Finance Committee Meeting – 5th September 2018

Minutes of the meeting held on Wednesday 5^th 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

In attendance: Jane Lee (Town Clerk)

Prior to the start of the meeting, Chris Woodhouse from the Ostringen Twinning Association addressed the meeting regarding the forthcoming 50^th Ostringen Twin Town visit and their request for funding from the Town Council.

1. Apologies for absence

Apologies received from Cllr G Jones and Cllr Van de Vyver.

• Declarations of interest

None

• To discuss Terms of Reference for the Committee

A draft Terms of Reference was circulated prior the meeting. It was noted that currently the Committee does not have any delegated powers as decisions require ratification by Full Council. Following discussion, it was agreed to adopt the Terms of Reference.

• To consider the Month 4 budget report

The Town Clerk noted that the Training Courses budget is overcommitted because of training for the Town Clerk and Admin Assistant on the RBS financial system and a number of training courses attended by Councillors.

The view of Finance Committee is that training is important and that requests for training should be encouraged and financial provision should be made.

The Town Clerk also drew Members attention to a miscoding against 4041 Deputy Mayor’s Budget, £120 of this is to be recoded against 4045 Members Basic Allowance.

Given the two visits to Beaupreau and Ostringen in 2018 and the forthcoming visit by an  Ostringen delegation in September, the Twinning Budget is over committed.

•  Community Small Grant Scheme Applications

After detailed consideration the following grants are recommended for approval:

• Beaupreau Twinning Youth Activities – £1500 to Beaupreau Twinning Association for youth activities during the Beaupreau visit in April 2019.

• ACE – £2500 towards core funding, this will be combined with funding from other agencies to provide sufficient funding for ACE for three years.

• Gateway Credit Union – £1500 towards the running costs of the office including covering the expenses of the 2 part-time Development Officers.

After detailed consideration the following grant was recommended for refusal

• NHSound – The Committee took the view that the NH Sound Management Committee is newly established and as such does not have a track record and is also unable to submit full yearly accounts. However, submission of an application in 12 months’ time would be considered.

• Larger Grant Applications

The Committee considered the application from Monmouthshire County CAB for a grant of £12000 for Abergavenny CAB. This is an increase of £2000 from 2017/18 due to increased costs including salary costs and a reduction in funding from other major funders such as Welsh Government and Monmouthshire County Council.

The Committee recognises the critical role of CAB in the town and the potential increase in demand for their services with changes to benefit.

It is therefore recommended that Council awards a grant of £12,000

• To consider the report on the appointment of an internal auditor

The Committee considered a report on the appointment of an internal auditor which is required to certify that financial and other controls are effective. The Town Council has had the same auditor for the past five years which has provided continuity given the number of changes of Town Clerk/RFO. However, it is good practice to routinely seek quotations to ensure that rates are competitive.

Following discussion, Finance Committee recommend that the current auditor is reappointed in 2018/19 to assist with the improvements to financial controls and governance and that a waiver to financial regulations is agreed with the proviso that a quotation exercise is carried out in 2019/20 prior to the appointment of the internal auditor.

• To agree the budget setting process for 2019/20

A report on the budget setting process was considered which sets out a timetable and responsibilities for the different committees to consider future budgetary requirements.

It was agreed that this report should be included on the Council agenda for approval

• To consider a request from Gateway Credit Union

Gateway Credit Union has contacted the Town Council with a request for the Council to consider depositing a capital sum in the Credit Union which would enable them to increase their lending capacity.

The Town Council invested £15,000 in the past but in 2015 decided not to reinvest. The Credit Union can hold up to £30,000 from any one members and small local authorities are now covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme.

The Finance Committee is interested in exploring this proposal further and recommends that Sara Burch, Manager of Gateway Credit Union is invited to a future Council meeting to provide more details on the Credit Union and this specific proposal

1. To approve the expenditure for the distribution of the Annual Report 2017/18.

The first Town Council Annual Report has been printed and Councillors have requested that it is delivered to all households. A price of £330 has been received by a private delivery company to undertake this.

The Committee recommends that £330 is committed for the delivery of the Annual Report to all houses in the five wards.

1. To approve expenditure for the Ostringen Visit 14-18 September

Following the discussion with Chris Woodhouse regarding the costs, Finance Committee recommends the approval of £3650 to cover costs relating to the visit by the Ostringen delegation.

1. Potential financial implications from visual toilet inspection

Cllr P Simcock explained that she had undertaken a visual toilet inspection of the four toilet blocks with Jan Baldwin, MCC. A report of the findings will be incorporated into a Projects report on the wider issue of the toilets however, Cllr P Simcock raised the issue of potential financial implications to the Town Council to raise the standard of provision.

1. Any Other Business

The Town Clerk circulated report from external auditor BDO approving the 2017/18 accounts and recommending a few areas for improvement. This report together with an action plan on how improvements will be implemented is to be considered by Full Council.

The external auditor considered that a number of items of expenditure recorded against s137 expenditure have been incorrectly recorded as other statutory powers exists. A list of powers contained with the training notes from the Finance training attended by Cllr P Simcock is to be circulated to all Councillors to enable correct recording of expenditure in the future.

Cllr Tatam informed the Committee that there is not a photo of past Mayor Zachariah Wheatley (1915-1919) in the Chamber. However, there is a portrait in the museum painted by Zachariah Wheatley’s son John Laviers Wheatley who was a famous painter and official war artist. Some of his work is displayed in the National Portrait Gallery in London.

Honorary Burgess Douglas Edwards is currently seeking a price for the restoration of the portrait with a view to requesting financial support from the Town Council for this work and for the portrait to be displayed as part of the commemoration of the end of WWI in November.

RECOMMENDATIONS

1	That the following small grant applications are approved:   Beaupreau Twinning Youth Activities – £1500 to Beaupreau Twinning Association for youth activities during the Beaupreau visit in April 2019.   ACE – £2500 towards core funding, this will be combined with funding from other agencies to provide sufficient core funding for ACE for three years.   Gateway Credit Union – £1500 towards the running costs of the office including covering the expenses of the 2 part-time Development Officers.
2	That the following small grant application be rejected:   NH Sound – The Committee took the view that the NH Sound Management Committee is newly established and as such does not have a track record and is also unable to submit full yearly accounts. Also the case for the grant was not considered to be strong. However, submission of an application in 12 months’ time would be considered.
3	That the large grant application from Monmouthshire County CAB for a grant of £12,000 is approved
4	Finance Committee recommend that the current auditor is reappointed in 2018/19 to assist with the improvements to financial controls and governance and implicit in this approval is a waiver to financial regulations and the proviso that a quotation exercise is carried out in 2019/20 prior to the appointment of the internal auditor.
5	That Sara Burch, Manager of Gateway Credit Union is invited to a future Council meeting to provide more details on the Credit Union and a specific proposal for the Town Council to deposit a capital sum with the Credit Union
6	The Committee recommends that £330 is committed for the delivery of the Annual Report to all houses in the five wards.
7	Finance Committee recommends the approval of £3650 to cover costs relating to the visit by the Ostringen delegation.

The meeting closed at 8.35pm