(15th May 2023, 19:00, Younghayes Centre)
The Annual Town Council Meeting is about to arrive, and here’s my take on it…
Overview:
This is going to be a lengthy meeting as it has a lot of background administration for the functioning of the Council in it – so it won’t be particularly interesting in some areas for many – you’ll find details of that later but first, here are things that might interest you:
1)
Tender to provide an Outdoor Gym in the Stone Meadow Area of the Country Park
There is a tender going out for the development and delivery of an Outdoor Gym in Cranbrook Country Park. The approximate location is as follows:
You can also download/view the following documents if you want to dig deeper:
2)
Request from ‘National Festival Circus’ to use the Country Park Event Space
A request has been made by the ‘National Festival Circus’ to use the Country Park Event Space on 1st August.
http://www.nationalfestivalcircus.co.uk/
3)
[R] Schedule of Payments
This happens each month and is a review/confirmation of payments being made/to be made by the Council. You can view that and see how funds are being spent as follows:
- Devon Investigations – £795.00 – for “Silver Resassurance Service – Burrough Field”
- Stalite Signs – £186.77 for “No Ball Games Signage”
- Concorde – £3.94 for “Printing Costs”
- Staffing Costs – not yet available, information to follow in due course
- Green Machine – £81.95 for “Consumables March 2023”
- Trinity Fire & Security Systems Ltd – £96.19 for “Routine service of the Fire alarm system”
- South West Water – £352.80 for “Water & Sewage Charges”
- E.On – £908.83 for “Heating – Younghayes Centre”
- Total Energies – £2667.36 for “Electricity – Younghayes Centre”
- Biffa – £69.74 for “Waste Collections”
Here’s the rest of the Agenda:
Basic stuff that needs to happen for a new Town Council:
- Election of the Chairman – this happens because someone needs to be appointed as the Chair of the Town Council and they typically then run the main Town Council Meetings as well as some other duties.
- Election of the Vice Chairman – in case the Chairman cannot attend or cannot participate for some reason.
Routine Items on pretty much any Agenda:
- [R] Apologies for Absence – if any Councillors cannot attend they give apologies (eg notify they cannot attend) and it is recorded and on the public record.
- [R] Declarations of Interest – there are requirements for Councillors to acknowledge if they have any personal or pecuniary (financial) interests in items on the Agenda. Typically a Councillor with pecuniary interests will not take part in the parts of the meeting where a conflict could exist.
- [R] Minutes – this is where the previous meetings minutes are reviewed and Councillors agree they’re an accurate record of that meeting (in this case the 24th April 2023 meeting).
- [R] Public Participation – a chance for anyone present from the public to ask questions (they don’t have to be about items on the Agenda, and if they are the Chairman normally suggests discussing those in the appropriate space in the Agenda for ease).
Administrative: Review of Policies and Documents:
This meeting has quite a lot of this stuff because it’s the Annual Town Council Meeting – most months are not this full of administrative items – this is not normal for a ordinary Town Council Meeting, but in summary:
- Review of the Code of Conduct
- Review of the Financial Regulations
- Review of the Standing Orders – think of this as the ‘rule book’
- Dispensations Procedure
- General Power of Competence – this is a legal thing – it is something that in basic terms gives the Council the power to act like an individual person in its own right & certain requirements have to be met to do this
- Council Operating Principles – for example, stating the council is non-party-political and not tied to any particular religion (eg it is ‘neutral’)
Administrative: Committees and Working Groups
The Council has a number of ‘Committees’ and some ‘Working Groups’ (that may change over time) to deal with specific types of work/duty it has. For example it has had a ‘Planning Committee’ & ‘Finance & Personnel Committee’ historically. They often have separate meetings etc.
- Appointment of Council Committees & Working Groups, Appointment of Members to Town Council Committees & Working Groups – eg deciding who is on the Committees and/or Working Groups.
- Appointment of the Chairman/Vice Chairman for each Committee – like the earlier appointments you have a Chairman/Vice Chairman for each Committee -they could the same or different people (not least because the Town Council Chairman may not be on any given committee)
- Terms of Reference & Review of Delegation Arrangements – essentially think of this as deciding the ‘remit’ of each Committee or Working Group – eg what is the purpose, what are the boundaries of what they do, and what responsibilities might be delegated to them to deal with.
- Appointment of Councillors with Special Responsibilities
- Appointment of Councillors to Outside Bodies
Administrative: Risk Management
The Council has a lot of responsibilities on potential risks which it must have policies and procedures for – anything from the general Council Office operations to areas it has responsibility for – for example the Country Park or Allotments etc. This section includes review of:
- The Risk Management Strategy & Risk Register
- Risk Assessments for:
- Slips and Trips
- Manual Handling
- Office Safety
- Kitchen
- Playground Safety
- Councillor
- Allotments Safety
- Christmas Tree
- Lone Working
- Country Park General Tasks
- Country Park Events
- Driving
- Younghayes Centre
- Homeworking (All Staff)
- Returning To Work (following prolonged illness)
- Archive of assessments not currently needed or beyond the purpose they were issued for:
- Play Parks Safety
- Country Park River Work (for now, may come back later)
- Volunteer
- Risk Assessment Temp A (Return to Work Post Covid-19)
- Risk Assessment Temp B (Reopening Playgrounds Post Covid-19)
- Risk Assessment Temp C (Council Meetings)
- Health & Safety Policy
- Younghayes Centre Fire Management Plan & Fire Risk Assessment
Administrative: Council Policies
- HR Policies, including:
- Absence Management Policy
- Grievance and Disciplinary Policy and Capability Procedure
- Lone Working Policy
- Personal Use of Council Equipment Policy
- Training and Development Policy
- Whistleblowing Policy
- Council Policies, including:
- Accessibility Policy
- Assets Policy
- CCTV Policy
- Cash Handling Policy
- Credit Control Policy
- Community Engagement Strategy
- Councillor Officer Protocol
- Customer Service Policy and Complaints Procedure
- Freedom of Information Procedure
- Document Retention Policy
- Equality and Diversity Policy
- Grants Policy and application form
- Media and Social Media Policies
- Privacy Policy
- Procurement Policy
- Sandbag Scheme,
- Street Trading Guidelines,
- Unacceptable Behaviour Policy,
- Unauthorised Encampment Policy,
- Use of Public Open Spaces including Code of Conduct for Cyclists and Professional Dog Walkers
- Policies that won’t get reviewed:
- Maternity Policy
- Peninsula Pensions Employer Discretion Policy
There is also a note here that it a new Working Group might be formed to review Council Policies. Personally I would be in favour of this as there are a lot of policies needed and they should receive detailed and careful review.
Administrative: Subscriptions for Staff and Council to other bodies
A review of the Council membership to the ‘Devon Association of Local Councils’ and thus the ‘National Association of Local Councils’.
The Town Clerk and Deputy Town Clerk are members of the Society of Local Council Clerks.
Administrative: Publication Scheme
A review of the procedure for handling requests made under the Freedom of Information Act & Data Protection Act
Administrative: Council Meetings Calendar
Just to note the time/place of normal meetings of the Full Council up/until the next Annual meeting.
Administrative: Bank Signatories
To confirm who can approve payments and/or see payments at the bank. Currently: Janine (Town Clerk) and Alexandra (Deputy Town Clerk) can View/Submit items. Authorisation requires: Kevin Blakey, Ray Bloxham and Colin Buchan
[Update: The Town Council has asked me to clarify that any 2 of the 3 of the Councillors listed above under ‘authorisation requires’ are needed, to avoid confusion that this might lead people to believe all 3 are required – I’m happy to add this clarification]
Public Exclusion
There are some items to be discussed once the Public are excluded from the meeting (this is quite routine, and happens for commercially sensitive items most of the time):
- Review the Councils Insurance Schedules
- Review of the Councils Asset Register
- Review/Adopt the Council’s Emergency Plan
- Review/Appoint the Councils Payroll Provider
Download the Agenda Document: