Minutes of Council joint Committee meeting 4 March 2019

Monday 4 March 2019

Held at 7.00pm in Helperby Village Hall

Present: Cllr Chris Owens (Chairman), Cllr Andy Topps, Cllr Caroline Patmore (Hambleton DC), Roger Clements (Clerk BPC) Cllr Duncan Preen, Cllr Peter Mitchell, Cllr Andy Cuthbert, Sandra Windross (Clerk HPC)

1. Apologies for Absence
   1. Apologies were received from Cllr van Leijen.
2. Receive any Declarations of Interest not already declared under the Councils’ Code of Conduct or members Register of Disclosable Pecuniary Interests
   1. No declarations were made.
3. Minutes of previous Committee meeting on 11 February 2019
   1. The minutes were accepted as a true record and signed accordingly by the Chairman.
4. Business Matters
   1. Bank account – HSBC reported that the application was progressing and the new accounts should be open during March.
   2. Insurance policy – the BPC policy with BHIB Insurance Brokers is to be cancelled from 31 May 19 and charges will be incurred but as yet are not specified by the Insurer. The HPC insurer had confirmed that the policy can be re-issued to cover the B&HPC; there may be an, as yet unspecified, premium increase. The Fountain damage claim had been delayed through a misunderstanding over which insurer was involved. This was now resolved with both the contractor (GPM (Ripon) Ltd) and the insurer’s loss adjuster due to assess the damage in the near future. It was resolved that the policy with the HPC insurer should be renewed in favour of the B&HPC.
   3. Website – NY Web Solutions were able to re-label the BPC website to B&HPC website at a cost of £60 plus £9.99 for the new domain name braffertonhelperbypc.org.uk It was recommended that domain names for the existing BPC and HPC domains be retained for at least a year (possibly up to 5 years) and each would direct visitors to the new B&HPC site (at a cost of £9.99/yr/domain). It was resolved to accept the NY Web Solutions proposal and to have the new B&HPC website in use from 1 April. Clerk BPC to populate the new website’s archive pages with minutes from the two existing councils for the period May 2017 to March 2019. Both clerks to adjust their email clients to receive emails addressed to B&HPC using the email address braffertonhelperby.pc@gmail.com and, from 1 April, to re-direct incoming BPC and HPC emails to the new address.
   4. Notice boards – no progress to date on obtaining a quotation from J Tuley. Clerk HPC to continue efforts.
   5. Council documents – it was suggested that clerk HPC should use the Records Management policy document, from YLCA, to weed the council’s document in advance of the councils’ dissolution on 31 March and in preparation for archiving those retained. BPC document weeding was complete.
5. Tasking for Parish Council Clerks
   1. A draft agenda for the inaugural meeting of the B&HPC was used to identify tasks for both BPC and HPC clerks:
   2. Both clerks to arrange for P45s to be issued wef 31/03/19 in respect of defunct Councils.  Clerk HPC to pass hers to clerk BPC for entering against new employer on HMRC PAYE Tools software when PAYE Ref is obtained from HMRC.  Note: the amount of the sub in respect of April and May 2019 payments should not be declared to HMRC at this stage — the April and May payments will be accounted for at the appropriate times in the 2019/20 tax year.  Failure to do this will result in incorrect tax being paid.
   3. Both clerks to prepare end of year accounts for their current councils ready for approval in the accounting Statements within the Annual Governance and Accountability Return.
   4. Clerk HPC to obtain quotation from HPC auditor (C&G Associates, Thirsk) to carry out auditing duties for the new council.
   5. Some allotment rents were already paid. Clerk HPC to have an Allotment Position Statement prepared for presentation to the new council.
   6. Clerks to liaise on preparation of all Standing Orders and Procedural documents for the adoption by the new council.
   7. Clerk HPC to approach the Society of Local Council Clerks on behalf of both councils for guidance on the procedure required to determine which clerk is to be retained by B&HPC and which is to be made redundant. (Note: Chairman BPC will also approach YLCA for its advice). In an effort to enable the new council to proceed promptly in this matter the committee will aim to have the process identified by its next meeting.
   8. Both clerks to provide an end of year balance of account for their respective councils at the next (final) meeting of this committee.

Date of next Meeting Thursday 21 March 2019 at 7 pm