Annual Parish Meetings

Clerks Notes for the Annual Parish Council Meeting held in the Memorial Hall on Wednesday 11th May 2022

Councillors present: Cllr G Hotchkin, Cllr J Frizzell, Cllr G Frizzell, Cllr W Watts, Cllr M Ternouth, Cllr R Spencer, Cllr M Robinson (attended for part of the proceedings) and the Clerk Julie Dixon. Also joining the meeting were Cllr S Tarry and Cllr Andrew Key.

Meeting commenced 8:00pm following the Annual Parish Meeting

1.0 Election of Chairman and declaration of acceptance of office

Nominations for the Chairman were called for. Cllr J Frizzell proposed Cllr Hotchkin and this was seconded by Cllr W Watts. All in favour. Cllr Hotchkin accepted the position and took his place at council. Declaration of Acceptance of Office signed and witnessed by the Clerk.

2.0 Election of Vice- Chairman and declaration of acceptance of office

Cllr Hotchkin proposed Cllr J Frizzell and this was seconded by Cllr M Ternouth. All in favour. Cllr J Frizzell accepted the office of vice-chair. Declaration of Acceptance of Office signed and witnessed by the Clerk.

3.0 Election of Responsible Finance Officer.

Cllr J Frizzell proposed the Clerk and this was seconded by Cllr M Ternouth. The Clerk accepted the position.

4.0 Councillors declaration of acceptance of office

All remaining Cllrs completed acceptance of office which were witnessed by the Clerk

5.0 Completion of GDPR Compliance

All Councillors completed GDPR compliance forms

6.0 Signing of the minutes

The minutes of the Annual meeting of the Parish Council held on 26th May 2021  were signed as a true and correct record.

7.0 Appointment of Representatives

It was resolved by Council to appoint the Clerk as the single point of contact for the Memorial Hall, Helpringham Playing Fields and HAVCS

8.0 Finance

            8.1 The RFO Julie Dixon gave the financial report for the year 2021 -2022:

RESPONSIBLE FINANCE OFFICER REPORT 2021 -2022

Due to the unexpected passing of our elected Internal Auditor, it was resolved to appoint an internal auditor from LALC ( Lincolnshire Association of Local Councils).  A meeting was held between myself and the auditor on Monday 9th May 2022, and as such the accounts are yet to be verified. It is for this reason, that items 8.2 – 8.5 will be omitted from this meeting and deferred to the June meeting of the Parish Council.

Thankfully, there were no outstanding issues with the accounts and just a few minor tweaks required on other audited material.

For those of you that maybe do not know the extent of an Internal Audit; it involves the Auditor sitting down with a paper of 81 questions to be answered, and the checking of all paperwork including :

Bank Statements, Bank Reconciliations, Invoices, Cheque Book, Agenda’s, Minutes, Policies,

Standing Orders, Risk Assessment, Asset Register, Cemetery invoices, Topple test and a Plan of cemetery.

A total expenditure for the year of  £17,782.40, with as would be expected, grass cutting and maintenance the largest expense and a very worthwhile one, I am sure everyone would agree. Staff costs, grants and equipment for the village being the other substantial expenses.

There has been a total income of £16,403.99 INCLUDING the precept giving a net income of £3903.99, the majority of which is from the cemetery invoices and a small amount for the Pinfold rent.

The bank reconciliation for the year shows totals of £11,323.35 for the current account and £15092.27 on the savings account, giving a total of £26,415.62 on 31 March 2022.

The Asset register has a total worth of assets at £54,288.94.

We are in a good position going forward, however, as pointed out by Councillor George Frizzell at a previous meeting of the Parish Council, there is a requirement to increase savings going forward;  sooner or later the Parish Council will be required to purchase more space for the cemetery.

8.2 – 8.5

Items 8.2 to 8.5 have been deferred to the next meeting of the Parish Council on 8th June 2022 due to the issues raised in the RFO statement.

8.6 The Clerk reported that the Insurance quote has not as yet been received for 2022 - 2023, it was agreed to circulate the quote amongst the Councillors when it is received and resolve to accept or decline the quote by email to the Clerk.

8.7 Payments at the meeting were approved as follows:

Following a request by Councillor Malcolm Ternouth it was unanimously resolved to make payment of £132.00 to reimburse a citizen of the parish for costs paid out as deposits for the upcoming Jubilee celebrations.

9.0 Cemetery Report

Cemetery Officer Cllr G Frizzell reported that there have been 11 interments in the past financial year to 31st March 2022.

The new bench is now in place in the cemetery thanks to Cllr M Ternouth for helping with this and Councillor R Spencer for transporting the benches.

Authority was sought for a grave levelling spend of up to £30 per grave as sometimes this needs to be authorised in between meetings. It was unanimously resolved to approve this.

We are still awaiting a quote for the bases of the bench at the pond and on the green , however we do now have a contractor to do this.

The railings around the war memorial are in need of repainting, a local contractor is offering a quote which in principle has been agreed.

10.0 Parish Council policies were reviewed, it was unanimously agreed to adopt the policies with the following alterations to be applied:

Code of Conduct - to remain as previous

Grants Policy  - to remain as previous

Social Media   - to remain as previous

Media Policy   - to remain as previous

Freedom of Information – to be updated with the Clerk as representative

Communications  - to remain as previous

Equal opportunities – to be updated to include Quality, diversity and inclusivity.

Whistle blowing – to remain as previous.

The standing orders have been reviewed and will appear on the website.

All policies can be found on the website.

11.0 Declarations of Pecuniary Interest.

None

12.0 Planning

            11.1 Application Ref: 22/0425/FUL

The proposal was discussed and it was resolved that the Parish Council have no objections to this proposal and therefore support the application.

11.2 Application Ref: 22/0627/FUL

The proposal was discussed and it was resolved that the Parish Council have no objections to this proposal and therefore support the application.

13.0 Highways.

A comprehensive discussion with our County Councillor Andrew Key advised him that in addition to the ongoing concerns of potholes, it was promised in the last financial year that attention would be given to the footpath on Station Road, which has not happened. Concern is raised that there are young families who walk their children to school and have to use the road instead of the footpath posing potential danger. This work has been deferred yet again which is a disappointment to all; The work is now promised to begin in September 2022.

14.0 Matters of Urgency

There were no matters of urgency to be discussed.

15.0 Future Meetings

It was resolved that future meetings will be held on the second Wednesday of each month commencing on 8th June 2022.

Meeting Closed at 8:45pm.