedford Square, and their wish that the Town Council find some £1,300 to fund two of the displays. The matter would be debated at Agenda item 14.
022. MINUTES OF THE G10 GROUP
Members noted without comment the minutes of the meeting held on 16th April 2007.
023. MINUTES OF THE TaVi STEERING GROUP
Members considered the minutes of the meeting held on 25th April 2007. Cllr Mrs Johnson stated that she was not a member of that group even though they had added her name to the apologies. Cllr Sanders reported that he had attended the last meeting on the 23rd May, for which the minutes were still awaited. He felt that the Group was beginning to develop energy and move forward, and new members had come forward following the newspaper advertisement.
024. GENERAL FINANCE
a. Accounts Members considered the monthly accounts for submission to the next Council Meeting, a copy of which is at Annex A. It was RECOMMENDED that they be passed for payment.
b. Grants Members noted the payment of the ‘traditional’ community group grants at the beginning of the financial year, and asked if they should be required to complete the new grant application forms. Cllr Mrs Govier felt there was a fundamental difference between those traditional grants and one-off applications. Members had all the information they required about the former to allow setting of grants for them during the budget setting process, while the purpose of the application forms for the latter was to ensure Members had enough information to make a reasoned decision in committee. Members did not wish to make the traditional groups undergo an unnecessary paperwork exercise, and left the system as it was.
025. BEST VALUE
Members considered the draft Part 3 (Aims and Objectives) of the final Best Value Performance Plan, and had no changes to make. Cllr Pike felt that more mention of councillors involvement with the Allotments Management group might be made.
026. POOP SCOOP
Members noted an extract from the annual report of the Dog Warden.
027. REVISED PARISH LEVEL CODE OF CONDUCT
a. Members noted that Councils have until 1st October 2007 to adopt the revised Code. After that time, members of local authorities that have not adopted a revised Code would be automatically covered by it. The existing Code would continue in force until such time as the revised Code was adopted, or until 1 October 2007, whichever is sooner. Under Minute 693 the last Council had resolved to adopt the Code, but since then new information had come from NALC and the Standards Board that required Members to review that resolution.
b. Members noted the brief about Paragraph 12(2), which gave members with a prejudicial interest in a matter the same rights as members of the public to speak to a meeting on the matter, and then leave before the main discussion and vote. They agreed to adopt Paragraph 12(2) even though it was not mandatory for parish and town councils.
c. On a proposition by Cllr Sanders, Members then unanimously RECOMMENDED that the revised Code and the 10 general principles be adopted un-amended, this to include paragraph 12(2).
028. PARKING IN TAVISTOCK
Members noted that the last Mayor and Clerk had an introductory meeting with Chief Inspector Tony Steer at which, inter alia, traffic control and parking enforcement was discussed. It became clear that the police would not be replacing the Tavistock traffic warden, nor would their PCSO’s be undertaking parking enforcement as a major part of their job. Cllr Connelly had taken up the matter at a senior level with the County Council, and had written to the Chief Constable. A copy of the letter was tabled for Members information. All agreed that parking was a serious problem in Tavistock, and that matters could get worse. They RECOMMENDED that Council write to the Chief Constable about the police unilateral decision not to replace the town traffic warden, and asking him for an interim solution to manage the problem.
029. CIVIC BALL
Members noted the Income and expenditure account, and that the Ball was within the predictive budget.
030. WEB SITE
Noted that our web site was being up-dated. The test site was at ‘http://www.tavistock.gov.uk/’ and Members were asked to peruse the site and pass comments or suggestions to the Clerk or direct to the web master at ‘ben@cosmic.org.uk’.
031. FUTURE USE OF BEDFORD SQUARE
Members considered a proposal from the Chamber of Commerce to enhance Bedford Square for the ‘Tavistock in Bloom’ initiative. They noted that the Chamber was asking them to find £1,050 plus VAT to fund two out of six flower towers. Although this seemed a large proportion of the project, they recalled that a large number of hanging baskets were also being found by the Chamber, and were in agreement with the Properties Committee members that they should support the idea. They then RECOMMENDED that such grant funding should be found this year, but that the Chamber be informed that support for future years would be a matter for the budget setting process.
032. URGENT BUSINESS BROUGHT FORWARD AT THE DISCRETION OF THE CHAIRMAN.
There was no such business. Rising 7.55 p.m.