The power of the lawyer is in the uncertainty of the law…….Jeremy Bentham Notes from the Front…….Part 3 (Full Parish Council Meeting August 2013, Cedar Barn) In the interest of time the Chair took a more sensible approach to Item 6 on the agenda, the previous minutes asking the councillors did they have any observations or issues with either the minutes of the full council meeting 2nd July or the ECM meeting 15th July, Cllr Slater asking do we need to go through them page by page and the Chair responding not necessarily, we will take them as read. No items were raised by the councillors and they were duly accepted as a true reflection of the meeting, they can now be signed off by the Chair. Similarly the ECM minutes were accepted with no issues and the Chair commented it is interesting how non-contentious the minutes are these days (a reference to the previous administration who spent hours debating the content and accuracy, which is why those minutes took months to get up onto the website, no service culture, bloggers comment !). The ECM (extraordinary council meeting) was called to discuss the various leases or lack of them and no doubt where the log jams were. The clue being most routes led back the Pavilion and HSA Ltd (£1 per year for using the Pavilion a £1m plus public building) who find it difficult to pay a fair lease or even anything. Basically it appears they want the Hazlemere tax payer to fund their social enterprise, which at present is significant (£40k plus per year in debt, insurance, etc) and are using the incompetence of the old guard, no signed lease, deal done on a handshake to hold out forcing the council to go down the legal route. The problem with this approach is once the train has left the station there will be no stopping it and no one wins, except the lawyers. However, the good news is it will make no difference to the users of the Hazlemere Recreation ground or the Pavilion as to whether HSA Ltd is involved. The service will continue as is today and probably it will improve and be more cost effective for the users and clubs involved. The pre-school have just left the building, we wonder why, given some of the comments made to them ? Notwithstanding the rest of Hazlemere may get to use it without having to join HSA Ltd or pay any usage/entrance fees. At this stage the council were 6 or 7 minutes behind schedule according to the Chair who announced this to all present. The Chair moved on to Item 7 Outstanding matters or backlog of issues. The Vice Chair raised one minor point re the previous minutes, having reviewed her notes which were duly noted by the Clerk for addition and the Chair thanked Cllr Howard (Vice Chair) and moved on. First up were wins and successes which was a long list and run through briefly by the Chair, major item being the progress of the new website, due to be launched in August. Also progress on the four consultations which are ready to roll out, starting at the Hazlemere fete (the council will have a stand, go talk to them and share your thoughts). The council have written to Ellis Whittam taking up the service the previous administration signed up to for 3 years at a cost of £6K (what a waste of tax payers money, bloggers comment). Ellis Whittam do HR stuff, advice, policies and procedures which the previous administration found to difficult to write or even understand as it became apparent they were trying to find a way of relieving the Clerk of her duties, unfairly I would add (bloggers comment). It was only due to the Vice Chair restraining them verbally (challenging them given her background with the law) that the council did not end up in difficulty or at worst a tribunal……out of their depth comes to mind ! Also commented on was the work with lawyers as mentioned above in passing re the leases or lack of. Two items to be dealt with were graffiti in two places in bus shelters; Cllr Slater was dealing with these. One being outside the library on Amersham Road, Cllr Slater suggested they paint inside and this was agreed. The other issue was staff working hours over Christmas, a policy was needed and it was an opportunity to use Ellis Whitten and Cllr Weaver seemed to take exception to this stating we don’t need them to tell us how to run our business and the Vice Chair replied we will not be asking that but just to get them to do some work given we are paying them £6k. Ironically Cllr Weaver praised the Ellis Whittam contract in her speech at the AGM a few months ago (note she also voted for the contract). The Vice Chair was against using Ellis Whittam at the time, as she felt it was a waste of public funds; however she was out voted by the old guard/previous administration that clearly had a different agenda. Cllr Weaver was still against using them and suggested they check with Wycombe and use this instead. The Vice Chair compromised and proposed we will check with Ellis Whittam and WDC. The Clerk thought this was a good idea, however, councillor Slater commented we just need to keep it simple and the Clerk responded well you took (meaning the old administration) 3 days away from the staff last year without consultation (Oops bloggers comment). The Chair intervened suggesting we should stop as it was getting a little heavy (stop digging Alex; bloggers comment as the Clerk was not a happy bunny, given it affected her and her staff). A member of the audience at this point shouted out “no you keep going Alex” as he was no doubt looking for more material to blog ! The Chair quickly moved on, to the requirement for more storage which the Vice Chair looked into with the Clerk. The energy contract was rolled over and the council felt they should look for the best deal and sign up. A member of the public did comment that a new company called ‘Flow’ was the cheapest in the market place at the moment, and it was worth the council checking them out. The Chair suggested the Clerk look into this and said “if a member of the public asks us to go with the Flow who am I to object”……..groans were heard to come from the other councillors and members of the public ! Milly Roberts (HSA Ltd chipped in with is that commercial or domestic as there is a difference (no s…t, Sherlock bloggers comment). The Chair responded I am sure the Clerk will handle it. To be continued………a little tiff broke out between Cllr Slater and the Chair or hand bags at thirty paces !
Posted on: Sun, 11 Aug 2013 13:48:54 +0000
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