Minutes of the Policies and Resources Meeting of the
LYMINGTON AND PENNINGTON TOWN COUNCIL
held on Monday 16 January 2012 at 5.30pm
PRESENT: Committee J England
Councillors: P Jackman
A Penson (Chairman)
A Rostand
A Swain (Substitute)
B Vincent
Other P Hickman
Councillors: M Humber
E Jearrad
J Olliff-Cooper (part time)
Also in Steven Cridland - Town Clerk
attendance: Lynne Kerrigan – Minutes Secretary
Jonathan Waller – New Milton Advertiser 2 Members of the public
118. APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE
Apologies for absence were received from Cllrs Turnage and Thomson.
119. MINUTES OF PREVIOUS P&R MEETING HELD ON 21 NOVEMBER 2011 & EXTRAORDINARY MEETING OF 13 DECEMBER 2011
RESOLVED:
To approve and sign as a correct record the Minutes of the Meeting held on 21 November 2011.
Proposed by Cllr England, seconded by Cllr Jackman.
Cllr Humber requested that Minute 115 – Youth Provision - that the phase “local youths” be amended to “young people”.
RESOLVED:
To approve and sign as a correct record the Minutes of the Meeting held on 13 December 2011 subject to the above amendment.
Proposed by Cllr Jackman, seconded by Cllr England.
120. DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST ON ANY ITEMS ON THE AGENDA
Cllr Jackman said she knew both of the people mentioned in Agenda Item 7 but had no other interest.
121. PUBLIC PARTICIPATION
One member of the public spoke regarding Agenda Item 9, Health and Safety Manual and suggested the Town Clerk approach the Health & Safety Executive. He was also unhappy about Agenda Item 11 – Agendas for the Public - and thought they should be available on request.
122. AUTHORISATION OF PAYMENTS
There were queries on the payments schedule for November and December regarding the Tennis Club Lease, VAT regarding a claim going back to 2008 which will be recoverable and finally, the Christmas lights. These were all dealt with to everyone’s satisfaction.
RESOLVED:
To accept and approve the report.
Proposed by Cllr England, seconded by Cllr Rostand, all in favour.
123. BUDGETARY CONTROL REPORT
There was no report due to the revised budget submitted to Council on 12 January 2012.
124. COMPUTER SECURITY
The internal auditor highlighted the need for a Business Continuity Plan and a Disaster Recovery plan. The NFDC has included this aspect in the contract with the council.
At present backups are done daily on a USB stick and stored in the safe. This is considered inadequate and a proper plan has been devised for the backup of material. Backups are necessary in case of fire or a general break down of the system. The Town Clerk suggested we follow NFDC guidelines and proceed with the 14 tape backup rotation as this is a recognised acceptable standard and will fulfil our audit requirements. Whilst the tape drive is expensive, the tapes themselves are much cheaper which will be better when replacements are needed after a couple of years. The total solution will cost £1,757 to include setting up and installation, training etc. NFDC will store the monthly and/or weekly tapes and in the event of a system failure they will be able to read our data from our server and help restore it.
The cost of the system will be £1,757. The Council has budgeted for the replacement of computer equipment but the remaining funds on this budget code are inadequate to cover this cost. Funding is still available on Supplies and Services to complement this amount.
The Chairman said no system was foolproof but this was much better than the current system and NFDC would store the tapes off site.
There was general discussion concerning this equipment and no reasonable alternative was suggested. It was agreed we would rotate tapes on a monthly basis. Cllr Swain spoke favourably about his experience with the NFDC IT Department and the Chairman said if we went elsewhere it would cost considerably more.
RESOLVED:
The council purchase Computer back up equipment amounting to £1,757 and it be funded from Budget Code 0156 – Computer Equipment and 0127 – Supplies and Services
Proposed by Cllr Rostand, seconded by Cllr Swain.
125. CHAMBER OF COMMERCE REPRESENTATIVE
The Chamber of Commerce is very active and is representative of the local business community. It is suggested that the Council appoint a representative to attend meetings of the Chamber and to report back to council.
To join the Chamber would cost £115 per annum. This is a very important sector of the community and strong relations should be nurtured. Sufficient funds are available to pay the subscription fee.
Cllr Rostand said she thought it was very important for the Council to be a member as the Chamber of Commerce were very active and one of the things the Council should be doing is engaging with the commerce of the town even more given the shops and businesses that are closing. She went onto say “It would be great to have more cooperation and we need to propose a representative. I am in favour of this; it is a good idea to create a two way dialogue.”
A councillor asked if it was the intention to have just one person represent the Council or could anyone go. Cllr Rostand said she has been asked to address the February Breakfast Meeting which starts around 7.15 am and asked if Cllr Penson or anybody else would like to come.
It was thought that the Council could join as a body and available Councillors could attend the meetings.
RESOLVED:
The Council appoint Cllr England to represent it on the Chamber of Commerce and report to the Council on items of interest.
Proposed by Cllr Jackman, seconded by Cllr Rostand, all in favour
126. HEALTH AND SAFETY MANUAL
The Council does not have a comprehensive Health and Safety Manual and procedures in place. The NFDC were assisting in the compilation of this legal requirement but due to austerity measures is no longer in a position to assist further.
The Town Clerk has contacted two consultants who are able to take the process further. One consultant (Julie Brown) recommends two days work per month @ £325 per day until the manual is completed which should not take more than 12 months in all. It is hoped that this could be reduced. The other consultant (Tony Notcutt) believes the work could be done in a period of 75 hours and would charge £1,120. He is also willing to train staff where necessary at £20 per hour.
Funds are available on the current budget to initiate the process and on the 2012/13 budget to fund the process further
The Town Clerk said no manual had been done despite it being needed for 20 years. We are looking at £1,120 excluding staff training.
The Chairman said he thought this offered good value.
Cllr England asked what area would be covered and the Town Clerk said this would give us blanket coverage.
Cllr Penson said a manual tailored to our particular needs would require some specialist input.
Cllr Rostand asked if we had consulted with NFDC or New Milton Town Council. The Town Clerk said he had discussed this long and hard with NFDC but he would talk to New Milton and Ringwood.
Cllr Swain asked “do we have to go to the lengths you are suggesting?” and was advised that compiling all the Council’s health and safety procedures and statements in one manual and ensuring it covered all our activities was good practise and was necessary.
It was agreed that the Town Clerk should seek further advice from the Health and Safety Executive and see if there is any other way of doing it.
RESOLVED:
Unless advice sought from other local councils indicates otherwise, that the Town Clerk appoint Mr Tony Notcutt. Mr Notcutt will manage the process of compiling a Health and Safety manual and procedures for the Council at an initial cost of £1,120 where after progress on the project be reviewed and extended if necessary.
Proposed by Cllr England, seconded by Cllr Rostand.
127. AGENDAS FOR PUBLIC AND PRESS
The Council at present provides free copies of agendas to interested members of the public. In addition copies are sent by mail to all Councillors, the press and certain ex mayors at no charge. This is in contravention of the Council’s Publication Scheme which specifies a charge of 10p per page to be levied.
In the book “Local Government Administration” by Charles Arnold Baker, paragraph 7.6 reads as follows: The press has no greater right to be present than the public, but it is entitled, on payment, to copies of the agenda.
Copies of all agendas are posted on the Council’s web page. It is therefore suggested that the practice of sending agendas to the press and ex mayors and giving away agendas free of charge to members of the public on demand be curtailed. Members of the public and the press requesting a hard copy of an agenda should be charged. We spend an enormous amount of money on paper, printing and postage. There needs to be something done to reduce our costs in this respect.
Cllr Vincent said she felt a little unfavourably about this and asked how much it actually cost to produce the agendas.
Cllr England said we needed more facts and figures.
Cllr Vincent said “We have changed the meetings times, do we want to be seen as a Council that is pushing people away?”
Cllr Penson felt we needed some ways of economising and suggested hard copies of agendas are only sent to those councillors on the respective committees and not to all councillors who would receive them by email in any event.
Cllr Jearrard thought the paper used was of a high quality and wondered if a low quality paper wouldn’t be cheaper but was informed that the printer would not work on lesser quality paper so it would not be cost effective.
Cllr Jackman said if she had to download the agendas and back-up papers the cost of printing ink and paper would exceed her Council allowance.
RESOLVED
That the distribution of agendas as currently done be continued.
Proposed by Cllr Jackman, seconded by Cllr Rostand.
128. ANY OTHER BUSINESS AND CORRESPONDENCE
The Town Clerk has been criticised for excluding Matters arising and Correspondence from agendas.
In the book “Local Government Administration” by Charles Arnold Baker, paragraph 7.5 reads as follows: Three clear days before the meeting a summons signed by the clerk must be left at or sent by post to the usual residence……. This must specify the business which it is proposed to transact in such a way that the member who receives it can identify the matters which he will be expected to discuss. A Council cannot lawfully decide any matter which is not specified in the summons. Some agendas conclude with the item ‘Any Other Business’. Since this conceals rather than specifies the business to which it relates no decisions may lawfully be made on business brought up for discussion under it, unless the Council has at a previous meeting passed a standing order which permits business left over from a previous meeting to be discussed under this head. There is no objection to matters being discussed which involve no more than an exchange of information.
It is important to understand the principle involved when it comes to matters arising and correspondence. With the former there was a tendency to reopen the matter for further debate at the next meeting. This resulted in confusion and sometimes conflicting resolutions. Correspondence received and of interest to the Council is included in reports to the Council. It would also be lawful to attach items of correspondence to the agenda, however it is not lawful for the town clerk to bring a pile of correspondence to the meeting and lay it on the table without having previously distributed it.
The above information is confirmed by the NALC.
The Town Clerk said unless a matter was of extreme urgency he presented correspondence in the form of a report at meetings.
Cllr Jackman thought that matters are not being deferred like they had been by previous administrations but were resolved more often so there was no need to go over them again.
Cllr Swain said “I get the impression things are being lost regarding matters arising from those months when we stopped using a decision tracker and some matters seem to have disappeared. Whilst we can dispense with Any Other Business because it takes up another hour of our meeting I would like to see an agenda item of Correspondence to the Town Clerk. We have no idea who is writing in and what they are saying.”
Cllr Humber said she would like to see correspondence to the Town Clerk put back onto the Agenda.
Cllr Penson said that in the relatively few instances where issues were left unresolved at a meeting the Town Clerk should ensure that they were carried forward to the agenda at the next meeting.
Regarding correspondence, Cllr Penson assumed any correspondence should go to the committee concerned. The Town Clerk said it would be illegal to go through correspondence at a meeting as all Councillors should receive every item three clear days before the meeting.
Cllr Rostand suggested discussing it further with the Town Clerk.
Cllr Humber said there used to be a book where all the correspondence was kept and the Councillors could check through this to see if any items were relevant to them. She also said she could not understand why the meeting was being held in the Chamber without the microphones being used. She said having the meetings in the Chamber incurred a cost of £25 and the microphones should be used as it was a requirement for those with impaired hearing.