MINUTES OF THE ORDINARY COUNCIL MEETING HELD 12th DECEMBER 2018
Present Cllrs. Mrs Jackie Allen (JA), Mr Brian Colley (BC), Mr Frank Hemmings (FH), Mrs Barbara Humphreys (BH), Miss Lynne Painter (LP), Mrs Dot Griffiths (DG), Mrs Eleanor Burnham (EB), Mr Newman James (NJ) & Mr Gareth Baines (GB). Mr Shaun Jones (SJ), Clerk to the Council.
Not Present: Cllrs. Ms Kirsty Cottam, Mr Terry Evans, Mr Mark Holmes & Michael Maxfield.
Cllr. Allen asked all present to stand as a mark of respect over the news that former Chirk Town & Wrexham County Borough Councillor Mr Ian Roberts passed away on Saturday 1st December 2018. Ian joined Chirk Town Council in 1990 and later Wrexham County Borough Council in 1995. He stood down from Wrexham CBC at the May 2017 elections. He was Chair of Chirk Town Council for 2 periods of office 1995/96 and 1999/2000. In July 2017 Ian received from Chirk Town Council a Special Award for long service & outstanding contribution for the benefit of the community of Chirk, presented by the then Chair Cllr. Frank Hemmings. He will be sorely missed. After a minutes silence and reflection the meeting commenced.
Apologies
Apologies for absence:
Cllrs. Mr
Mark Roberts & Mrs Sarah Williams. Declarations of Interest
None. 111. TO CONFIRM AND SIGN THE MINUTES AS A TRUE RECORD OF THE MEETING HELD ON 28TH NOVEMBER 2018. The draft minutes for the Council Meeting held 28th November 2018 are now put to the Council as an accurate record of proceedings. The motion proposed LP and seconded BH was passed unanimously.
112. TO CONSIDER ANY MATTERS ARISING FROM THE MINUTES RECEIVED ABOVE NOT REPORTED ELSEWHERE. None.
113.
TO CONSIDER BUDGET FOR 2019/20. · Parish Hall to allow for the potential of licensing the Council Chamber to conduct wedding ceremonies an estimate of £1,500 was agreed. BC suggested as this was an initiative to raise the income generated from the use of the Hall a corresponding uplift in the projected income should be included. It was agreed to increase projected income by £1,000. · In the light of advice from our insurers provision for a tree condition survey and potential remedial work of £1000 for each has been agreed. · The cost of replacing bark/wood chips with a grassed square on Offa and Black Park play areas has resulted in half of the projected amount (£4,500) being added to the 2019/20 budget. · In the General Administration section lines agreed are Replacement of signage and the notice board outside the Parish Hall (£1,500), an illuminated Reduce speed sign/data logger (£3,000), Tourism imitative (£1,500) to unlock grant monies close to 5 figures and CCTV improvements (£1,500).
·
Under Burial Ground a provision for tree maintenance (£1,000) and
likely groundworks to allow access to the remaining piece of
consecrated ground (£10,000) were included.
114.
TO AGREE THE PRECEPT FOR CHIRK TOWN
COUNCIL FOR 2019/20.
115.
TO RECEIVE THE ORAL REPORT OF THE
CLERK INCLUDES CORRESPONDENCE.
Summary of matters raised. · SJ followed up with results of research into practice for staff asked to work on a Public Holiday. The hourly rate is double the standard hourly rate paid and a day off in lieu. Members agreed unanimously to pay staff in line. · For the 2018/19 holiday year it is proposed to assign the 2 additional statutory holidays on Monday 24th December and Monday 31st December. Accordingly the Parish Hall will be closed on these dates and all staff normally rostered to work receive full pay. The motion proposed LP and seconded GB was passed unanimously. · Following up on the motion passed to pay a Christmas bonus at the previous meeting minute 108, members discussed the amount to be paid (SJ was not present). The agreed amount is a £50 Christmas box to be paid to all staff. The motion proposed GB and seconded EB was voted on and passed by majority and one abstention.
·
2 Planning applications have been received P/2018/0995 and
P/2018/1022. Each have as the applicant a serving Chirk Town
Councillor but neither are present at this evenings meeting. A
short discussion over how best to manage this type of case took
place. FH did refer back to a similar instance where he was
concerned that proper declaration of interest may not have taken
place the member is usually expected to declare a personal and
prejudicial interest and leave the room while the matter is
discussed. SJ is confident that proper procedure had been followed
but agreed to inform FH once the matter had been looked into in
detail. Members resolved to make no comment in future where the
applicant is a serving member on Chirk Town Council carried
unanimously.
Correspondence:- · Louise Simons of Ifton Colliery Band writes to thank Council for the agreed donation of £250 to the Youth Band. She gives instructions on how this should be paid. Noted and SJ asked to now make the payment along the lines mentioned. · Sian Emlyn of Mudiad Meithrin wrote on the topic of an 8 week Welsh language course using Chirk Parish Hall as the venue in the New Year. The quotation provided of £30 for the hire of a meeting room for up to 2 hours is understood to fall outside their budget for room hire of £20 per session. SJ suggested to Sian that she wrote to the Council to request acceptance of a reduction of £10 per session. Noted but members were not wishing to set any precedent by agreeing to a reduced rate. They did suggest directing Sian to seeing if the Community Room at Glyn Wylfa might fit the bill. Coleg Cambria already run Welsh leaner classes based at Glyn Wylfa.
116. TO PRESENT ITEMS FOR INCLUSION ON THE NEXT AGENDA. · DG is concerned at the growing number of dogs being exercised in Chirk Cemetery. · BC again asks for urgent consideration over the road traffic dangers in the vicinity of Chirk Station since new double yellow lines have been introduced. · The path leading from St Marys Churchyard to Castle Health Centre is suffering from leaf litter and the surface is treacherous reported by a resident. It is not clear who owns and is responsible for this path. Members suggest asking Cllr. Terry Evans as he may know. Lately the Clerk has agreed to a Caretaker undertaking work to clean up. This will be looked at while awaiting clearing up whose path it is. · LP suggests Council agrees a policy to prioritise any requests for Financial Assistance from locally based groups. Funds are limited and any support given is better kept close to home. For information · LP also advised that an adjacent path that runs behind Castle Health Centre is also treacherous. · BC advises that 3 new defibrillators have been purchased and installed at Glyn Wylfa, Chirk AAA Sports and Social Club and Chirk AAA Bowling Club. All three are located in external cabinets and offer 24x7 access. Members did discuss that ideally a defibrillator should be located at the Co-op store opposite West Street. Earlier suggestions have been made to the Co-op management but these should be made once more. It is estimated that Chirk has some 8 or 9 defibrillators now in place. Finally BC reminded members of the ceremony marking the official opening of Wylfa Newydd tomorrow morning at 10:00am where members are invited to attend.Meeting closed 8.40pm.
Signed Chairman 30th January 2019
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