FGPC 2018 Minutes

Deeping St James Parish Council

The Institute, 38 Church Street, Deeping St James, Peterborough PE6 8HD

e-mail: clerk.dsjpc@btconnect.com

Tel: 01778 343266

Webpage: parishes.lincolnshire.gov.uk/deepingstjames

Parish Clerk: Julie Fortnum

The minutes of the Finance and General Purposes Committee held on Thursday 22 November 2018 at 7.45pm in the Meeting Room at The Institute.

Present: Councillors Barber, Blessett, Gilbert, Halls, Shinkins, Stevens, and Ward.

30.19 To receive apologies of absence.

Apologies were received and accepted from Councillor Bowell

31.19 To receive any declarations of interest.

Item 38.19 – Councillor Stevens

32.19 To adopt the minutes of the previous meeting held on Thursday 11 October 2018

Agreed and signed as a true copy

33.19 To receive a report of matters arising from the minutes not dealt with elsewhere on the agenda.

None reported.

34.19 To consider adopting a Business Plan setting out the Parish Council's vision for the parish, its purpose, values, objectives and key priorities for the next five years.

After some discussion from which the following points were made:

- Such a plan should be called a strategic plan not a business plan

- It should cover a 4 year period (the period of office for local councils)

- It should be a proactive rather than reactive document

- It should be linked to a spreadsheet ensuring what had been agreed was being met

It was agreed to Recommend to full council that what should be included in a strategic plan should be added as an agenda item for consideration on the next agenda of each committee.

35.19 To agree the revised communications policy.

After the removal of ‘(three or more Councillors sitting as a committee or sub-committee with appropriate delegated powers from the council)’ from paragraph 11 it was agreed that this policy should be adopted.

36.19 To agree the revised mission statement.

After the addition of the words ‘of the parish’ at the end of the statement it was agreed this statement should be adopted.

It was Resolved to move into closed session in accordance with The Public Bodies (Admission to Meetings) Act 1960 due to the confidential nature of the business to be discussed in relation to the following two agenda items.

37.19 To consider renewing the contracts for the following services:

1. community rehabilitation team

After some discussion it was agreed to Recommend to Council that the contract should continue providing either a volunteer Councillor could be found to schedule the work and set them to task or this role could be included in the duties of a future employee.

2. waste disposal

It was agreed to continue with the current Contractor as they fulfilled the Parish Councils requirements and offered a competitive price.

38.19 To consider future staffing requirements.

It was agreed to Recommend to Council that a job description should be written for an additional part-time maintenance worker to be employed from April 2019. It was Resolved to move out of closed session in accordance with The Public Bodies (Admission to Meetings) Act 1960.

39.19 To consider the required budget for the refurbishment of the Village Cross.

Councillor Gilbert had been asked to consider this on behalf of the Council. In his professional opinion he advised that it should not be cleaned as the stonework was good and apart from two small areas that needed repairing the mortar was also in good condition. It was agreed that the cobbles around the Cross should be cleaned and that the door to the lock-up did require some repair work but these should not require a large budget. It was also agreed that the spotlights should be upgraded as the area was still very dark. A budget of £1000 was agreed for such work.

39.19 To consider the budget requirements for 2019/20 in preparation for precept setting.

The draft budget paperwork prepared by the Clerk and Councillor Ward were reviewed and it was agreed that some figures still needed to be confirmed but the intention was to keep any increase in the 2019/20 precept to a minimum.

41.19 Date of next meeting – 7.45pm on 21 March 2019.