Minutes of the meeting held on 13th January 2020 at 7pm in the Council Chamber, The Old Courthouse, Jaycroft Road, Burnham-on-Sea.
Present: Cllr Mike Facey (Chairman), P Clayton, Cllr C Allen, Cllr B Hancock, Cllr L Parkin, Cllr N Tolley, Cllr A Matthews, Cllr P Harvey, Cllr S Harvey, Cllr Rich Gardiner-White, Cllr Mike Murphy, Cllr A Brewer (ex-officio) with Sam Winter (Town Clerk) and Sally Jones (RFO) in attendance.
Four members of the public were present.
01/20/F&R Apologies
No apologies were received.
Cllr Helen Groves was absent
02/20/F&R Declarations of Interest in items on this agenda & dispensations granted
There were no declarations made.
03/20/F&R Approval of Minutes
The minutes of the Finance & Resources Committee held on 25th November 2019 were approved and signed by the Chairman as a correct record.
04/20/F&R Action List
The Action List was noted as completed
Motions for note/resolution04/20/F&R To note that the Railway Heritage Group has installed a blue information plaque on the Signal Box
The installation of the plaque was noted and thanks were expressed by Chairman to the Railway Group.
05/20/F&R To consider whether to dispose of and replace the existing stock of 100 plastic folding chairs at a cost of c. £1,300.
It was clarified that the existing chairs are more than twenty years old and beyond their recommended lifespan, with three recent breakages. The chairs are held by the Town Council and lent without charge to community events. It was agreed that the office will establish whether the stock of chairs should be increased in future years, based on the needs of groups.
It was resolved to include £1300 in the 20/21 budget for the purposes of purchasing new loan chairs.
06/20/F&R To consider the Town Council’s draft 2020/21 budget and to agree any recommendations.
The Chairman invited Cllr Winfield to join the discussion as a non-member of the committee and reminded the meeting that all town councillors had been invited to participate in the discussion of the draft budget. Cllr Winfield did not participate in the vote.
The Town Council’s final draft budget was considered and minor clarifications were given as to the extent of the items committees have included in their costings.
It was clarified that the budget for 2020 Christmas lights will be set at £25k to cover both towns but the delivery of a lighting scheme will be considered in full by the Town Improvements Committee prior to Christmas 2020.
It was resolved to approve the Town Council’s final draft budget.
It was further resolved to make a recommendation to full Council that it makes final approval of the budget at a total of £718,211, which is an increase of 29 pence per week (£15.44 per year) on the Band D.
07/20/F&R Financial Reports
The committee reports ending 30th November were received and noted.
08/20/F&R To receive any relevant correspondence and note any items of information from the Clerk.
There were no items.
09/20/F&R Date of Next meeting
It was noted that the next meeting of this committee will be held on Monday 16th March 2020 at 7pm at The Old Courthouse.
The Chairman closed the meeting at 19:36