THERE was another action-packed Minehead Town Council meeting on Tuesday night (August 21) with heated discussion over toilets, a new community building, and questionable past payments.
The first debate involved discussion of a £13,000 contract for clearing litter and dog bins which had emerged at the previous month's meeting.
Temporary town clerk Bryan Howe said the payment had been signed off by former clerk Sue Sanders, who ‘did not have authority to do so’, and there was no evidence competitive quotes had been sought.
Cllr Terry Venner said: “This is another example of this council breaching standing orders and financial regulations, signing something off without informing all members of the council.
“We are supposed to be a team but it feels like some of us are playing a different game to others.”
Cllr Jean Parbrook gave a presentation on the upcoming consultation on the boundary commission for the West Somerset Council and Taunton Deane Borough Council merger, saying she believed the town council should call for the boundaries to be changed to be coterminous with the existing ward boundaries and that Minehead South should be changed to Periton and Woodcombe.
However Cllr Sandra Slade offered an amendment saying it seemed pointless to change the name of Minehead South, and argued Minehead Town Council should look at being 'dewarded' to become more in line with other towns in West Somerset.
When the votes were cast 7-6 in favour of Cllr Slade's amendment, a surprised Cllr Parbrook asked for a recount only to realise Cllr Andy Kingston-James sat next to her had voted against the Conservatives in favour of the amendment.
The next debate was about public toilets, starting with discussion over a controversial cleaning contract, currently estimated to be worth more than £20,000 a year and paid to Somerset Cleaning Services (SCS), a company owned by finance committee chairman Cllr Gary Miele.
However, SCS has now resigned from the agreement, which will end on September 28.
The council has previously claimed the SCS agreement was only supposed to be temporary until all the paperwork was finalised to take over the toilets from West Somerset Council, with the contract set to go out to tender after that.
Town Clerk Bryan Howe said the council would be advised to put back the tender and find a stop gap measure until detailed discussion had taken place on the future of the toilets.
The debate then moved on to whether the council would agree to sign the legal documents regarding the freehold and lease of toilets in Blenheim Gardens, Summerland Place, Quay West and Warren Road, resulting in a vote in favour.
Cllr Venner said £65,000 of funding for the toilets had currently been coming out of the council's reserves, but that was not sustainable, and in the long term would lead to a substantial percentage rise of Minehead Town Council's precept, up to between 20 and 30 per cent.
However Bryan Howe disputed Cllr Venner's £65,000 and 20-30 per cent figure, and said having already carried out significant negotiations, it would be difficult to renege on agreements at this juncture.
The final heated debate of the meeting came during a discussion on the new community building and clubhouse planned for the Irnham Road Recreation Ground.
Cllr Venner queried the costs of the project saying he had not seen the paperwork before, and said when he initially called on the council to consider moving its offices into the building 18 months ago, he was ‘poo-pooed’ by then-mayor Cllr Jean Parbrook.
He also said the taxpayer would bear the brunt of the costs for the ‘Jean Parbrook Olympic Stadium’.
However, Cllr Harvey vehemently objected to Cllr Venner’s comment saying it was ‘completely unwarranted’.
Cllr Parbrook retorted, saying Cllr Venner’s ‘flippant’ claims that he had not seen the paperwork before were ‘completely outrageous’.
Giving an update on the project, Colin Johnson of SASP said: "The current clubhouse is not fit for use, and Minehead Football Club is our most popular sporting club with 11 junior teams as well as the senior teams.
"It could be a great asset for the community but local people will need to embrace it to make it pay."
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