Draft Minutes of the A.G.M. Meeting held Wednesday 25th May 2022

 

Draft Minutes of the A.G.M. Meeting held Wednesday 25th May 2022

7.20pm. Maxwell Hall, Port William.

 

1.Present:- Community Councillors – Mr D Ballantyne; Mr Paul Carrigan: Ms Rebecca Davison;                         Mrs J Edgar; Mr L Gray; Mr R McElrea;  Mr J McMaster; Mrs B Mellor; Mr S Mellor; Mr R Sheppard.

 

Elected member – Cllr K Hagmann.

 

 

 

Members of the Public – Dr J Crowther; Mrs J Gray (Acting Minute Secretary);  Mrs L McNaught.

 

Melinda Dolan – Ward Officer took the Chair and opened the meeting.

 

2.Appointment of elected Community Councillors from the Casual Vacancy Election – There being four vacancies on Port William Community Council and five names having been put forward, an election had been held on Tuesday 24th May with Rebecca J Davison; Janis M Edgar; Leom Gray; and Robert J Sheppard all being duly elected.

 

  1. Election of Officer Bearers –
  • Chairman – Mr R Sheppard proposed by Ms R Davison; Seconded by Mrs B Mellor
  • Treasurer – Mr D Ballantyne proposed by Mr J McMaster Seconded by Mr R McElrea
  • Secretary – Mr L Gray proposed by Mr J McMaster Seconded by Mrs B Mellor

There being no objections to these proposals all nominations were duly approved. Mr Sheppard then took the Chair and thanked the Ward Officer for her attendance.

 

3.The minutes of the A.G.M. held 26th May 2021 having been previously circulated were taken as read, approved and proposed as a true and accurate record by Mr J McMaster, seconded by Mr P Carrigan and signed by the Chairman.

  1. Chairman’s Report. – Mr Smellie’s report was read by the Chairman and said how it was pleasing that all ten meetings of 2021/22 had been held physically in the Maxwell Hall, although with little representation from elected members, or the police who delivered their reports electronically. Jacqueline Crowther was welcomed as a co-opted member during the year and at the end of the year three future resignations were notified, namely Jen Hendry and Peter and Sheila Smellie, which resulted in an election for four vacant positions. Mr Smellie expressed his thanks to the Treasurer for his work with the numbers, to the secretary for the minutes and backroom activities and to all members of the Community Council for their support throughout his tenure. He thanked Carscreugh Renewable Energy Park Ltd for their continued support which had enabled grants to be made to local organisations- Maxwell Hall; SWI; Toddlers; Youth Group and Play Group; an additional picnic bench had been purchased for the King’s Green play area; and with further funds due for the current year, he encouraged local voluntary organisations to apply for those monies. In January 2022 a further Community Benefit funding of £2000 was received from Kilgallioch Community Benefit fund and grants from this had been awarded to MADAG and to the Community Association. A Discretionary Grant was received from D & G Council which underpins the fixed costs such as hall hire; insurances and website and with the Community Council acting as a conduit for other Council funds, money was received from the Hardship Fund which was passed onto the Community Association to allocate, for which Mr Smellie thanked the Community Association for their efforts in that area and generally around the village with the Christmas Lights and the Carnival Week which will be returning this year for its 70th anniversary celebrations. He said how the successes of the year were the completion of the fisherman’s compound in the harbour, and the subsequent tidy up operation which cleared unwanted kit from the harbour; a meeting with the harbour master outlining plans for the area; and the fixing of a number of lights in Port William and Monreith, with thanks recorded to Cllr Inglis for promoting letters of complaint in that respect to the right departments within the Council. Mr Smellie report concluded with his thanks to everyone who had assisted him personally, and the Community Council generally, over his past eight years of involvement, and he wished everyone success for the future.
  2. Financial Statement – Copies of the Income and Expenditure Account for the year ended 31st March 2022, having been previously circulated were proposed for adoption by Mrs B Mellor; seconded by Mr L Gray. Mr Ballantyne said howthe year started with an overall balance of £2,509.47. At the end of the financial year ,we had £2,414.10 in the bank account. This was made up of Administration Fund £ 557.03; Village Improvement fund £ 857.07; and Kilgallioch Community Benefit fund of £1,000.00. An overall loss of £ 95.37 was recorded but Mr Ballantyne explained that this had been due to an administrative error. There had also been a payment of £450.00 made in error which has been refunded; posted to the administration account and will appear in next years’ accounts. He expressed thanks to D & G Council for the Hardship fund of £986.60 which was passed to Port William Community Association with £203.26 then refunded back to the Council. He thanked Carscreugh Wind Farm for their Community Benefit Fund of £ 2,689.60 and with £ 805.70 carried over from previous years £3,495.30 was paid out to local organisations. He expressed thanks to Kilgallioch for their payment of £2000 from the Community Benefit fund; to D & G Council for their continued Discretionary Grant of £ 493.30; to all who donated to the Wishing Well which had raised funds of £102.60; to Port William Community Association for taking on the costs of the Christmas trees and electricity for all the lights which have expanded greatly this year and concluded his report with grateful thanks to Mrs Audrey Kevan for having checked the accounts.

6.Nominations for other positions

  • Press Secretary – the necessary of such was discussed and agreed that the only requirement was for someone to take on responsibility for the article in the Parish magazine, which Mrs Gray agreed to do if she was to continue as Acting Minute Secretary otherwise Mr Leom Gray would take on the role.
  • Planning Application monitoring – Mr Paul Carrigan
  • Wind Farm Administration – Mr Richard McElrea
  • Website Liaison with Andy Lund – Mr Leom Gray

The Chairman expressed his thanks to the above members for agreeing to take on these roles and their appointments were approved by those present.

  1. Meeting plan for the coming year – 19.30 hours on the last Wednesday of each month, excluding August and December when no meeting will be held. Planned to be in the Maxwell Hall but will fall back to Zoom if Government guidance precludes physical meetings.

There being no further business the meeting closed at 8.00 p.m.