ROMAN PARK MANAGEMENT LTD
MINUTES OF THE TRUSTEES MEETING 16th MAY 2024 AT 6.30pm
- PRESENT – Sharon Taylor (Chair), Brian Southern (Treasurer), John Coveney (Secretary), Lee Muncey.
Dan Hippey, Accountant for items 4 and 5
- APOLOGIES – None
- MINUTES OF LAST MEETING – These were agreed and submitted into the record.
- FINANCE REPORT AND STRATEGY
There was a wide ranging discussion around the club finances. We are performing to Budget at present. A number of areas to note were raised including:
- Amending signatories of the Bank Account to be those of current Trustees
- Difficulties of splitting gas and water bills between the Club and Hairdressers. Current method is a flat rate apportionment that is not a faire reflection of usage.
- Our license fee to the Performing Rights Society is coming up for renewal. We need to minimise expenditure on this as the new tenant will have to make their own arrangements.
- We agreed that an updated register of safety certificates is needed. Secretary to progress.
The main topic of discussion was the need for a revised proposal from Dan for his services in light of the impending leasing of the Club to an independent landlord. It was agreed that Dan would provide the revised quotation which would include additional options in some key areas around payments and query handling.
- DEBT RECOVERY STRATEGY
We discussed again the strategy for chasing aged debtors. We agreed to hold fire sending out the second reminder letter until early June to allow for late responses to the first letter. The next letter will give 30 days to pay following which we will submit a Small Money claim to the County Court. The owner would be told that as well as the debt they would have to pay court fees and interest at a flat rate 7% per annum. We recognised that where a property is owned by a company the small money claims process may not be appropriate.
For ‘corporate’ debt and longer term persistent offenders we recognised the need for an individual approach. The starting point for any claim will be being able to produce a copy of a signed Deed of Covenant. The Secretary is in the process of going through all of the Deeds including those retrieved from filing in the Loft to compile a master register to see where we have gaps in the Deeds. Once this is completed we can begin to segment debt chasing as outlined above.
- MATTERS ARISING
We have not had a response from the Roofers who carried out the last repairs.
- REGULAR CLUB USERS
We discussed the Groups who regularly book the Club including The Inner Wheel, Buccaneers and The Burlesque Club. The Chair is to contact them to discuss moving the bookings to the new tenant,
- PROGRESS ON LEASING
The Application for the Premises License has been made and the notices posted outside of the premises and the local press as required. We have had a number of comments and queries, The only outstanding one is from the Polic with concerns around the suitability of our CCTV system, particularly in regards to the length of time we can store recordings for. We are to organise a meeting with the Police representative to review this. As yet we have had no objections from members of the public.
We discussed the need to start the process of obtaining a suitable Insurance cover in our new role as landlords. Treasurer to start to look for quotes using our Broker LAP.
We are to organise a further meeting with Robin too discuss the lease, the premises license application and the handover of contracted services.
- ROOF UPDATE
As noted above we have not had a response from the contractor with whom we were supposed to have a guarantee. The company looks like they have folded. We agreed unanimously to ask Mr Timms to arrange for his contact who has provided photographic evidence of the work needed to be done to proceed with the work.
- STAFFING and SUPPORT
We agreed to hold a staff meeting at a later date to provide an update on progress with the leasing of the Club and the implications for the staff.
- NEXT MEETING
Tuesday 4th June 6.30 at Secretary’s house.