Minutes – Finance Committee – 4 September 2024
The agenda and papers for this meeting are available here: Finance Committee – 4 September 2024 – agenda and papers
The minutes of this meeting are presented below.
You can also download a PDF copy of the minutes here: Minutes – Finance Committee – 4 September 2024
FINANCE COMMITTEE
Minutes
Date: 4 September 2024
Time: 5.30pm to 6.22pm
Location: The Council Chamber – The Council House • North Street • CHICHESTER • West Sussex • PO19 1LQ
PRESENT: Councillors Loxton, Miall, Scicluna and Squire
EX-OFFICIO: The Mayor (Councillor Quail)
ALSO IN ATTENDANCE: Councillor Butler, Town Clerk, Deputy Town Clerk (Responsible Finance Officer), Council Services and Support Manager.
27. APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE
Apologies were noted from Councillors Corfield and Pramas.
28. DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST BY MEMBERS OF THE COMMITTEE IN MATTERS ON THE AGENDA FOR THIS MEETING
None.
29. MINUTES OF THE FINANCE COMMITTEE MEETING HELD ON 11 JUNE 2024
RESOLVED that the minutes of the Finance Committee meeting held on 11 June 2024 be approved and signed as an accurate record.
30. UPDATES ON ACTIONS FROM THE PREVIOUS MINUTES NOT COVERED ELSEWHERE ON THE AGENDA
a) Minute 15a – Obtain and circulate revised Internal Audit Report for 2023-2024 for approval at Full Council on 26 June 2024
The Committee noted the update.
b) Minute 16 – Obtain quotes for replacement Internal Audit service and additional costs for extra scrutiny checks on a quarterly basis.
Members were advised that this would be discussed under agenda item 10.
c) Minute 21 – Update Committee meeting calendars and circulate revised version to Members
The Committee noted that this action had been completed.
d) Minute 22b – Discuss review of Special Terms hirers with the Chair of the Community Affairs Committee and add to agenda for the next Committee meeting.
The Committee noted that it was resolved at the Community Affairs meeting on 2nd September 2024 that the qualifying criteria for applying the discretionary hire rate would be the same as the eligibility criteria for the community grant scheme.
They were advised that authority for determining the appropriate hire rate had been delegated to the Town Clerk in agreement with the Chair (or Vice Chair) of the Community Affairs Committee.
31. PROPERTY SUB-COMMITTEE – 11 JULY 2024
a) Minute 6b(ii) – AGREED that a summary of costs and income relating to the solar arrays be taken to the Finance Committee for Members’ awareness.
Committee noted that this item would be deferred to the November 2024 meeting pending registration of the new solar array for a Feed-In-Tariff (FIT).
b) Minute 8 – Crush Bar and kitchen upgrades for venue hires
Members noted the resolution and action from the Property Sub-Committee:
RESOLVED to recommend to the Finance Committee on 4 September 2024 that the project as outlined proceed on the basis of using in house resources for the installation at a total cost of £17,434.38+VAT (including a 10% contingency).
ACTION: Business case supporting the expenditure to be presented to the Finance Committee meeting on 4 September 2024.
The Chairman informed the meeting that this item would be deferred to the next meeting of the Committee in November 2024 when a more detailed report supporting the business case and including comparisons with alternative local venues; would be presented.
32. COMMUNITY INFRASTRUCTURE LEVY (CIL) UPDATE
The Committee considered the spreadsheet outlining anticipated CIL expenditure and receipts that had been circulated with the agenda and noted the likely spend profile.
They requested the report be added as an agenda item for both the next business plan and full council meeting, with firm commitments being highlighted on the report.
AGREED that the Deputy Town Clerk would modify the format of the report to clearly highlight committed spend and that the report would be circulated with the agendas of the next Full Council and Business Plan Sub-Committee meetings.
33. REVENUE BUDGET MONITORING TO END JULY 2024
The Deputy Town Clerk summarised her report that had been circulated with the agenda and highlighted and explained some of the larger variances on the budget including the salary bill, BT costs and unspent grant funds.
She also explained the variance on the cemetery costs and advised the Committee that the District Council was currently reviewing cemetery provision as the site at Portfield was expected to run out of space in 4 – 5 years time which would have a knock on effect on the City Council’s budget.
AGREED that the Mayor would write to Chichester District Council expressing the City Council’s concerns about cemetery provision within the city.
34. EARMARKED RESERVES
The Committee noted the report outlining current reserve position.
35. PUBLIC REALM PROJECTS
The Committee noted the report outlining current reserve position
36. INTERNAL AUDIT
a) Replacement Internal Audit service
The Deputy Town Clerk summarised her report that had been circulated with the agenda.
After a short discussion about the merits of each of the listed Auditors, it was RESOLVED that Mulberry and CO be appointed as the City Council’s Internal Auditors for 2024/2025.
b) Internal Audit Plan 2024-2025
The Deputy Town Clerk advised that she had included the Appointment of Internal Auditor and Audit Plan 2024-2025 notes, despite the pending change of Internal Auditor, to ensure that the City Council was sufficiently covered on this subject for the purposes of the External Audit.
She advised Members that the incoming Internal Auditor would likely compile a new Internal Audit Plan once they had been appointed and undertaken their initial reviews.
Committee RESOLVED to adopt the Audit Plan 2024/2025 as proposed.
37. REVIEW OF THE CITY COUNCIL’S MEMBERSHIPS OF OTHER BODIES AND ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTIONS
a) Membership of other bodies
Members were informed that Councillor Corfield had advised that she would not be representing the City Council on the Chichester District Association of Local Councils and that Councillor Chant had withdrawn from the Friends of Valletta.
Councillor Scicluna expressed the opinion that it was important to the Friends associations that the City Council continued to show its interest by nominating a representative.
AGREED that an email would be sent to Councillors asking for volunteers to fill the current vacancies on the Outside Bodies list.
b) Annual subscriptions
Members noted the Deputy Town Clerk’s report listing the City Council’s current subscriptions that had been circulated with the agenda.
RESOLVED to continue with the current subscriptions and memberships as listed.
38. OFFICE CHRISTMAS CLOSURE
RESOLVED to approve the proposal to close the Council House for the Christmas period from 12 noon on Monday 23 December 2024 and reopening at 9.00am on Thursday 2 January 2025.
39. ITEMS FOR INFORMATION ONLY
a) MONTHLY RECONCILIATION WITH EVIDENCE OF BANK STATEMENTS FOR APRIL TO JULY 2024
RESOLVED to note the monthly reconciliations with evidence of bank statements for April to July 2024.
b) LIST OF PAYMENTS MADE FOR APRIL TO JULY 2024
RESOLVED to note the list of receipts and payments made for April to July 2024.
c) LIST OF BARCLAYCARD PAYMENTS FOR APRIL TO JULY 2024
RESOLVED to note the list of Barclaycard payments made for April to July 2024.
40. ITEMS FOR INCLUSION ON THE NEXT AGENDA
- Personnel Sub-Committee – matters arising from the recent meeting (date to be confirmed at the time of writing).
- Room hire – report on data and statistics available from the HallMaster room booking software.
- Kitchen upgrades – additional report to support business case.
- Upgraded solar array – report outlining benefits, costs and incomes from the.
- City Council draft budget 2025-2026
41. DATE OF NEXT ORDINARY MEETING
Date of next Ordinary Meeting – Wednesday 6 November 2024 at 5.30pm
42. PUBLIC BODIES (ADMISSION TO MEETINGS) ACT 1960
RESOLVED that the press and public be excluded from the meeting for agenda item 17 due to the nature of the business to be transacted, namely confidential business matters involving third parties.
43. MATTERS ARISING REGARDING THE MARKET HOUSE
Members noted the update report from the Town Clerk and the Deputy Town Clerk.
The meeting closed at 6.22pm
ACTIONS ARISING FROM THIS MEETING
| Minute ref. | Agreed action | Assigned for action to |
| 31a | Bring report to Committee outlining the costs and benefits of the upgraded solar array and FIT tariff | Property Maintenance Manager |
| 31b | Additional report supporting the business case for Council House kitchen upgrades | Town Clerk/Property Maintenance Manager |
| 32 | Reformat CIL update report to distinguish project costs that had been formally agreed from estimates of planned project costs. | Deputy Town Clerk |
| 32 | Circulate the CIL expenditure update to next meetings of the Business Plan Sub-Committee and Full Council | Deputy Town Clerk |
| 33 | Write to Chichester District Council expressing the City Council’s concern with cemetery provision within Chichester. | The Mayor |