Clerk’s CornerBy Viv Robins, Clerk to The Lee Parish Council
While swine flu seems to have fallen out of the headlines at the time of writing, the number of cases is expected to rise again in the run-up to winter, prompting the politicians to do what they like doing best, which is to ‘draw up a strategy’. In the event of a pandemic all Councils have been instructed to have emergency arrangements in place. I have been appointed as the person to co-ordinate our response in The Lee (once we have one!) and the Parish Council will also draw up a list of volunteers who would be happy to help out and be a flu friend, etc., as well as an informal record of those who might be most vulnerable and in need of help. If you want to be on either of those lists or know someone you think should be please get in touch with me on 837278.
New speeds at last!
You may have noticed that the new speed limits are now in force on Chartridge Lane and through Kings Ash – an extension of the 40 mph limit towards Chesham on the former and 30 mph on the latter. All this a mere two years – and many protest meetings – after they were first proposed!
Fancy being Clerk?
It is now five years since I became Clerk of the Parish Council and having just signed a new contract to take me through to September 2010 I have decided that by then I will probably have had enough of the job in its present form!
The problem is that it consists essentially of two parts, the administrative or secretarial side and the financial side, and I freely admit that it is the latter that has given me most grief. Larger Councils tend to employ both a Clerk and a Financial Officer who oversees the budget etc. and the Parish Council has kindly said it would be prepared to consider this split if there is anyone out there who would fancy the financial role.
Otherwise the job of Clerk as presently constituted is not at all onerous (the financial aspect notwithstanding) and these days it even pays a salary, though admittedly not much above the minimum wage! I will have more to say on its many delights in a later Newsletter, but meanwhile if you would like more information about it please contact the Parish Council Chairman John Ford on 837726 or Cllr Barnaby Usborne on 837382.