Agenda and minutes

Agenda and minutes

Venue: Crematorium Meeting Room - North Devon Crematorium. View directions

Items
No. Item

1.

Appointment of Chair 2022/23 (North Devon Council Member)

Minutes:

RESOLVED that Councillor Walker be appointed Chair of the Joint Committee until re-appointments are made in the next municipal year.

 

2.

Apologies for absence

Minutes:

Apologies were received from Councillors Bulled, Christie, Davis, Y. Gubb,

Phillips and Walker.

 

3.

Appointment of Vice Chair 2022/23 (Torridge District Council Member)

Minutes:

RESOLVED that Councillor J. Gubb be appointed Vice Chair of the Joint Committee until re-appointments are made in the next municipal year.

 

4.

To approve the correct record of the minutes of the meeting held on 4 February 2022 (attached). pdf icon PDF 225 KB

(a)  Matters Arising

Minutes:

(i)         RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting held on 4th February 2022 (previously circulated) be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

 

(ii)        Matters Arising. There were no matters arising.

 

5.

Items brought forward by the Chair

Minutes:

Gas Contract – It was reported that the gas contract had expired at the end of March and the Crematorium had inadvertently been placed on the default tariff. A new contract had however, now been agreed but the price had tripled.

 

It was agreed that the implications of the increase be included in the quarter 1 performance report for consideration at the next meeting.

 

6.

Declarations of Interest

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest declared.

 

7.

Crematorium Matters pdf icon PDF 232 KB

Report by Crematorium Manager (attached)

Minutes:

The Joint Committee considered a report by the Crematorium Manager (previously circulated).

 

i)          Covid Crisis Update

 

It was noted that the Aspen Chapel was now in use and that there were no other active measures in use other than signage/hand gel provision

 

ii)         Staffing Matters

 

It was noted:

 

A)        That no appointment had been made to the Bereavement Administrator post following interviews and would be re-advertised.

B)        That the Lead Gardener had temporarily become a part-time (3-day) role. Some of savings would be used to ‘buy-in’ extra help during peak workload periods.

 

iii)        Metals Recycling Charity Award

 

It was noted:

 

That Families in Grief had been nominated for the next award (July).

All ‘reserve list charities’, previously on the award rota, had been written to seeking re-application requiring strong evidencing their bereavement support.

The current rota was:

 

North Devon Hospice

Cruse

Children’s Hospice SW

Families in Grief

 

iv)        Crematorium Figures

 

The Cremation figures were noted.

 

v)         Garden Improvements

 

It was noted that Rowan Exit Sails had been received and were awaiting installation and that the Garden Pond had been completed

vi)        Larkbear Development – Traffic Management

 

It was noted that the proposed scheme had been referred back for further

consultation as the agreed change was too significant to be implemented

without further public consultation.

 

Councillor Cann declared an interest in the above matter as a Member of

HATOC.

 

vii)       Phase B works (garage store/memorial room)

 

It was noted that the Tender was being produced by the appointed consultants.

 

viii)      Medical Referee

 

It was noted that the Government had stated that it hoped to introduce the Medical Examiner role in April 2023 removing the crematorium funded Medical Referee role (£18.50 per cremation).

This would:

  • Remove the role of Medical Referee except for an unspecified transition period from April 2023.
  • Require a new process to authorise cremations (previously Medical Referee role) to ensure application is lawful. Likely to become a Crematorium Registrar (manager) role.
  • Bring financial savings (cost of Medical Referees approx. £29,000 per annum), subject to any additional payments for the transferred authorisation responsibility.
  • Simplify and speed the application for cremation process (no medical forms to submit/check).
  • Simplify the process of digitally storing cremation applications for 15 years rather than paper storage.

 

8.

Outturn Report 2021/22 pdf icon PDF 295 KB

Report by Treasurer (attached).

Minutes:

The Joint Committee considered a report by the Treasurer (previously circulated) regarding the outturn for 2021/2022.

 

            RESOLVED:

 

i)             That the outturn report be noted

ii)         That the reserves and balances as outlined in paragraph 5.1 of the report be approved.

 

9.

To note that the next Crematorium Joint Committee meeting will be held on Friday 5 August 2022 at 2.30 p.m.

Minutes:

It was noted that the next meeting would be on Friday 5th August 2022 at

2.30 p.m.