Minutes of the meeting held on Wednesday 7th September 2018 at 7pm in the Mayor’s Parlour.
Present:
Cllr P Simcock (Chair)
Cllr N Tatam
Cllr D Simcock
Cllr T Davies
Cllr S Dodd
Cllr L Van de Vyver
Cllr G Jones
In attendance: Jane Lee (Town Clerk), Mike Moran (MCC)
- Apologies for absence
No apologies.
- Declarations of interest
To be declared during the meeting
- To receive a presentation from Mike Moran, MCC on the summer playscheme 2018
Mike Moran provided verbal feedback on the summer playscheme. A written report will be circulated to all members shortly as Mike is still awaiting some figures from colleagues.
The key points to note are:
- The Open Access Play element operated in 2 locations – Deri View School and Abergavenny Community Centre. 162 children participated across both venues including 10 children with disabilities and 7 Looked after children
- The community centre offered a hot meal on each Wednesday for the duration of the playscheme
- In Monmouth, free healthy lunch bags were offered and this is a more flexible means of supplying food
- FSM recipients are offered free credits to the Mon Games element which runs from the leisure centre and 38 children on FSM participated.
- The playscheme costs £16,500 to run and is staffed by a combination of paid staff and volunteers. Volunteers receive 5 days training resulting in a Level 1 qualification
- Town council funding paid for more support staff which has enabled the scheme to provide spaces for children with disabilities
- Next year Social Services will be providing disability play in the county with Abergavenny being one location
- MCC has obtained funding to be able to provide bi-lingual play provision and it is intended that the play sessions at Deri View will be bi-lingual
- Community Small Grants Scheme Applications
Councillor Penny Simcock declared an interest as Dance Blast are based at the Melville Centre and Councillor Penny Simcock is a trustee. Cllr Simcock left the room for the duration of the discussions.
The application from Dance Blast for £1815 for circus equipment was considered and Finance Committee recommends that a grant of £1000 is approved and that Dance Blast are encouraged to contact neighbouring community councils to request a contribution. This recommendation was proposed by Cllr Dodd, seconded Cllr Davies, vote carried unanimously.
- To consider the 2018/19 budget
This item was discussed with agenda item 6
- To consider the 2019/20 budget
The Town Clerk presented the draft 2019/20 budget and explained that further refinement of the figures is to be undertaken over the next couple of months. A more detailed budget will be available for the January Finance Committee. At this Committee specific reports will be tabled on staffing arrangements, sponsorship arrangements with specific town events/activities and Abergavenny in Bloom.
A number of additional budgets were proposed including the redesign of the website, refurbishment of the chains of office and investment in the toilets.
Suggested possible spend in 2018/19 to include replacing the town signs and the Town Clerk is to seek costs of doing so.
Councillors agreed that the budget presented was work in progress and would welcome a more detailed budget breakdown in January.
- To consider the proposal for ongoing IT helpdesk support
A proposal from an IT company to resolve the ongoing issues with the office software, to provide @abergavennytowncouncil.gov.uk email addresses for all Councillors and to provide on going IT support was considered. Having town council email addresses would make the Town Council GDPR compliant.
Cllr Dodd proposed and Cllr P Simcock seconded the proposal as below:
- Set Up Office 365 for Business £199
- Set up 2 staff PC’s and provide written instructions for other users £150
- Migration of 13 historic mailboxes from Vision ICT (current email hosts) £450
- Monthly subscription for web hosting and Office 365 £63.80 per month
- To purchase 5 hours IT support in advance at a cost of £225 which provides an IT helpdesk facility to staff and to members as they can assist with the setting up mobile devices.
- To consider the proposal for online banking
The Town Clerk explained that she has access online to the Council’s bank accounts. However for payments to be made online, a number of councillors (recommend 4) who are currently authorised signatories will need to register for online banking and receive the necessary pass code, card and reader.
Online banking would involve the Town Clerk setting up the payment and one other signatory authorising the payment as Barclays offer only one signatory rather than two that currently sign cheques.
Following discussion, Cllr Dodd proposed and Cllr P Simcock seconded that the Town Clerk investigates other banks to find out if two online signatories can be offered which will require moving the bank accounts to a different bank.
- To consider the proposal for additional hours for the Admin Assistant
The Town Clerk requests approval for a temporary increase in the Admin Assistant’s hours to 12 hours a week for a duration of two months. This will start from the time that the IT issues are resolved and will enable progress to be made on setting up efficient office IT.
Cllr Van de Vyver proposed and Cllr Tatam seconded this proposal.
- Any Other Business
RECOMMENDATIONS
| 1 | That the following small grant application is approved: Dance Blast £1000 |
| 2 | That the proposal as below for IT consultancy & support is approved: Set Up Office 365 for Business £199Set up 2 staff PC’s and provide written instructions for other users £150Migration of 13 historic mailboxes from Vision ICT (current email hosts) £450Monthly subscription for web hosting and Office 365 £63.80 per monthTo purchase 5 hours IT support in advance at a cost of £225 which provides an IT helpdesk facility to staff and to members as they can assist with the setting up mobile devices. |
| 3 | That the Town Clerk investigates moving the Council’s bank accounts to a bank which provides two online signatories |
| 4 | That for two months the Admin Assistant hours can be increased from 8 hours a week to 12 hours a week |
The meeting closed at 8.45pm
