Waiting one year for minutes

Question

A Message from our clerk tonight

“The minutes you have received are for the ordinary meeting that followed the Annual Parish Council Meeting. 

The minutes of the APCM will be given out prior to next years APCM “

Really is this true? 

Answer 1

Hahaha absolutely brilliant.

Why would they issue minutes a year later what utter nonsense. They need to issue them now and perhaps remind people at the next. How on earth can anyone be expected to sign off minutes as a true reflection a year later.

Wow!! Can’t wait for DavetheClerk to get hold of this one.

Comments

I think this clerk is confusing the annual parish council meeting with the annual parish meeting. All council minutes must be ratified at the next council meeting.Parish meeting minutes are not normally presented until the next Parish meeting( 12 months later)and as they are not minutes of a parish council they do not require ratification.

Answer 2

Wow!  Is there some confusion here about the title of the meeting? I sincerely hope so.

There shouldn't be an ordinary meeting following the Annual Parish Council Meeting. The Annual Parish Council Meeting is the title given to a parish council's May meeting and it should be treated as a normal parish council meeting. The only difference is that there are agenda items dictated by statute, such as the election of Chair and, if desired, Vice Chair. Your standing orders should include a list of these items. This meeting is often incorrectly titled AGM, but councils don't have AGM's.

The Annual Parish Meeting is completely different. It is sometimes called the Annual Assembly or Parish Assembly or Annual Meeting of Electors. It is not a parish council meeting, although it is usually arranged by the parish council (but can be called by electors) and the Chair of the Parish Council, if present, should chair it. It takes place between 1 March and 1 June. Full details of this meeting are included in Schedule 12, Part 3 of the Local Government Act 1972. The minutes of the Annual Parish Meeting can only be approved by the Annual Parish Meeting, so we have to wait a whole year to sign them off, but it's good practice to publish them in draft form within a month of the meeting in accordance with the principles of the Transparency Code.

Answer 3

I think the annual meeting of a Town or Parish Council is in essence the same or an enhanced type of meeting as the other full council meetings, therefore it's minutes should be ratified at the next full meeting of the Council.  Since appointments to committees and election of chairs take place at the annual meetings of Town & Parish Councils, and such actions resolutions  come into force, it is unreasonable that minutes with such details are not issued until a year later, under the supposed argument that such meetings take place at 12 Month intervals.  I think I am correct in saying that draft minutes of any kind of meeting should be issued a month after a meeting has taken place, even annual meetings of the Parish under recent govt guidance..