Minutes of the Annual General meeting of the Staffordshire Branch of the Society of Local Council Clerks held at the Guildhall in Lichfield on 16th April 2010.
Present: Peter Young (Chairman), Bryan Sullivan (Vice Chairman), Ruth Redgate (Publicity Officer), John Blount (Honorary Secretary/Treasurer), Chris Heelis, Sue Buxton, Derek Jones, Tom Doubtfire, Gerry Peck, Christopher Moulton, Viv Evans (SPCA CEO), Mary Danby, Louise Taylor, Liz Harrington-Jones, Chris Gilbert, Steve Powell, Judith Gilbert, John Whitney (SLCC President), Mary Booth (SPCA President).
1. Chairman's Welcome
Peter Young welcomed members to the venue especially new Clerks Louise Taylor and Judith Gilbert. He also thanked Chris Gilbert for coming to her second meeting at Lichfield and looked forward to her becoming a member of the Society.
2. Apologies
Apologies were received from: Emma Coleman, Bob Beaumont, Bob Haysom
Catherine Gill, Jean Burton, Debra Bate, Ray Smythe, Janine Arm and Jayne Cooper.
3. Minutes of the meeting of 12th January 2010
RESOLVED: That the Minutes be accepted as a true record and signed by the Chairman.
4. Matters arising from those Minutes and not on the agenda
The Secretary said that he was still awaiting guidance notes for councils that share clerks.
5. Report on the Society's affairs
NEC Representative, Ruth Redgate said that the launch of the Consultancy Service had been delayed because of changes to the law affecting Employment Exchanges.
The relaunched Cheshire Branch had had a joint meeting with the Lancashire Branch and there might be an opportunity to have a joint meeting with them later this year.
The Branch Membership Challenge had been launched but so far we had not managed to add any new members.
On the SLCC website the classified advertisement section will be changed to a 'Featured Advice Note', a topical and current piece of advice.
The Practitioners' Conference has outgrown the Moat House at Stoke. Ruth said that she felt that its success was partly due to its central location and she asked members to put forward any Midlands venues that they knew about.
The National 'Branch' Newsletter had mentioned the official endorsement by the International Institute of Municipal Clerks. This, said Ruth, depended upon a two year membership of the Institute of Local Council Managers. Discussions were taking place about how the IIMC will recognise ILCM clerks.
6. Cllr Mrs Mary Booth, SPCA President
Cllr Mrs Booth said that she came from Cheshire where her father had been Mayor of Chester. They had moved to Gnosall and she became a councillor in Gnosall in 1980.
Cllr Mrs Booth said that she had been the CEO of the SPCA for 17 years up until 2006. She had stood again for Gnosall, been elected, and was now Chair. At the last SPCA AGM she had been elected President of the SPCA.
Cllr Mrs Booth spoke about the various aspects of working together. At a local level she said that member/clerk relationships were important. Communications were now much easier due to emails. Clerks working together was also important because being a clerk can be quite isolating - that's where the SLCC, SPCA and NALC can help. Cllr Mrs Booth felt that training really mattered and she had had some input into the ‘What's on the Agenda’ training video and had done some early work on the CiLCA.
Cllr Mrs Booth said that arising out of a discussion on how Gnosall Parish Council could meet the Quality Council criteria it had been decided to hold a joint meeting with 10 neighbouring councils. This had not been an attempt to set up a cluster; just an act of friendliness.
Cllr Mrs Booth talked about working with principal authorities and said how she had worked with Steve Hopkins to develop a Staffordshire County Council Charter that had subsequently been used as a model by others. It was important that clerks worked with officers on principal councils as well as officers in the health service, police and voluntary services. Employment difficulties can arise, said Cllr Mrs Booth, and the SPCA were often able to work with the parties to resolve issues, to help with salaries and suggest rates.
Cllr Mrs Booth mentioned the SPCA's AGM and said that it seemed to have passed its sell-by date. She said that it was embarrassing when things didn't go right and she sought SLCC members help in suggesting improvements. She said that a survey had been sent out and she encouraged clerks to respond.
Like the SLCC and ILCM the SPCA aimed to raise standards and Cllr Mrs Booth was pleased that the County Training Partnership existed to encourage a joint approach to training.
In 1894 clerks were seen very much as volunteers and to some extent this perception still existed. County Associations should stress the value of clerks. The SLCC and the SPCA should work together to encourage membership of each others’ organisation, said Cllr Mrs Booth.
Cllr Mrs Booth took questions and the Chairman thanked her for a most interesting presentation.
7. Branch Business Plan
Ruth Redgate said that this had not been her idea but she felt that it would be most useful to have such a plan to guide the various Branch Officers; especially in view of the expanding numbers. Debra Bate had been very helpful in putting forward some ideas. The Secretary reminded members of a suggestion that the Branch set up a technical library. John Whitney said that this might well attract grants but warned that the Society's Capitation Grant might subsequently be reduced. Viv Evans contributed a stripped down version of a Business Plan that she had produced. It was hoped to produce a draft for the joint SLCC/NALC meeting in June and then a more refined draft for the Branch's consideration in July.
RESOLVED: That Viv Evans, Peter Young and Ruth Redgate work on the draft.
The Secretary launched the Blachere 'Spot the deliberate mistakes in Staffordshire Branch Lines' competition.
The meeting then adjourned for lunch.
The winners of the Blachere competition were Judith Gilbert and Cllr Mrs Booth. Both received cases with Blachere key fobs and pens.
8. Presidential address Mr John Whitney Cert HE (Local Policy) Principal ILCM
John said that this was the 10th branch that he had visited. He brought fraternal greetings from the SLCC and the Isle of Wight. John said that he had a seafaring background being a Master Mariner and at one time a Harbour Pilot. His first post in the sector was as Deputy Officer to Weymouth and Portland Borough Council - Weymouth was a Municipal Port. He subsequently became Chief Officer at Chichester. John said that he retired and moved to the Isle of Wight where he has spent 11 years as a parish clerk. Two years ago the Isle of Wight had achieved full emparishment with 32 councils on the island. They also had the highest percentage of Quality councils.
John said that he had spent 27 years in Local Government and was very glad to be part of a profession on the march. He felt that it was important that clerks should be gatekeepers and control communication so that it was orderly and he compared the relationship of clerk to chairman to that of Pilot to Master. He said that he knew the Chairman of NALC, Michael Chater, well and very much agreed with him that there is a brief window of opportunity to establish ourselves as standing above the voluntary sector. John said that surveys indicated a greater need for training for councillors and clerks and councils should set an adequate training budget. He did not support those clerks who didn't want to train.
Referring to the Institute of Local Council Managers John urged colleagues not to push too hard for change but to be patient. He has accepted an offer from the International Institute of Municipal Clerks to visit Reno and he looked forward to the SLCC becoming a truly international part of the third tier.
The Chairman thanked John for his inspirational address and said how grateful the Branch were to him for travelling so far to be a part of the AGM.
9. Election of Branch Officers for the next term
a. Chairman
Chris Heelis was proposed and seconded. There being no other nominations she was duly elected. Chris said that she had been a clerk, and member of the SLCC, for 25 years and had seen many Chairmen come and go and she now welcomed her opportunity to Chair the branch.
b. Vice Chairman
Derek Jones was proposed and seconded. There being no other nominations he was duly elected. The Chairman thanked the retiring Vice Chairman, Bryan Sullivan, for his service over the past ten years.
c. Secretary
Christopher Moulton was proposed and seconded. There being no other nominations he was duly elected.
d. Treasurer
Mary Danby was proposed and seconded. There being no other nominations she was duly elected.
e. Publicity Officer
Ruth Redgate was proposed and seconded. There being no other nominations she was duly elected.
f. Membership Officer
Ruth Redgate was proposed and seconded. There being no other nominations she was duly elected.
g. Auditor
Derek Jones was proposed and seconded. There being no other nominations he was duly elected.
h. Two members to sit on the County Training Partnership/Quality Council Accreditation Panel
Chris Heelis was proposed and seconded.
Debra Bate was proposed and seconded.
There being no other nominations Chris Heelis and Debra Bate were duly elected.
The Chairman thanked Derek Jones for his contribution to the CTP over several years.
i. Member to be co-opted on to the SPCA Executive Committee
After some discussion about whether this post be filled by an officer of the branch and which one it was:
RESOLVED: That the Secretary be offered to the SPCA Executive Committee for co-option onto its Executive Committee. On the occasions that Christopher would not be available Viv Evans felt that it would be acceptable for Ruth Redgate to speak for the Society. Ruth is a member of the SPCA Executive Committee in her own right.
In his Presidential address John Whitney had shown off the President's magnificent silver chain of office from Vaughtons and he handed the Secretary some well crafted badges, again supplied by Vaughtons, for the newly elected officers.
Mary Danby said that she was happy to be nominated by Members as the substitute NEC member.
Christopher Moulton said that he would not be available for the joint SPCA/SLCC meeting on 25th June. It was resolved that Ruth Redgate attend in his stead.
Mary Danby agreed to let her name go forward to replace John Blount as County Support Officer (CSO) (mentor). John agreed to continue in this post until training could be arranged.
Local Contacts (Buddies) were needed to support the CSO. Chris Heelis volunteered for Stafford. Bob Haysom had agreed to cover Newcastle, Sue Buxton agreed to look after Lichfield, Debra Bate would cover South Staffs and Ruth Redgate volunteered for East Staffs. The Secretary was asked to approach Ray Smythe about Cannock and Jacqueline Pilarczyk for the Moorlands.
10. Election of an Executive Committee
The Chairman felt that, in retrospect, it had been unwise not to appoint an Executive Committee at the last AGM. It was resolved that Viv Evans plus all those members elected above be members of the Executive Committee. For the avoidance of doubt this is Chris Heelis, Derek Jones, Christopher Moulton, Mary Danby, Ruth Redgate, Debra Bate and Viv Evans.
11. My Council
Peter Young talked about Lichfield City Council.
The City Council is the largest parish council in Staffordshire; Burntwood being the next largest. There were 28 councillors; one independent, four Lib/Dem and the rest Conservative, which was a marked change from a few years ago when it was Labour controlled. There were 27 staff.
Peter said that he had been a clerk since 1981 when he started at Wootton Bassett Town Council.
The Council usually spent about £900,000 pa but the last two year’s expenditure had been well over £1m due to large capital projects. Peter said that the Council were audited as a parish council but if the expenditure stayed over a £1m for a third year they would be subject to a much more onerous auditing regime. Although £1m might seem a large amount the Council were not even in the top 50 largest spenders.
The Council had a Leader as well as a Mayor. This had been questioned in some circles but Peter said that it worked well. The Council had an income of about £100,000 from markets but said that they cost about £70,000 to service. The Council ran three community halls and was currently building a fourth. The Council also owned and ran the Samuel Johnson Birthplace Museum.
Civic Matters were still important in Lichfield although less so than formerly. They had both a Mayor and a Sheriff taking part in ceremonial events. The Council was twinned with towns in France and Germany and as a Council were very much into partnerships.
There were 9 council meetings a year which usually lasted about 45 minutes. The Planning Committee met every 3 weeks. There were no other formal committees said Peter but there were a number of working parties.
Peter distributed copies of the Annual Report and Service Plan which he said he would make available via the Secretary for clerks who had been unable to make the meeting.
Chris Heelis thanked Peter for both his fascinating description of Lichfield City Council and for his excellent Chairmanship over the past 4 years. She said that his sense of humour and words of wisdom would be missed. She proposed a vote of thanks which was passed unanimously.