Minutes of the Emergency Meeting of Maresfield Parish Council

held on Monday 6 October 2003 in the Conference Room, Nutley War Memorial Hall

Present.  Cllr J Gutteridge, Cllr G Hardy, Cllr W King (Chairman), Cllr S Leaney, Cllr K Ogden, Cllr C Stephens, Cllr R Street, Cllr P Tester, Cllr R Tester, Cllr Miss M Thomas.  District Cllr Brown and District Cllr Mrs P Kennedy were also present.  Clerk: Sue Wilson.

1.1       Public questions.  There were no members of the public present.

1.2            Apologies for absence.  Apologies had been received from Cllr H Fry, Cllr T Sparrow and Cllr R Woodgate.

1.3            Declarations of interest.  There were none.

2.            Receive report on interviews of applicants for the post of Parish Clerk and consider a recommendation for an appointment.   The Chairman said there had been eight applications for the post.  A sub-committee comprised of himself, Cllr Leaney, Cllr Ogden, Cllr Sparrow and Cllr Street had been assisted by Linda Butcher, the Clerk of Crowborough Town Council, to design the interview process, draw up a job specification, identify the applicants to be interviewed and carry out the interviews of three people.  It was thought the interviews had gone well, with everyone getting a good feel for the candidates' abilities and they had all come to the same conclusion. 

Mrs Tuck had been interviewed who appeared, from her application, to be spectacularly well qualified.  She had however been disappointing at interview, not responding well to questions and had failed to bring examples of her work as requested.  Cllr Brown remarked that sometimes people did not interview well, but proved to be good at a job.

Mrs Kenney who is a qualified company secretary working in marketing had also been interviewed.  She knew nothing about local government and it was felt she was just looking at local jobs as she plans to move into the vicinity with a new partner.  She said that although she is currently on £30,000 per annum, the lower pay scale would not be a problem; although this did not sound convincing.

Mr Allen had been marked as the top of the scale.  He is an administrator at present for a company which re-houses vulnerable people, a job in which he has to keep abreast of legislation.  The company is moving up north from Docklands and Mr Allen does not wish to move with them.  He would like to work locally and give up commuting.  He is 46 years old and considered a good sound person who could satisfactorily represent the Council elsewhere. 

Cllr Ogden said there may be concern that it didn't seem very ambitious for a man to want the clerk's job on the LC1 payscale, but in the interview his concerns in this regard had been dispelled.  Cllr Leaney said that Mr Allen had been made redundant by BT after many years service and had appeared convincing at interview when he explained he no longer wanted to chase promotion and pay rises.  The Chairman said that the interview team had impressed upon the candidates the necessity for evening work.  Mr Allen said he was happy to do overtime and that his present job is not just 9.00am to 5.00pm.

Cllr Mrs Kennedy said she felt the Council's work needed to be streamlined with more being passed to Councillors or the new clerk would find it as difficult as the present one.  The Chairman recalled Cllr Street's proposal at the last meeting that a mentor should be allocated to the new clerk to monitor the workload and keep tabs on training.  Cllr Mrs Kennedy said that planning meetings took an excessively long time and then required long minutes to record the discussions and actions which was a waste of the clerk's time.  Cllr Brown suggested it would be better to keep the present clerk and get a part-time person to help her, rather than getting a new clerk and asking the present one to help him.  Cllr King said that the present clerk had handed in her notice which had been accepted.

Cllr Hardy said he felt it was important for the Council not to take on too many issues; because the clerk is willing to do overtime does not give the Council carte blanche to take on an ever-increasing workload.  The Chairman agreed that there must be a balance with the Council's aim to provide increased resources for parishioners.  He added that the basics are in order now.

Emergency Council meeting 6 October 2003                                                                         Page 2

Cllr P Tester said the present clerk had arrived at a bad time with a particularly heavy workload and suggested that the new clerk should produce a breakdown of the time spent for each committee.  The Chairman said the new clerk had shown at interview that he is very organised and a good manager of time.

The Chairman said the new clerk had to give two/four weeks notice; as the company is relocating it is happy for people to leave.  He and the present clerk had agreed she would stay on until 21 November.  The new clerk would be engaged as soon as possible to allow for a handover period with the present clerk, during which the new clerk could arrange training, meet people, etc.

Cllr P Tester queried the new clerk's salary and was advised it would be on the scale of pay shown in the advertisement.  The Chairman handed out copies of Summary terms of employment he had prepared.

As Councillors had no further questions, Cllr P Tester proposed that Mr Allen should be appointed as the new clerk.  All agreed.

Mr Allen was invited into the room and the Chairman introduced him to everyone present.  He said he was pleased when the Chairman rang to say his name would be put forward to the Council.  He lives in Nutley and would like to work in the community.

There being no further business the meeting closed at 8.00pm.