WHITESTONE PARISH HALL COMMITTEE OF MANAGEMENT
Registered Charity No 1134187
COMMITTEE MEETING
7-30PM WEDNESDAY, 12th NOVEMBER, 2018
MINUTES
MINUTES
77. APOLOGIES: None
78. SIGNATURE OF ACCEPTANCE (MARIAN DURRANT - ELECTED MEMBER): Marion signed. Chair said she had not accepted Irene Mathieson’s resignation from committee.
79. MINUTES OF LAST MEETING (15/8/2018)
Accepted and signed after the electrician’s name was corrected to Ernest.
80. MATTERS ARISING(From minutes of 15/8/2018)
45.1 Deep Cleaning of Hall Floor (Chair) Done. Copy of letter of thanks in file.
45.2 Separation of Stage/Other area Electrics. JK explained problem of water ingress into outside light tripping too many internal circuits. JK liaising with Nigel to get estimate to isolate stage electrics. Ron B. suggested getting a 2nd quote as Nigel is slow to respond – Shaun at ACS in the village will be asked. Possibly also include extension circuits in stage electrics as it would be unfortunate if this tripped during pantomime.
45.3 Gas Boiler Service/Cylinder Change Over Valves PH spoken to Ed Bailey who has promised to do it by this Wednesday. Also to replace faulty valve on gas bottles.
45.4 Cleaning of Internal Windows JK has asked Paul Cook to do this – done.
45.6 Hallmark 3 Application Chair/JK – Hallmark 3 achieved – a great achievement.
45.7 Defibrillator JR: Now attached outside gents loo and belongs to Parish Council. Discussion about access code arrangements. Emergency Services will have it along with local users. New signs are on order.
46.5 From last minutes. Derek Fisher has resigned and needs to be replaced as trustee. AK said deed should be checked to see if someone could be co-opted and then elected at May AGM.
81. Ex SECRETARY’S REPORT Chair read out letter from Derek Fisher. He has been thanked for his work over many years.
82. TREASURER’S REPORT AK distributed 2019 Budget Review and explained it. The account is in a healthy state with income exceeding costs by approx. £3000. £12 278 in bank. It has been agreed previously not to keep more than £10 000 and AK suggested that we could now afford to pay for maintenance projects instead of relying on volunteers. There’s a need to identify how to spend the excess. Suggestions were that JK should claim for all his printing costs and it has been agreed to buy a filing cabinet to put into billiard room to house all archive files. RB suggested this item be discussed later as per agenda. Comments about budget: Suggestion that we could pay the insurance instead of asking the Parish Council to. MB said we should keep arrangement as it is. JR said finances in a good state so we don’t need to increase hire charges. MB thanked AK for her work.
83. MATTERS RAISED BY REPRESENTATIVE MEMBERS: DL for Whitestone Entertainments reported good support for Matt Harvey and Exmouth Shanty men. Future plans include a Murder Mystery evening on March 9 2019 and a return of the Budapest Café Orchestra in October. AK asked if Gardening Club could take responsibility for area outside hall entrance porch, which Derek used to do. RB to enquire. MD asked if another club member could attend PH meeting if representative was unable to. Others agreed it was difficult to always be available due to holidays and other commitments and that it would be helpful if meeting dates were planned forward. JR said no one else could attend due to trustee status and meeting dates were kept flexible to allow as many as possible to attend. The only fixed date is the AGM.
84. APPROVAL OF CLEANER’S CONTRACT AND CONSIDERATION
OF APPROPRIATE REMUNERATION The new cleaner is Tracy Jordan and her contract needs to be signed. JR is point of contact. Hours are 35/month up from 30 as she’s been asked to do the bins too. AK explained current minimum wage is £7.83 but increases to £8.21 next April and new contract that starts December this year will be at the higher rate. Discussion about remuneration. AK said we could pay more if we wanted to. RB felt there was no need if minimum wage was acceptable to Tracy. John R thought we wouldn’t know that until she goes through her contract prior to signing. LB looked up going rate for cleaning work and said most are minimum wage or min wage +50p. MB suggested £9 an hour. General feeling that perhaps we could pay that. RB repeated that he felt minimum wage was sufficient. Vote to approve for JR to meet Tracy to go through contract and sign at £8.21/hour. All agreed except AK who abstained.
85. APPROVAL OF POLICY DOCUMENT 3 – STANDARD CONDITIONS OF HIRE (INCLUDING BOOKING CONFIRMATION & ‘USING THE HALL’ FORMS
New Clause 13 - DATA PROTECTION POLICY recommended for
approval as a result of requirements of General Data Protection Regulations.
(See Drop Box Doc Ref. Policy3/6/180815).
No changes recommended to either the Booking Confirmation or ‘Using the Hall’ forms.
JK – done.
86. APPROVAL OF POLICY DOCUMMENT 4 – FIRE SAFETY
New clause 2f - ACTION IN THE EVENT OF FIRE recommended for approval viz. delete existing item and insert “f) Contact the Responsible Officer at 01392 811205 as soon as possible”.
JK – done.
87. CONSIDERATION OF FUTURE PROJECTS
a) Sound proof Barrier between Hall and Extension: RB has consulted a specialist noise reduction engineer who can prepare the specification for reducing dB levels to allow extension to be used at the same time as the hall. Cost for this £425+vat. Discussion concluded that we do not need to look for additional income at the moment so not to proceed with this possibility. JR asked for vote on whether to pursue, postpone or drop this idea. All voted to drop it. RB thanked for all his work.
b) Battery Storage of Electricity (PH/JK) PH/JK had looked at this, and the cost of batteries was approx £1700, and the payback in terms of electricity use saved was going to be a very long time. During the winter the excess electricity is diverted by the Immersun to the heaters in the hall, so the only time the batteries would be used would be in the summer, when we are using less electricity anyway. It was decided not to proceed with this, as it was possible to get a better rate of return with the money in the bank.
c) Storage Provision : LB forgot to do this – will action.
d) New Outside W/C Door/Frame: Current frame is rotting and needs replacing. Discussion about uPVC replacement, which might have a high threshold and may not comply with building regulations given the steps close to it. LB to explore possibility of new wooden frame with Alan Cox. IM said the door also needs a new automatic closure as it’s frequently left open. Also discussed Billiard Room door being too hard to open against the automatic closure system. LB to explore options.
e) Purchase of New tables: JK said we only have 8 of the 6 x 2.5 ft white topped tables which isn’t enough. 4 more would cost £555 inc. VAT. AK proposed we purchase the tables RB seconded. All agreed.
A.O.B.
JK reported gutter above front door is leaking as level and needs a gradient. JK will ask Bob Hunt to do it.
Les Pike bench replacement. Gordon Pike has purchased a replacement bench but it needs to be chained to the wall and the Parish Council has asked for our permission to do this. Given.
Henry vacuum cleaner: JK reported Clarke’s said it would cost £35 for them to look at why it isn’t working. Herb Piper has donated a Dyson to the hall so all agreed to let Henry go. All attachments to be given to Church for their Henry.
JR reported that in the recent national budget there was a fund of £3 million to refund VAT on refurbishment projects.
IM asked if a handrail could be put up on the wall of the slope access by garages. All agreed good idea. JR to ask Dick Jordan to look at it.
AK reported that the sub committee were compiling a chronological list of all tasks previously done by Derek. It’s a long list and given the financially healthy position the hall finances are in it’s possible to pay someone to do some of it – though not as an employee due to all the paperwork required. The alternative is to keep using volunteer labour and spread the load across committee members.
MD asked if the list could be sent to trustees to look at before discussion at the next meeting. JK will do that.
Discussion about difficulty of setting meeting day due to clashes with clubs. Agreed to roll day so not always the same group affected.
LB asked if the carpet behind the stage could be replaced as it’s very old and a trip hazard. LB, JR and MD to get quotes. LB also asked about having WiFi in the hall. JK said Hallmark do not require it for the Hallmark 3 designation now achieved but it would potentially be useful to hirers and he will investigate cost.
LB asked about solar panels and when they would need replacing – AK said about 25 year life. After discussion it was agreed that AK will account for designated replacement fund and put in £1000 a year. It will start with £2000 now in case the inverter fails as it only has a 5-year warranty and is already 7 years old.
88. DATE OF NEXT MEETING – Tuesday 19th February 7.30pm