COOKHAM   PARISH   COUNCIL

Minutes of a Meeting of the

 FINANCE & GENERAL PURPOSES COMMITTEE

PRESENT:            M. Wellman (Chairman)

Cllrs: P. Brockwell, M. Coker, G. Harris, R. Piercey, A. Prichard,

J. Stretton and H.J. Woodbridge.

1.                  APOLOGIES AND DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST: Apologies were received from Cllrs Barnes and Fairlie. There were no Declarations of Interest.

2.            REVIEW OF ACCOUNTS IN CURRENT YEAR 2004/5: The amended figures from last month were tabled to all the Councillors with the agenda. It was noted that the Clerk needed to up-date the Footpaths & Open Spaces pages. The Chairman noted that there was still a fair amount of money to be spent on the different Committees. On the Adoptive Acts Committee, there was still £4000 to be spent in the Cemetery and a further £2000 to be spent on lighting. On the Footpaths Committee there was still £1000 available on Capital Projects. Cllr Harris said that two more benches were needed for Stonehouse and Odney Common. It was noted that the £300 spent on placing a lockable gate post on the Causeway would be refunded by the Environment Agency via the National Trust’s solicitor. The Chairman also warned that a further £800 would have to be spent on replacement Christmas lights for the tree at Station Parade. The Chairman said that we had approx. £53000 in the bank after Reserves had been allowed for.

3.         TWO DONATION REQUESTS:

The Parish Council had received two further requests for donations. One from the Berkshire Blind Society and one from Liz Kwantes on behalf of the Cookham Youth Project. The second donation request was to buy football nets for the junior goal posts on the Alfred Major. The Chairman said he had no problem with the nets going up. However, he insisted that they must be taken down every evening to meet health and safety regulations. It was RESOLVED to make £100 available for sports equipment to the Cookham Youth Project as long as the Parish Council had further clarification as to what the money would be spent on. It was also AGREED to offer £100 to the Berkshire Blind Society. The Clerk was asked to check our public liability insurance for the Alfred Major and the goal posts.

4.                  QUOTES FOR CHRISTMAS TREE LIGHTS: The Clerk tabled the quotes received so far. The quote from SEC featured 240v lights whereas the lights used last year were low voltage. Lightgraphix of Dartford sent a quote for low voltage lights at £800 and there were assurances that should they be vandalised they could probably be repaired. Cllr Prichard proposed that we accept the quote from Lightgraphix and ask them to quote for fixing the lights in place. This was seconded by Cllr Stretton.

5.                  TO INSTRUCT SMITH OF DERBY ON STATION CLOCK: Due to the switch to Greenwich Mean Time one week earlier this year the Clock showed the wrong time for one week.  Smith of Derby has written to the Parish Council to ask whether we want to adjust the microchip memory of the Clock to avoid this problem next year. It was AGREED that the Clock’s microchip would be left unchanged for time being until the European Directive have made their final decision in 2006.

6.                  TO REVIEW CHANGES IN RBWM COMPUTER NETWORK: Due to RBWM wishing to make their desktop network more secure, the Parish Council’s personal network would be affected. Colin Worley had written to the Clerk to offer a solution of a PC connected to Broadband internet and the RBWM intranet. However the Parish Council’s current computer and laptop would not be connected to the system. The Clerk was concerned about operating outside the RBWM network and had asked Colin Worley to quote for the Parish Council leasing a second PC from RBWM. Cllr Coker was concerned that by joining the network and using RBWM machines, the Parish Council would restrict its facilities and software options. Cllr Coker preferred the idea of two network cards and one shared directory. Cllr Prichard said that if we used the RBWM machines we would be protected because maintenance would be included on these machines. It was AGREED to put this item on the agenda of the next Finance or Full Council meeting as soon as the information and figures were available.

7.                  TO REVIEW STAFFING ARRANGEMENTS FOR THE PARISH OFFICE: The Chairman was concerned that the work load on the Clerk was increasing all the time. He noted that last month, for the first time, there were more emails than letters – all requiring urgent attention. There was some discussion over the title on the agenda and some Councillors thought the topic was to review the present Clerical Assistant. Cllr Prichard said this could only be discussed under Standing Order 66. The topic should have been entitled “additional staffing arrangements for the Parish Office”. The Chairman suggested that the Parish Council consider taking on a second person to cover the other two days per week. Cllrs Stretton and Brockwell thought that the Council should start by assessing the present quality of the help in the Parish Office before embarking on employing more staff. It was AGREED to defer this topic until the next Finance meeting.

8.                  REVIEW DRAFT BUDGET FOR NEXT FINANCIAL YEAR 05-06: In the General account most of the costings have been posted for the next financial year. The only change could be the decision to allow funds to employ an extra Assistant in the Parish Office. The Chairman informed the Chairs of the Adoptive Acts and Footpaths Committees that they would need to get their budget figures to this Committee before the next meeting in order to finalise next year’s precept request.

The meeting ended at 9.45pm.