Minutes of a MEETING of the FINANCE COMMITTEE held in
the Council Office, 1A Bushwood Close, Welham Green, on Wednesday 30th
March 2011.
PRESENT: Councillors
WA Storey Chairman
C
Everard
R
K
Pieri
Mrs
T Travell
V
Weeks
Mrs
A Morton Incoming Clerk
1.
APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE
Apologies for absence were received from the Acting
Clerk Mrs H Rook
2.
MINUTES OF THE LAST MEETING
The minutes of a Meeting of the Finance Committee
held on
3. MATTERS
ARISING
Drainage – Bushwood Close
David Sturman had put us in touch with Domestic Waste
Services of Hertford who verbally quoted £200 to clear the two blocked drains
in Bushwood Close and carry out an underground camera inspection. This was considered to be value for money and
would be recommended to full council for acceptance.
4. ACCOUNTS
FOR PAYMENT
A Schedule of Accounts for payment totalling
£19.312.51 was presented including £3,879.25 already paid for payroll and
direct debits, and Imprest account payments totalling £455.18. Receipts of £2,394.10 were noted.
After careful consideration of each item it was
agreed that the total amount be recommended to the Council for approval and
payment in full.
5. STATEMENT OF BALANCES
A Bank Reconciliation as at
6. TRANSFER OF MONEY
Approval was given to transfer £25,000 from the
Council’s Business Reserve Account to the Current Account and a letter to Nat
West was signed.
The NatWest bank did not process last month’s
transfer resulting in several cheques being returned unpaid. The bank has now agreed it was their mistake
and will refund the £140 charges. The
transfer has now been made and the bounced cheques paid. A letter of complaint has been sent to the
Customer Relations Complaints office.
The Hatfield branch, where our accounts are held,
advised that the transfer letter should be given to a cashier to ensure it is
put through. The chairman suggested other solutions such as maintaining a
larger balance £15,000 - £20,000) on the current account, or a mid-month
standing order to transfer £15000 each month, or arrange an automatic transfer whenever the
balance fell below a certain figure to top up the balance to £20,000.
7. ANY OTHER BUSINESS
Allotment rents
After paying a full year’s rent for a whole plot last
November, some plot-holders had given up half their plot to someone on the
waiting list, who then paid a part-year rent.
The full council will be recommended to approve refunding the original
plot-holder the rent paid on the half-plot.
Review of Finance Regulations and Risk Assessment
The previously circulated Financial Regulations and
Risk Assessment policies will be recommended to full council subject to minor
alterations of typing errors and staff changes in the last year.
Bungalow No 2.
A deposit of £1,588 had been paid to Kindlelight Ltd
to replace windows and a door, and work was expected to be completed this
week. A cheque for the balance had been
signed but would not be handed over until the work had been satisfactorily
completed
Burns Pavilion.
Further quotations have been sought from Onna
Construction and Nicholas Christo, but not yet received.
Quotations had
been sought from three companies to carry out an asbestos ‘Refurbishment
Survey’ in the Burns Pavilion. Two quotes of £595 and £525 have been
received. The full council would be
asked that if we did not hear from the third company within ten days we should
accept the lower one.
Charges for
using council’s facilities
In view of the
national economic situation the full council would be recommended to freeze all
charges apart from the previously agreed 10% increase for the
Internal Audit
It was noted that
our new internal auditor has started her audit work and will be coming into the
office on 6th April with questions.
Asset register
Although in
previous years our ‘Notes to our accounts’ stated that the parish council owned
the War Memorial land, investigations now reveal that it is Highways land.
8. DATE OF
NEXT MEETING
A meeting has already been arranged for
The meeting closed at