Minutes of the extraordinary meeting held on 18th August 2025 at 18:00hrs in the Methodist school room.
Councillors in attendance: Cllrs Coltman, O’Hanlon and Pegram.
Cumbria Association of Local Councils (CALC) representative: Cllr Andy Pratt.
Members of the public: 9
18:00
As three members were present, the meeting was quorate, but as neither the chair nor vice-chair were in attendance, those present voted to appoint Cllr Coltman to chair the meeting.
There was no clerk in attendance, so the council voted to appoint Cllr O’Hanlon as note taker for the meeting.
1. Apologies for absence. Apologies had been received from Cllrs Bran Harvey-Chadwick, Catherine Harvey-Chadwick, Ken Mawson, Lizzie Mawson and David Moore.
2. Declarations of interest. None
3. Public participation.
3.1 A member of the public asked in what capacity Cllr Pratt was attending and he confirmed that it was as a director of CALC.
3.2 Cllr Pratt advised that previous resolutions should not be revisited. A discussion regarding the parish council’s standing orders took place.
3.3 A member of the public said that they had checked regulations and were satisfied that the meeting had been convened lawfully.
4. Clerk role.
4.1 Job description. The specimen job description had been considered at the meeting on 11th August and adopted with some minor amendments. There was a more fulsome job description supplied with the Civility and Respect Recruitment Manual (CRRM) which was also considered. Resolved to confirm the previous decision to use the specimen job description.
4.2 Contract of employment. The Model Contract of Employment had been provided for the meeting on 11th August 2025. The Template Contract of Employment and guidance notes were also provided for this meeting. Resolved that the template contract of employment should be used. The various sections of the contract were considered and agreed individually.
4.3 Terms of employment. The hours were considered using the council profiles from the CRRM, and the role was benchmarked using job evaluation advice from the Society of Local Council Clerks (SLCC). Resolved that the hours of employment would be 26 per month and the salary would be paid within the LC2 below substantive range, depending upon experience.
4.4 Person specification. The person specification template within the CRRM was discussed and adapted. Resolved to agree the adapted person specification.
5. Timeline.
5.1 Notice period. At the previous meeting it had been confirmed as a finishing date of 31st August.
5.2 Closing date for applications. At the previous meeting it had been confirmed as 4 weeks from the date of publishing of the advertisement (estimated at around 12th September).
5.3 Interim measures. At the previous meeting it had been agreed that CALC would find a locum clerk to cover the September meeting.
6. Job advertisement.
6.1 Wording had been agreed at the previous meeting.
6.2 Placement. It had been agreed at the previous meeting that it would be shared through CALC, the council website, and councillors would share it through their social media channels.
7. Application handling.
7.1 Incoming It had been agreed at the previous meeting that emails would go to the chair, who would share them with the full council.
7.2 Outgoing. At the previous meeting an acknowledgement of applications was agreed to be sent out. Councillors were disappointed that the advertisement was vague and did not provide enough information to candidates. Information such as the person specification and terms had been decided at this meeting, so were not available when it was written. As the advertisement asks for a CV with covering letter, the information needed to be available to candidates prior to the submission of applications, sending an information pack afterwards would be too late. Resolved that links to any further information available, such as the job description, terms and person specification would be added with the advertisement. They would be sent to the clerk to be added to the council website, and to CALC to be added to theirs. Clerk
7.3 Format of applications. It had been agreed at the previous meeting that applications would be by CV with covering letter emailed to the chair.
8. Selection.
8.1 Shortlist. A meeting would need to be called as soon as possible after the closing date to shortlist candidates. No date was agreed at this point, it could be discussed at the next meeting.
8.2 Interviews. It would be decided which members would form the interview panel at the shortlisting meeting. It was unknown at this stage whether any members would need to declare an interest. It had been advised that it was not good practice to have both the chair and the vice-chair on the interview panel, so that one of them was available for any appeals panel if required.
Meeting closed 19:13hrs
Signed……………………………..
Date……………………….
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