Finance Minutes 6th December 2011

MINUTES of the Meeting of the FINANCE & GENERAL PURPOSES COMMITTEE
held at The Guildhall, Church Street, Harwich
on Monday 6th December 2011 commencing at 8.02pm

Present: Councillors Calver, Day, Gibbins, I Henderson, Thompson and Todd
In the Chair: Councillor Double

Clerk: Mrs L Ballard

Also present: The Mayor, Councillor Brown and Deputy-Mayor, Councillor J Thurlow, Councillor D Flavell and 3 members of the public

Cllr Flavell made reference to item 5 on the agenda, and in relation to the grant application from
‘Doing for Harwich’ said he thought the display has always been a fantastic event which brought in
huge crowds and welcomed it again.

F023/11 APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE
None

F024/11 DECLARATIONOF MEMBERS’ INTERESTS
Cllr Day declared a personal interest in the ‘Doing for Harwich’ grant application as an employee of the applicant.

F025/11 MINUTES OF THE LAST MEETING
RESOLVED that the minutes of the Finance & General Purposes meeting held on 26th September 2011 (previously circulated) be approved by the Committee and signed by the Chairman as a true record.

F026/11 MATTERS ARISING FROM THE MINUTES

• The Chairman confirmed that representatives from the Mayflower Project were coming along to the next Planning Meeting on 14 December to give a presentation about the progress of the project in relation to their grant request.
• The Deputy-Chair raised concerns about a grant being awarded to the Harwich RBL Brass Band given that the band had moved to Wix 6 years ago. The Chair confirmed that this is an RBL house-keeping issue but in any case many of the members were Harwich residents. It was further noted that should the RBL wish to make an application for a grant, this would be considered in the same manner as any other application.

F027/11 ESSEX AIR AMBULANCE
Members discussed a request for donation to the on-going costs of the service.
RESOLVED: to grant s.137 funding of £250.

F028/11 DOING FOR HARWICH
Members discussed a request for grant funding as a contribution towards the cost of the annual New Years Eve firework event on the Quay.
RESOLVED: to grant s.137 funding of £1000.

F029/11 CARETAKER’S HEATING CONTRIBUTION
The Clerk gave an update to members on the current contribution against monthly payment for gas and recommended that the current contribution remain unchanged.
RESOLVED: to keep contribution at current rate until next reviewed.

F030/11 PUTTING GREENS
Members discussed an email from David Hall, TDC regarding the rental costs for the leisure facilities that are managed by HTC now that the Tennis Courts are no longer included.
RESOLVED: To seek further information on the current position and report back to the next meeting.
FURTHER RESOLVED: to defer discussion of the additional opportunities for the Putting Green until it’s known what’s going to happen with the rent.

F031/11 SKATEPARK PROJECT
The Chair gave a brief update on the developments in relation to the Skatepark project and confirmed that 2 quotes were underway and a 3rd was awaited. The Council will then work with the end user to seek suitable funding opportunities.

F032/11 INTERNAL AUDIT INTERIM REPORT
Members noted receipt of the quarterly report on the system of internal control by the council’s appointed internal auditor.

F033/11 HILL SCHOOL SUB-COMMITTEE
The Chair discussed the idea of a sub-committee to deal with any issues in relation to the property owned by HTC, known as the Hill School site, at the rear of the Magistrates Court in Dovercourt.
RESOLVED: to set up a sub-committee comprising the Deputy-Chair Cllr Thompson and Cllrs Gibbins and Todd.

F034/11 STAFF HANDBOOK
The Chair informed members of the recent work carried out to update the Staff handbook. Cllr I Henderson commented that the new Bribery Act might be a worthwhile addition to the handbook.
RESOLVED: for the Clerk to investigate the Bribery Act and if necessary append this to the handbook and report at the next meeting.

F035/11 BUDGET 2012/13
Members considered the estimates for income and expenditure for the 2012/13 financial year and RESOLVED TO RECOMMEND: that the council precept on Tendring District Council for £191518 based on a summary of the detailed figures in Appendix A, having an impact of £32.56 per annum for a Band D council tax payer
based on a tax base of 5882 and representing a 31p per annum increase on 2011/12.

F036/11 MATTERS RECEIVED IN POST
Members noted letters of thanks from:

• The Harwich Royal British Legion Brass Band
• St. Nicholas Welcome Committee

The Clerk confirmed that a letter was yet to be received from the 4th Dovercourt Sea Scouts and agreed to follow this up.

F037/11 DATE OF NEXT MEETING
The next meeting of the Finance and General Purposes Committee will be held, on a date to be agreed, at The Guildhall, Church Street, Harwich at 7pm.

The Chairman closed the meeting at 9.15pm