May 2021 Minutes Annual Parish Council Meeting
Minutes of the Annual Parish Council Meeting of North Kelsey Parish Council held in the Village Hall on Tuesday 11th May 2021 at 6.30pm
Those present : Cllr M Williams, D Hunt, D Weir, H Burrows
In attendance: J Waite (Clerk) 1 member of the public
Nominate a chair from the floor as both chair and vice chair absent.
Proposed to nominate Cllr D Hunt.
Proposed Cllr H Burrows. Seconded Cllr M Williams. All in favour.
1 To nominate a Chair for 2021/22. Ref 21/411
Proposed to nominate Cllr M Williams.
Proposed Cllr D Hunt. Seconded Cllr D Weir. All in favour.
2 To nominate a Vice Chair for 2021/22. Ref 21/412
Proposed to nominate Cllr D Hunt
Proposed Cllr H Burrows. Seconded Cllr D Weir. All in favour.
3 To receive apologies and reasons for absence Ref 21/413
Cllr T Turner, Cllr L Barker, Cllr R Smith.
4 To receive declarations of interest under the Localism Act 2011 – being any pecuniary or non-pecuniary interest in agenda items not previously recorded on Members’ Register of Interests. Ref 21/414
Cllr M Williams – Disclosable Pecuniary Interest - Grass cutting contract.
Cllr Williams has requested that this Disclosable Pecuniary Interest is not recorded on each set of minutes going forward from this meeting. Clerk has been advised by the Internal Auditor to include it for reasons of openness and transparency on each set of minutes as it is in place at all meetings, especially if an invoice is to be paid at meeting. Cllr Williams does not feel this is necessary.
Cllr D Weir – personal interest planning application 142672
5 To approve draft minutes of the Meeting of the Parish Council, held on 13th April 2021. Ref 21/415
Resolved to approve as a true record, with the following amendments:
Clerk’s report Ref 21/407
Clerk informed Council and read out 2 resignation notices from Cllr P Bryan and Cllr S March. Both stated in their letters that they are leaving because of the attitude of other councillors. Clerk to inform WLDC electoral services. This leaves 3 vacancies on the council at present.
This item should read
Clerk informed Council and read out 2 resignation notices from Cllr P Bryan and Cllr S March. Clerk to inform WLDC electoral services. This leaves 3 vacancies on the council at present
Clerk’s report Ref 21/407
An example of an aggressive email received by the Clerk was read out to council – Clerk has been advised not to respond to this type of email in future.
Councillors resolved that the word aggressive should be removed as this was the opinion of the Clerk.
Agreed statement could read
An example of an email received by the Clerk, which the Clerk felt was aggressive in tone, was read out to council – Clerk has been advised not to respond to this type of email in future.
Proposed Cllr M Williams. Seconded Cllr D Hunt. All in favour.
Resolved to approve as a true record
Proposed Cllr M Williams. Seconded Cllr H Burrows. All in favour.
6 Public Questions Ref 21/416
None raised
7 Chairs Report Ref 21/417
No report given
8 Clerk’s report Ref 21/418
The email address to contact the Clerk is clerk.northkelseyparish@gmail.com
There are currently 3 casual vacancies for the council – the Clerk has received no nominations and co option can take place at June meeting.
No requests for Covid support have been received from residents.
The devolved functions in the job description for the Clerk – the Clerk is asking that this be taken into consideration when the payscale is reviewed and that the rate be set to reflect the job done by the Clerk.
A complaint has been received about children playing football on the bowling green carpark as the grass on the playing field was too long – the grass has been cut on the agreed schedule and councillors feel it is well kept and not too long for ball games to take place.
The paint for the play equipment is still at the home of one of the councillors who has resigned and she asked that arrangements be made to stored elsewhere – Cllr D Hunt to store.
Council facebook page - Items to be included can be emailed to the Clerk. New photos are needed to update on the site. Cllr Burrows now also an admin.
New website has now been published https://north-kelsey.parish.lincolnshire.gov.uk/.
The work log sheets of work / time completed by the Clerk were circulated to all councillors at the meeting. No overtime hours are to be agreed – Clerk will stop working when 6 hours are reached and any urgent emails can be directed to Cllr H Burrows.
Approval of the following policies
Safe Guarding
Grievance Policy
Disciplinary Policy
Standing Orders – version written, amended and circulated by Cllr H Burrows, not the version amended and circulated by the Clerk.
Financial Regulations – version written, amended and circulated by Cllr H Burrows on behalf of the working party.
Proposed Cllr H Burrows. Seconded Cllr D Hunt. All in favour.
Community engagement working party report –
Planning meetings have been held and the issue of insurance for the event was looked at – event covered by council insurance as they are running the event. There has been a request from a resident to have local business stalls. School have confirmed that the field can be used for some of the events. A road closure will be applied for, although the dog agility cannot take place on the road even if it is closed due to possible injury to the dogs. Clerk requested to be notified if meetings are booked in the hall, as an unexpected invoice has arrived for hire on 2 occasions.
9. Financial Matters Ref 21/419
Payments to be made by direct debit. none
Payments to be made by BACS.
Salaries £293.22
Clerks Expenses and Disbursements £27.00
M Williams – grass cutting £1148.40
D Hunt – flower box expenses / bench varnish £10.00
BHIB Insurance £715.16
NKCA Village Hall Donation £572.00
Payments to be made by cheque. None.
Resolved to approve payments.
Proposed Cllr H Burrows. Seconded Cllr M Williams. All in favour.
No arrangements were put in place for overtime in future. Clerk will work 6 hours each week. Councillors will be notified as to when hours are reached and out of office message on email will be updated to contact Cllr Burrows in this circumstance.
The end of year accounts, fixed asset register, Income summary, expenditure summary and bank reconciliation were circulated.
The annual statement for the NS and I account has not been received, and the Clerk has attempted to obtain a duplicate copy – the account is postal information only so there is no internet access or information given over the phone. Clerk has written requesting statement, and advises that council change the account to one which is easier to access. Clerk to calculate interest based on last years figure to calculate final amount for audit.
All paperwork regarding accounts from 2017/18, 2018/19 and 2019/20 was given to Cllr H Burrows to conduct internal review of Clerks work – an item was identified on the VAT return for 2017/18 as unclaimed, this will be addressed. Otherwise, no issue was found with the accounts.
Cllr Burrows questioned the membership paid to LALC based on between 500 and 1000 electorate for the village, as she believed it was less than 500 and the Clerk had been over paying this for three years. The Clerk contacted WLDC who confirmed that the number of electorate is 809, therefor the correct fees have been paid.
The Clerk was asked to explain the expenses paid again, even though a full explanation has been given on at least 2 occasions by email and at meetings – the amount set by HMRC is currently £26 per month, and as the Clerk works 26 hours this equates to £1 per hour to run the home office. It is based on the overall running costs of the house, being divided by the number of rooms, and then calculated for the number of rooms used as the home office. The Clerk has not updated this figure since beginning employment in January 2018 even though the costs have risen. The HMRC figure is a minimum guideline, not a maximum and a higher amount can be paid if agreed. As the original HMRC rate was £4 a week when the Clerk started employment, and not £6 as has been paid, the councillors have agreed and approved this payment at every monthly meeting.
The Clerk was also asked to re explain the amount of holiday pay received – when Clerk takes holiday there is no one else to do the work so extra hours are done before and after annual leave, and these hours have been paid. Councillors have approved this at each monthly meeting. Council have resolved that, going forward if the Clerk takes annual leave then no extra hours will be done to catch up the leave time and only basic salary paid.
All paperwork regarding accounts from 2020/21 will be given to Cllr H Burrows to conduct internal review of Clerks work.
A donation to the village hall of £572.00 is to be made to help with the shortfall in rents received and keep village services such as the Post Office available in the hall
Proposed Cllr D Hunt. Seconded Cllr h Burrows. All in favour.
10 Planning applications and decisions received Ref 21/420
Application 142891 – no comment or objection
Application 142672 – no comment or objection
Application 142532 – no comment or objection
Application 142929 – no comment or objection
11 Parish matters – To receive any report or consider any appropriate action Ref 21/421
a) Cemetery - Dogs must be kept on leads in the cemetery and any dog fouling cleared up. Cllr D Hunt is to carry out inspections of the cemetery. A volunteer has contacted Cllr D Hunt to say they will paint the chapel doors and the paint and brushes have been purchased by Cllr D Hunt. Request for information on non domestic rating – Cllrs DW and DH to complete.
b) Grounds Maintenance - one of the benches on the green has come loose at the fixing and needs welding. A complaint has been received from a resident on Occupation Lane about other vehicles parking on the grass – needs to be readdressed to housing association.
c) Play Area - councillors were concerned about the state the hedge had been left in after the contractor cut it 2 months ago. Some of this may be due to no management of the hedge for the last few years. Also concern about tractor tyre ruts left on the grass. It was decided to start to look at replacement costs for the play equipment. Moles are causing problems again.
d) Cllr H Burrows has reported the state of the car park to LCC who are looking at the issue, despite previously informing the Clerk it was not within their responsibility as highways. The Clerk circulated the original planning permission for the park, stating that the carpark was the responsibility of the Parish Council.
The bench currently inside the chapel at the cemetery is to be moved to the park.
e) Wild Life Area – No issues to report. Council decided to look for a community group to take over this project. To be removed as an agenda item in future.
12 To receive general comments from members for consideration on the next agenda. Ref 21/422
Internal audit
External audit
Date and Time of next meeting –
June 22nd th Village Hall North Kelsey, 6.30pm
Meeting closed 9.20pm.