30 October 2018 – Agenda
SUMMONS TO ATTEND A MEETING OF
POLICY & RESOURCES COMMITTEE
TO: All Members of the Policy & Resources Committee
Cllrs B Austin, D Bretherton, D Butler, N Champken-Woods, M Deacock,
N Dixon, D Dodds, M Dyer (Chairman), H Fickling and P Lambert (Deputy Chairman)
Ex Officio (Voting) Members – A Midwinter (Town Mayor) and L Emery (Deputy Mayor)
To: All other Members for information
VENUE: Upper Chamber, Thame Town Hall
DATE: Tuesday 30 October 2018
TIME: 6.30 pm (maximum two hours)
Graham Hunt
Clerk of the Council
Date: 24 October 2018
AGENDA
1. Apologies for Absence
2. Declarations of Interest and Dispensations
To notify of any items that appear in the agenda in which there may be an interest that has not been recorded in the Member’s Register of Interest; and confirmation of any relevant dispensations.
3. Public Participation and Public Questions
To consider applications from members of the public to address the Committee (5 minutes maximum), in respect of any item of business included in the agenda. Applications to speak must have been received by the Town Clerk no later than 5pm on the last working day preceding the meeting.
To consider questions from members of the public (who live, work or run a business in the Parish). Written questions must have been received by the Town Clerk no later than 4pm on the last working day preceding the meeting.
4. Investment Portfolio
To receive an annual report from Rupert Baron of Rathbone Brothers plc.
5. Citizens Advice
To receive a presentation from Jon Bright, Director of Citizens Advice Oxfordshire South & Vale on their work in Thame.
5b. LSA YR1outcome report 2018 – 13-08-18
6. Minutes
To confirm as a correct record the Minutes of the Committee Meeting held on 17 July 2018.
7. Financial Update
a) Budget Summary: To monitor actual income and expenditure against estimates.
b) Balance Sheet: To note balance sheet as at 30 September 2018.
c) To note that new £40k and £10k loans have been made to the Cricket Club and Rugby Club respectively, in line with previous resolutions.
d) To note that £500 has been allocated from the Localism Reserve towards solving drainage issues on the pathway adjacent to The Moats.
7a. Budgetary Control to September 2018
7b. Balance Sheet September 2018
8. Financial Overspends
To note the following financial overspends against budget line items (greater than the agreed de minimis of £100 / 5%) have been recorded since the last meeting of the Committee:
a) As reported by mail to all Councillors on 21/6/18 and in Q1 Budget Summary, Recruitment Advertising (101/4030) is overspent by approximately £400. The overspend resulted in a successful campaign for replacement recruitment of the Office Administration Manager.
b) As reported to the Councillor members of the Cricket Club Clubhouse Redevelopment Working Group on 27/9/18, the cumulative legal expenses for the variety of legal requirements amount so far to £5,356, which is nearly £3,000 in excess of the arbitrarily annual budgeted amount for legal expenses (101/4056).
c) A back charge for historic Town Hall water usage (102/4012) has resulted in costs so far this year of £773 against a budgeted amount of £640.
d) The Neighbourhood Plan Stationary & Printing Budget (113/4026) of £1,000 has been overspent so far by £210, mainly relating to Green Living Plan publicity. An increase will be proposed in next year’s budget.
e) Because of the abnormal weather conditions, the normal supplier of hay cutting (201/4038) at Cuttlebrook Nature Reserve was unavailable. The necessity to continue with an alternative short notice supplier resulted in an overspend of £600.
f) Rather than use the War Memorial Refurbishment Reserve for this year’s additional cleaning of the Memorial Gardens and Moreton war memorials, the cost has been allocated to the respective maintenance budgets (211/4036 and 217/4100), where no allowance had been made for this once-off cleaning. The resulting overspend is around £1,200 but the result has been well received by the community.
g) Provision of skips (212/4110) since the take-on of maintenance of St Mary’s Churchyard have been £110 greater than the £500 budgeted so far. Part of this will be recovered from the church and greater understanding of volumes will be fed into next year’s budget
All of the above will be covered initially by underspends elsewhere and ultimately from the General Reserve Fund.
9. Investment Update
To note the summary of the investment performance.
9. Portfolio Performance Summary
10. Reports from Representatives on External Organisations
To receive reports from the nominated representatives on:
a) Barns Centre (Cllrs Butler and Dodds)
b) Citizens Advice (Cllr Austin)
c) Health Hub (including Community Hub Pilot) (Cllr Champken-Woods)
d) NALC (Cllr Dyer)
e) Red Kite Family Centre (Cllrs Emery & Wyse)
f) Thame Business Forum (Cllr Dyer)
g) Thame & District Day Centre (Cllr Midwinter)
h) Thame & District Housing Association (Cllr Butler)
i) Thame Youth Memorial Trust (Cllr Lambert)
j) Thame Youth Projects Group (Cllr Fickling)
k) 21st Century Thame (Cllr Emery and Fickling)
l) Welfare Trust (Cllr Champken-Woods)
10. Reports – External Organisations
11. Internal Audit
To receive the First Interim Internal Audit Report 2018-19, subject to the report arriving in time for the meeting, following the audit visit on 25 October 2018.
11a. Internal Audit First Interim Report 2018-19
12. Parking Enforcement
To consider whether to extend (subject to legal feasibility and cost neutrality) the current one hour and three hour car park enforcement operation to include appropriate enforcement of the 2 hour on-street free parking within Thame Town Centre.
12. Report – Parking Enforcement
13. Community Engagement Strategy
To review and approve the updated Community Engagement Strategy.
13. Report – Community Engagement Strategy
13a. Community Engagement Strategy – 30-10-18
14. Officer Code of Conduct
To review and approve the updated Officer Code of Conduct.
14. Report – Officer Code of Conduct Policy
14a. Officer Code of Conduct – 30-10-18
15. Local Government Pension Scheme – Pensions Discretions Policy / Terms of Reference
To review and approve the updated LGPS Pensions Discretions Policy and LGPS Terms of Reference.
15. Report – LGPS Pension Discretions Policy and LGPS Terms of Reference
15b. LGPS Terms of Reference 30-10-18
16. Play Area Inspections Policy
To readopt the Play Area Inspections Policy without change.
16. Report – Play Area Inspections Policy
16a. Play Area Inspections Policy 30.10.18
17. Working at Height Policy
To review and approve the cosmetically updated Working at Height Policy.
17. Report – Working at Height Policy
17a. Working at Height Policy – Revised
18. Health and Safety Visit Outcomes
To note the outcomes of the latest Health and Safety visit by Ellis Whittam on 12 September 2018.
18. Report – Health and Safety Visit
19. Free Use / De-Minimis Delegated Authority
To note that the Town Clerk, through De Minimis delegated authority, has granted the following:
a) 18 hours of free use of the Upper Chamber for Action for Carers from 2-4/10/18
b) Free use of the Town Hall on 2/12/18 for the Festive Fun Run (if it goes ahead)
c) Free use of Meeting Room for SODC Emergency Planning event on 5/9/18
d) Free weekend use of Upper Chamber for the taking of Living Monument portraits
e) Free use of Upper Chamber for Business Forum on 18/9/18
f) Free use of Town Hall for Lord Williams’s art event in February 2019
20. Land Disposal
To note that a request has been received with regard to the purchase of land on the edge of the Cuttlebrook Nature Reserve for a rear garden extension. The Town Clerk and the Asset Manager will investigate further against the Land Acquisition and Disposal Policy when time allows.
21. Security Service
To note that R&R Frontline Services Ltd, the organisation that has successfully provided security services for a variety of Thame events, both under and outside of the Town Council’s responsibility, has been acquired by Securitas. These include security support for the September Fair and the Christmas Event, and separate Key Holding responsibilities. The Community Services Manager is establishing the impact on these existing and future events / contracts and doing everything possible to ensure effective continuity of local expertise / knowledge.
22. Compliments & Complaints
To note the report.
22. Compliments & Complaints 30.09.18
23. Staffing Update
To note that Karen Slater commenced employment as Office Administration Manager on 1 October 2018. To note that a meeting of the Personnel Committee is scheduled to take place later this evening.
24. For Information
a) CCTV update – subject to arrival in time for the meeting. The separate discussions with SODC re the new CCTV agreement are continuing as time allows.
b) Christmas closure – to note the Town Hall will be closed from 4:30pm on Friday 21 December 2018 and will reopen at 9am on Wednesday 2 January 2019, in line with the arrangements agreed for 2012, the last time that Christmas Eve fell on a Monday. The usual provision of notices / emergency telephone number will continue, and some officers may choose to work on the closure days.
c) To note letters of thanks have been received from the organisers of Thame Urban Race and Thame Concert Band following receipt of Town Council grant funding.