Godalming Town Council

Minutes and report of
The Policy & Management Committee
held on 31st July 2008

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131-08 MINUTES

The Minutes of the meeting held on 17 July 2008, having been previously circulated, were signed by the Chairman as a true record.

132-08 PETITIONS/STATEMENTS/QUESTIONS FROM MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC

No petitions/statements/questions had been received from members of the public in accordance with Standing Order No 79.

133-08 DISCLOSURE OF PERSONAL AND PREJUDICIAL INTERESTS

Members declared no Personal or Prejudicial Interest in relation to any item on the agenda for this meeting, which is required to be disclosed by Section 94(1) of the Local Government Act 1972 in accordance with paragraph 10 of the National Code Local Government Conduct.

134-08 ACCOUNTS PAID SINCE LAST MEETING

Godalming Town Council
Accounts paid since the 17 June 2008    £19,080.10

135-08 INTERNAL AUDIT AND ANNUAL GOVERNANCE STATEMENT FOR THE YEAR ENDING 31 MARCH 2008

Members received the internal audit for the financial year ending 31 March 2008 (copy of the Internal Audit Report attached to the record minutes) and noted the comments therein. Members received the following explanations to items included in the report.

"Item 1 An anomaly does exist in relation to the post of Responsible Finance Officer (RFO) due to historical circumstances. A further report relating to this will be given to the next meeting of the Staffing Sub-Committee.

Item 3 A Risk Management policy has been adopted and the process is underway and would be reviewed annually. Not all areas have been subject to the process yet but as this is now an ongoing policy these would be encapsulated automatically. Staff training has been organised and staff will be attending training courses in the financial year 2008-09.

Item 4 Town Council Assets had recently been revalued and photographed providing photographic records of the items.

Item 7 At revised estimate time it was agreed that the earmarked reserves of £158,858, which were considered no longer required, were transferred to the general reserve increasing the balance from £55,714 to £214,572. The general reserve now represents more than 50% of the annual precept."

Members approved the Annual Return, Statement of Accounts together with the Annual Governance Statement so that these documents and the internal audit report could be forwarded to the External Auditor, BDO Stoy Hayward, to enable the external audit to proceed (copy of the Annual Return, Statement of Accounts and Governance Statement attached to the record minutes).

Members thanked the Finance Officer for her work completing the accounts and associated returns.

136-08 HERITAGE OPEN DAYS - 13 & 14 SEPTEMBER 2008

Members noted that the Town Council's offices together with the Council Chamber and Borough Hall would be open to the public for Heritage Open Days this year - to celebrate the Centenary of the Godalming Borough Council moving from the Old Town Hall (the Pepperpot) to new offices adjacent to the Borough Hall in 1908.

Members agreed to make a budget of £500 available from the New Initiatives Fund for this one-off event.

Members agreed to consider volunteering to help steward the event - stewards are required for each of the afternoons of Saturday, 13 September and Sunday, 14 September and noted that the Town Clerk would write shortly requesting their support. Members also agreed that should it not be possible to find sufficient support from amongst existing Councillors then former Town Mayors should be asked to help.

Members thanked the Town Clerk for arranging to open the offices for this occasion.

137-08 NEW FLAGPOLE FOR WAR MEMORIAL


Members noted that the flagpole at the Town's War Memorial (opposite the Phillips Memorial) was unsafe. Members further noted that the flagpole was in Waverley Borough Council's ownership and that negotiations were ongoing with Waverley's officers to obtain permission to replace the flagpole.

Members agreed that up to £1,000 could be spent (from the agreed health & safety budget) on the purchase and installation of a new flagpole at the Town's War Memorial.

138-08 IMPREST ACCOUNTS FOR SENIOR STAFF

Members noted that senior members of the Town Council's staff increasingly found themselves making significant payments on behalf of the Town Council using personal debit and/or credit cards, effectively subsidising the Town Council before reimbursement is made. The Surrey County Association of Parish & Town Councils (SCAPTC) had confirmed that; "it is not good practice these days for clerks or any other member of staff to be expected to use their own credit cards on official business".

Members agreed that:

·imprest advances up to £500 might be made to enable officers to defray operational and other expenses;

·advances of £500 each were to be made to the Town Clerk and the Facilities & Cemeteries Manager; and
·financial regulations should be amended, as below (amendments in bold and italics).

"The RFO may provide imprests to officers for the purpose of defraying operational and other expenses. Vouchers for payments made shall be forwarded to the RFO with a claim for reimbursement:
a)The RFO shall advance imprests up to a maximum of £500 for the purpose of defraying operational and other expenses to officers named by the Policy & Management Committee.
b)The RFO shall maintain a petty cash float of a maximum of £100 for the purpose of defraying operational and other expenses. Vouchers for payments made from petty cash shall be kept to substantiate the payment.
c)Income received must not be paid into the petty cash float but must be separately banked, as provided elsewhere in these regulations.
d)Payments to maintain the imprests and petty cash float shall be shown separately on the schedule of payments presented to Council under 5.2 above."

139-08 GRANT AID - ALLOCATIONS FROM THE NEW INITIATIVES FUND

Hospital Hoppa
£5,000 was agreed as a contribution to the Hospital Hoppa service.

140-08 DATE OF NEXT MEETING

The next meeting of the Policy & Management Committee was scheduled to be held on Thursday, 7 August 2008 at 7.15 pm in the Council Chamber or at the conclusion of the Planning & Environment Committee meeting, whichever is later.

141-08 ANNOUNCEMENTS

There were no announcements.