May 2023
Minutes of the Annual Town Council Meeting held on Wednesday 17 May 2023 in the Festival Hall, Caistor Road, Market Rasen.
Present: Councillors: S. Bunney (Chairman/WLDC/LCC), A. Dale, F Easters, M. Hassan, J. Pilley and N Taylor
In attendance:
Sharon Pyke – Locum Town Clerk and Responsible Financial Officer
6 members of the public including a local press representative
Before the meeting started the Chairman asked those present to take a moment to remember former Councillors, Ken Bridger, Reverend M Cartwright and Alf Jones and to reflect on the years of service that they had given to the town and its community.
The meeting opened at 7pm
1. Declaration of Acceptance of Office
The locum Clerk confirmed that all Declarations of Acceptance of Office had been received.
2. Town Mayor
a) Councillor Bunney was nominated and VOTED in as Town Mayor
b) Councillor Bunny signed the Declaration of Acceptance of Office
3. Apologies
Apologies were NOTED from Councillor Gray.
4. Deputy Town Mayor
a) Councillor Pilley was nominated and VOTED in as Deputy Town Mayor
b) Councillor Pilley signed the Declaration of Acceptance of Office
5. Public Forum
The Annual Town meeting preceded this meeting where several issues were raised. A member of the public added that litter, the condition of the streets and the speed of traffic detracted from the amenity value of the centre of town.
6. Declarations of Interest
a) Councillors NOTED the reminder
b) No declarations of interest were made
7. Mayors’ Announcements
The racecourse will be hosting a community race day on Sunday 09 July in conjunction with the Town Council. Three memorial races in commemoration of residents will be held. There is an opportunity to name a race which needs to be submitted to the organisers by the June meeting.
8. Minutes
It was RESOLVED to approve the draft minutes of the last meeting, held on 12 April 2023 upon correction of a date.
9. Action Points
The report was NOTED.
10. District and County Councillors
Newly elected District Councillors Moira Westley and Eve Bennett were introduced and would in future be providing the District Council report.
There was nothing further to add at this stage given the points raised at the earlier Annual Town meeting.
11. Meetings
The meeting date schedule was RESOLVED
12. Co-option
It was NOTED that five vacancies were available
13. Appointment of Clerk
The Chair of the HR Committee provided an update on the successful recruitment of a new Clerk who would be starting on Monday 05 June 2023. This was RESOLVED by Council.
The locum Clerk was thanked for her support during her time with the Council.
14. Governance
The recommendations in the report were RESOLVED. Governance documents would be updated accordingly and published to the website.
15. Committees
a) The revised Committee structure was RESOLVED
b) The Terms of Reference for the HR Committee and Finance and Properties Committee were RESOLVED subject to an amendment that the Chairs for both Committees were elected at the first Committee meetings
c) It was suggested that the appointments to Committees were made at the first meetings once the co-opted Councillors had taken their seats at June’s meeting. The locum Clerk advised that at a minimum HR Committee appointments should be made in case it needed to meet but that seats could be appointed or changed once the co-opted Councillors are on-board. It was RESOLVED that:
- Councillors Pilley and Taylor be elected to the HR Committee with Councillor Hassan as substitute or taking the third seat if Councillor Gray did not want to serve on the Committee.
- The Finance and Properties Committee would consist of Councillors Easters, Hassan and ex-officio Councillors Bunney and Pilley with a vacant space.
- In the immediate term planning applications would be circulated to all Council members.
16. Appointments
a) It was suggested that a former long-standing Councillor who is now a member of the public may be interested in continuing as Parish Champion. The Parish Champion is not a Town Council asset as their work is to report issues to the District and County Council. It was RESOLVED to contact the member of the public to confirm their interest.
b) It was RESOLVED that Councillor Pilley becomes the Safeguarding Lead
17. Assets
The report was NOTED. A request was made to report a dog poo bin that needed required further repair to WLDC following a temporary repair being made by the Maintenance Operative.
18. Section 137
The report was NOTED
19. Internal Auditor’s report for the year ended 31 March 2023
a) The report was NOTED
b) It was NOTED that there were no matters arising
20. Annual Governance and Accountability Return for the year ended 31 March 2023
a) The assertions in the Annual Governance Statement were individually read out, CONSIDERED and RESOLVED
b) It was RESOLVED to sign the Annual Governance Statement
c) The Annual Accounting Statement was REVIEWED
d) It was RESOLVED to sign the Annual Accounting Statement
21. Exercise of Public Rights
It was NOTED that the Public Rights and Publication of the unaudited Annual Governance and Accountability Return will commence on Monday 19 June and conclude on Friday 28 July 2023.
22. Direct Debits and Standing Orders
The schedule in the report was RESOLVED
23. Subscriptions
The subscriptions in the report were RESOLVED
24. Insurance
It was RESOLVED to proceed with the insurance arrangements outlined in the report
25. Sponsorship
Whilst supportive of the Town Band, there was disappointment that it had not been available for Town events over the past year. NO DECISION could be made at this time as further discussions were needed with the Town Band to better understand their situation. The locum Clerk to contact the Town Band to advance the discussion.
26. Bank Reconciliations
a) The current account balance of £32,709.58 as at 30 April 2023 was NOTED
b) The savings account balance of £235,197.99 as at 30 April 2023 was NOTED
c) The Town Partnership balance of £503.53 as at 30 April 2023 was NOTED
The payment schedule below was RESOLVED:
28. Lincolnshire Association of Local Councils’ Management Committee
a) There was NO INTEREST at this time to put forward a representative
b) No representative was put forward
29. Officers’ Reports
The Officer’s report was RECEIVED with a request for a further discussion to held in closed session.
30. June’s Agenda
The following requests were received:
- To set up an Events group
- Expression of Interest suggestions to apply to WLDC for community funding
Under the public bodies (admission to meetings) act 1960, the public and representatives of the press and broadcast media be excluded from the meeting during the consideration of the following items of business as publicity would be prejudicial to the public interest because of the confidential nature of the business to be transacted.
It was RESOLVED to proceed under closed session. The public was thanked for attending and asked to leave.
- No resolutions were made but an approach on a way forward was agreed.
The meeting closed at 8:35pm
| Market Rasen Town Council Accounts for payment May 2023 | ||||||
| Ref | Payee | Description | F/Hall £ | General £ | VAT | Total |
| £ | £ | |||||
| pre-authorised automated payments since the last meeting - To note | ||||||
| DD | WLDC | Refuse & Recycling | £66.95 | £66.95 | ||
| DD | WLDC | Non Domestic rates Office | £287.00 | £287.00 | ||
| DD | WLDC | Non Domestic rates OPS | £183.00 | £183.00 | ||
| DD | WLDC | Non Domestic rates Market | £37.00 | £37.00 | ||
| DD | WLDC | Non Domestic rates FH | £576.00 | £576.00 | ||
| DD | Total | Electricity OPS | £33.59 | £1.68 | £35.27 | |
| DD | Total | Electricity FH | 116.35 | £5.82 | £122.17 | |
| DD | Total | Electricity MP | £11.09 | £0.56 | £11.65 | |
| DD | Total | Electricity Office | £178.47 | £35.69 | £214.16 | |
| DD | Now Pensions | Employer service Charge | £12.50 | £2.50 | £15.00 | |
| DD | Now Pensions | Employer / Employee contributions | £567.22 | |||
| DD | SSE | Gas FH | £701.32 | £140.26 | £841.58 | |
| DD | SSE | Gas OPS | £314.74 | £15.73 | £330.47 | |
| DD | EE | Mobile Phones | £188.38 | £37.68 | £226.06 | |
| DD | Lloyds bank | Goods + Monthly fee £3 | £140.02 | £23.40 | £163.42 | |
| DD | BT | Phones and broadband | £71.56 | £14.31 | £85.87 | |
| DD | WLDC | Annual parking permit part payment | £18.35 | £3.65 | £22.00 | |
| Sub totals | £1,344.27 | £1,592.05 | £281.28 | £3,784.82 | ||
| Festival Hall deposit/bar refunds paid since last meeting | ||||||
| FH 15 | Hall hirers | |||||
| Sub total | £0.00 | |||||
| May 2023 Payments for authorisation (Authorised for electronic payment where required) | ||||||
| UTB426 | AJ Williams | Grounds maintenance | £582.00 | £116.40 | £698.40 | |
| UTB427 | Amazon | First Aid Kit | 6.62 | £1.33 | £7.95 | |
| UTB428 | Amazon | Cleaning Materials | £4.16 | £0.83 | £4.99 | |
| UTB429 | Avica | Cleaning Materials | £65.57 | £13.11 | £78.68 | |
| UTB430 | Equip | Bulkhead Light | £22.00 | £4.40 | £26.40 | |
| UTB431 | Microshade | Hosting | £89.70 | £17.94 | £107.64 | |
| UTB432 | Nicholsons | March Salary Work | £25.00 | £5.00 | £30.00 | |
| UTB433 | Pestcotek | Mole Inspection | £100.00 | £20.00 | £120.00 | |
| UTB434 | Rialtas | Year End Support | £755.00 | £151.00 | £906.00 | |
| UTB435 | Lincolnshire Web Design | March - office IT | £286.00 | £286.00 | ||
| UTB436 | Lincolnshire Web Design | April - office IT | £286.00 | £286.00 | ||
| UTB437 | Commodious | COSHH & Fire Safety Awareness Training | £20.00 | £4.00 | £24.00 | |
| UTB438 | Sparkle | April office cleaning | £100.00 | £100.00 | ||
| UTB439 | Stance Security | April market stalls | £132.88 | £26.58 | £159.46 | |
| UTB440 | Zurich Insurance | Insurance | £5,216.13 | £5,216.13 | ||
| UTB441 | Avica | Hygiene | £36.07 | £7.21 | £43.28 | |
| UTB442 | Amazon | Cleaning Materials | £1.04 | £0.21 | £1.25 | |
| UTB443 | Amazon | Cleaning Materials | £4.79 | £0.96 | £5.75 | |
| UTB444 | Amazon | First Aid Kit | £7.29 | £1.46 | £8.75 | |
| UTB445 | Amazon | Hygiene & Cleaning Material | £21.36 | £4.28 | £25.64 | |
| UTB446 | HMRC | Tax & NI | £1,610.07 | |||
| UTB447 - UTB451 | Staff | April Salaries (payment made) | £6,241.80 | |||
| UTB452 | Safelincs | Bulkhead Light (proforma payment) | £19.35 | £3.87 | £23.22 | |
| Sub totals | £154.11 | £7,626.85 | £378.58 | £16,011.41 | ||
| Payment Totals | £1,498.38 | £9,218.90 | £659.86 | £19,796.23 | ||