Oakham Town Council Extra Meerting 3rd April 2012 Report

Oakham Town Council Extra Meerting 3rd April 2012 Report


Oakham Town Council unusualy met at 10.00am this morning.



The purpose of the extra meeting was so Councillors could agree to sign a temporary 3 month lease for the letting of the fitness centre.



The meeting started with the no chairman, Mayor Cllr Lucas was absent.



The deputy Mayor, Charles Haworth, was also absent, .



Councillors who had turned up were Cllrs Dewis, Locket, Nowell, Guthrie and Maureen Dodds.



Those present had to decide very quickly who to nominate as chair.



Cllr Alf Dewis was nominated because he was the only one wearing a tie – or perhaps the only one with a wooden smile – who knows?.



Cllr Dodds said she felt Cllr Nowell would be a better choice as he was the only Councillor who was a Chair of a committee.



At this point a very red faced Cllr Dewis said “I am chair of the staffing committee” and Cllr Dodds expressed her sorrow.



The nomination was agreed. Cllr Dewis promptly jumped into the Chairman’s seat, before the councillors had cast the vote he started the meeting, The Clerk quite awake so early in the morning halted proceedings to carry out the vote. The Vicar of Dibley evidently had competition at this time of the day.



Once the vote was taken Cllr Dewis welcomed all.



Moving swiflty through the formalities



Apologies were received from: Cllr Joyce Lucas, Cllr Lowe and Cllr Woodcock all were not surprisingly busy with work or as in the case of Cllr Lucas an unknown commitment – possibly reviewing her interview on the BBC for the umpteenth time.



But from Cllr Charles Haworth Deputy Chair no apology was received. Perhaps he found 10.00 am too early a start after his online activities the night before.



The time came for public deputations.



I said, I was disappointed the council had spent more than half a month’s rent on a survey and valuation (nearly £700). I also said I hoped this was really only a temporary let, because for far too long the council has let public assets for little of no benefit to the public.







Goodness only knows what the legal costs are likely to be but knowing the costs of drawing up the agreement to hang baskets in the town was around £300 I shouldn’t wonder if it was about twice that much. So the total let will bring in revenue of £400 per month x 3 months = £1,200 revenue. And expenditure on drawing up the lease and the valuation and survey will be around £1,200. Unless you know different – it seems as though Oakham Town Council held a special meeting in the middle of the day to absolutely no financial benefit in passing this ‘commercial let.’



The meeting moved onto the matter of agreeing that the lease should be signed by two Councillors.



Councillors were asked by the chair if they had any further comments about the lease that had been previously agreed and discussed in private at the last Parks and Recreation Committee meeting. All Councillors except Cllr Dodds remained silent. Councillor Dodds was intelligible and the common sense she expressed regarding her concerns about the condition of the premises were a pertinent health and safety issue. She also said she was unhappy for the council to be letting the premises, knowing the electrics were dangerous. The Clerk said: “The solicitor has no issue with this.” Where does he find such tame legal advice? The Clark went on: “The council can let its property in any condition it wants.”



The Councillors voted to sign the lease – all except Cllr Guthrie who chose to vote against the motion.



The meeting ended and there was a scramble to decide which Councillor would sign the lease along with Cllr Dewis in the Clerk’s office. Cllr Lockett won that battle and they went in the Clerk’s office to sign a worthless contract. What a perfect marriage… I think!