13 October 2020 – Minutes

THAME TOWN COUNCIL

Minutes of the Personnel Committee Meeting held on 13 October 2020 at 4:00pm in the Upper Chamber, Thame Town Hall.

Present:

Mayor Cllr A Midwinter
Deputy Mayor Cllr P Cowell
Chairman of Policy and Resources Cllr M Dyer
Chairman of Community, Leisure and Recreation Cllr N Champken-Woods
Chairman of Planning & Environment Cllr H Fickling
Chairman of Neighbourhood Plan Continuity Committee Cllr C Jones

Officer:

C Pinnells (Deputy Clerk)
K Slater (Office Administration Manager)

1 Apologies for Absence

None – All present.

2 Declarations of Interest and Dispensations

There were no declarations of interest or dispensations.

3 Public Participation and Public Questions

There were no applications to address the Committee.

There were no questions put to the Committee.

4 Minutes

The Minutes of the meetings held on 22 October 2019 and 21 September 2020 were approved and signed by the Chairman.

5 Exclusion of the Public

RESOLVED: That under Section 1, Paragraph 2 of The Public Bodies (Admission to Meetings) Act 1960 the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business because publicity would be prejudicial to the public interest by reason of the confidential nature of the business to be transacted.

6 Staffing Matters

The report as provided by the Office Administration Manager/Acting Responsible Financial Officer was discussed in detail, with various questions raised, mainly about the knock-on restructuring of the Council Management and administration staff.  It was agreed that the recommendation as proposed (to promote internally) was the best route.

Further discussion took place on the report recommendations, and other suggestions by Members of the Committee.

RESOLVED:

  1. To approve that for a six month interim period Cassie Pinnells will be Acting Town Clerk and Karen Slater will be Acting Responsible Financial Officer.
  2. To approve that additional responsibilities have been delegated to the Asset Manager, Information Centre Officer and Office Administration Officer to assist during the six month interim period. Interviews for a part time Community Project Officer will take place in November.  The post will be for an interim period of six months.

Staffing Costs and Gradings

The report and draft 2020/21 showed a decrease of £37.2K against the agreed budget due to the net effect of 6 separate overspends and underspend impacts as outlined in the report.

A draft 2021-22 staff cost budget has been prepared, giving a total salary cost of £544,877, a decrease of £4.8k against last year’s final budget of £549,663.  These were made up of 7 separate overspends and underspend adjustment.

It should be noted that the three yearly actuarial adjustment to the employer’s pension contribution was finalised at the exact same figure i.e. no increase for the next 3 years at 21.9%.

RESOLVED:

  1. To accept the Office Administration Manager/Acting Responsible Financial Officer recommendations from 1 April 2021, to be formally communicated to staff in January/February 2021, after final 2020-21 budget agreement.

 

The meeting concluded at 6.15pm.

 

 

Signed …………………………

Chairman

Date: