More Council Discussions

The Two Towns One World project is just finishing, thankfully on target after some problems along the way. Now it remains to wind down and do an audit (which could be expensive in itself). Steve Like pointed out that councillors put a lot of their own time and effort into things like the recent visit from Timbuktu - such as Fiona Howard driving a minibus to the airport and back - and in future that sort of thing should be written into the costs of a project rather than donated for free by the councillors. Hay-on-TV now has a second film channel dedicated to Timbuktu.

Problems continue with the plans for the new Hay School. The provisions for the Council in the new building are not adequate nor appropriate, with the council meetings having to share space with community groups doing yoga and the town clerk having to share an office with the registrar. There are also concerns about the County Council's plans to sell the Council Chambers and the Library (which will also be moving into the school building). It would be nice to know where the money from those sales is going to go.
Fiona Howard, who couldn't be present at the meeting, had said she was going to work out a business plan for the Council Chambers so that the town council can continue to use it. The rent from the offices is enough for the day to day expenses, but some serious maintenance work needs to be done and there is no money spare for that. The roof will need replacing soon, for instance. The present lease from the County Council has expired, and it was suggested that the best plan at the moment was to ask for a further five year lease, by which time the school might actually have been built, and councillors would have a better idea of their options.
If the town council have to move, one suggestion was that they should move into the present Library building when the Library moves to the school.

Apparently, there is £200,000 in the bank which is supposed to be for the benefit of Hay, but which the town has not been able to touch. It was put to one side by the County Council in 1996, when there were plans to extend the main car park. So someone is going to investigate the terms on which the County Council will release the money to Hay.