From
Barbara Furber
Baydon Parish Council Meeting of Monday 9th February 2009
An extra meeting of the Parish Council
was held in the BYPA Hall on Monday 9th February 2009. Apologies were
received from Councillor Ian Timms, District
Councillor Susan Findlay and
Chairman Tony Prior began again with a plea for more volunteers to join the Parish Council as at present there were 3 vacancies.
Amendments were made to the draft minutes and they were then signed.
Mr Prior remarked that he had sent notification to the village magazine regarding the formation of a Neighbourhood Watch Scheme. He enquired as to when the clerk was going to put a notice on the board, as she had been instructed. To date it was not in evidence. ( Note:- this was subsequently made available on the Baydon village website, being www.baydon.org )
In the Public Question Time Mrs Carol-Anne Routledge asked where the proposed play area is to be sited. Mr Prior replied saying that nothing had been finally decided but the owner of the Cricket Field had offered a site at the top left hand corner of the field.
Mr Trevor Phillips asked that the Parish
Council write and complain about the lack of road clearance in the village by
Mr Prior asked that when the clerk writes
to
Planning:
The councillors had no objections to the
application from Shalom,
Finance:
Mr Prior was reimbursed £8.73, the cost of printing 250 vacancy leaflets.
The clerk said that she had still not had the final amount outstanding from Sodexho. Mr Prior asked how much they had quoted originally for the contract, £2292.66, replied the clerk, but the Council had already paid half. It was pointed out that Kennet District Council cut some of the areas for Highways and there seemed to be an overlap.
The chairman asked the clerk when she thought she would get the tenders out, to which she replied that she couldn’t do that until she had established who had responsibility for which piece of land. The chairman suggested that a phone call would clear the matter up.
The clerk was instructed to contact both Kennet District Council and Highways and get the tenders drawn up as soon as possible. It was agreed to approach the same three firms as last year.
The Annual Returns for 2006/2007 and 2007/2008 had at last been read by the councillors. Mr Prior voiced concern about the differences in staff costs in the two years. It looks, he said, as though an error resulted in an overpayment in 2006/2007 and an underpayment in 2007/2008. It was agreed that he and the clerk would discuss the matter further at a later date. In future, added Mr Prior, salary should be paid routinely.
The financial details that are to be published on the website were discussed. It was eventually agreed that the Finalised Budget and Annual Returns should be put onto the website. Mr Prior pointed out that the Publication Scheme for Baydon document that the council adopted says that the Annual and Quarterly Accounts should be on the notice board also. This must be discussed at another meeting added the clerk.
Cllr Tamsin Witt asked the clerk to minute the items that were discussed in public time.
Votes of thanks were extended Mr Kevin Barnes for supplying the No Access sign at the Parish Field and Mr Tony Topp for clearing the snow from Ermin Close.
The clerk was asked to post the dates of meetings on the notice board as soon as possible along with the councillor’s details.
The matter of who writes the articles for the Baydon Scene would be discussed at the next meeting.
It was agreed that the clerk provide Mr Tony Routledge with the appropriate information with a view to being co-opted on to the council after the next meeting.
The meeting finished at 9.10pm
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