P&RC 2024 Minutes

Minutes of the Personnel and Review Committee of Bardney Group Parish Council held in the Parish Office, Silver Street, Bardney on Tuesday 20 August 2024.

Present:

Chair

Cllr Ruth Lane

Councillors:

Cllr Robin Darby, Cllr Deborah O’Sullivan and Cllr Sam Wright

Also present:

Eddie Findlay (Clerk/RFO) to the Parish Council

No member of the public was in attendance.

As there were no members of the public present the Chair declared the meeting open at 5:38pm.

71-24/25

Apologies for Absence.
To receive and accept apologies where valid reasons for absence have been given to the Clerk prior to the meeting in accordance with Local Gov. Act 1972, Sch 12, para 40.

Cllr Wright was unable to attend and their reasons were made known to the Committee.
Action:  The Committee RESOLVED to approve the reasons for absence of Cllr Wright.
Proposed by Cllr O’Sullivan, seconded by Cllr Lane and approved unanimously.

72-24/25

Declarations of Interest.
To receive declarations of interest and to consider dispensation applications in relation to Disclosable Pecuniary Interests.

None declared at this time.

73-24/25

Notes of the Personnel and Review Committee Meeting held on Tuesday 09 July 2024 to be approved as Minutes.

Action:  The Committee RESOLVED to approve the notes of the Personnel and Review Committee Meeting held on Tuesday 09 July 2024 as Minutes.
Proposed by Cllr Darby, seconded by Cllr O’Sullivan and approved unanimously.

74-24/25

Consider the Election of a Vice Chair of the Personal and Review Committee for the new civic year.

Cllr Lane proposed Cllr O’Sullivan to act as Vice Committee Chair, seconded by Cllr Darby.

There were no other nominations and Cllr O’Sullivan was willing to act as Vice Chair.

Action:  The Committee RESOLVED to approve Cllr O’Sullivan to act as Personnel and Review Committee Vice Chair for the civic year.
Approved unanimously.

To resolve to go into closed session in accordance with the Public Bodies (Admissions to Meetings) Act 1960, as amended by Section 100 of the Local Government Act 1972 to discuss the following matters.

1. Clerk contract matters – probationary period.
2. Clerk contract matters – CiLCA Training.
3. Clerk contract matters – holiday cover.
4. Clerk contract matters – consider additional hours.

Action:  The Committee RESOLVED to go into Closed Session in accordance with the Public Bodies (Admissions to Meetings) Act 1960, as amended by Section 100 of the Local Government Act 1972.
Proposed by Cllr Lane, seconded by Cllr O’Sullivan and approved unanimously.

This part of the meeting closed 5:50 pm.

The meeting continued in the absence of press and public at 5:50 pm.

Confidential Minutes

1. Clerk contract matters – probationary period.

A lengthy discussion on suggested training and workload was conducted.
Action:  The Committee RESOLVED to recommend to Council that the probationary period be extended by 3 months, to allow for Google Drive training, whether ‘in-house’ or by an outside agency.
Proposed by Cllr Lane, seconded by Cllr O’Sullivan and approved by a vote of 2 for and 1 against.

2. Clerk contract matters – CiLCA Training.

Due to planned holiday, the Clerk was currently unable to make the CiLCA introductory session planned for Wednesday 11-Sep-2024.  The next round of training was planned to start Wednesday 29 January 2025.
As an experienced Clerk, LALC had stated that the Clerk could miss that session but to be aware that during that session they went through all the portfolio guidance notes and looked at the first Learning Outcome.  If the Clerk did not attend, he would need to read the portfolio guide and attempt Learning Outcome 1 on his own.
The Clerk was asked to contact LALC and see if he would have access to guidance etc, outside of the intro session.
Action:  The Committee RESOLVED to defer the matter until the outcome to the query had been answered.
Proposed by Cllr Lane, seconded by Cllr O’Sullivan and approved unanimously.

3. Clerk contract matters – holiday cover.

Action:  The Committee RESOLVED to request that the Clerk submit all holiday/TOIL requests in line with the Clerk’s contract to the Chair of the Personnel and Review Committee for approval.
Councillors required to staff the Parish Office in the Clerk’s absence would be managed separately.
Proposed by Cllr Darby, seconded by Cllr Sullivan and approved unanimously.

4. Clerk contract matters – consider additional hours.

The Clerk’s current workload was discussed, along with the work diary he had been requested to complete.  He felt he was unable to provide the level of service the role required, as despite the hours being reduced from 40 hours between 2 people, to 16 hours for 1 person, there had been no reduction in workload.  In fact, the introduction of two new Committees had increased the workload, along with upcoming budget preparations and CiLCA training.
Action:  The Committee RESOLVED to recommend to full Council, an increase the Clerk’s hour from 16 to 20 hours per week.
Proposed by Cllr Darby, seconded by Cllr O’Sullivan and approved unanimously.

The Chair closed the meeting at 7:20 pm.

Signature:

Printed Name:

Date:

03-Dec-2024