Here are the minutes from the 2019 AGM which were approved at the 2020 AGM.
BENARTY COMMUNITY COUNCIL
MINUTES OF ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
BENARTY CENTRE THURSDAY 2 MAY 2019 7 PM
Present: John Purdie, Claire Graham, Sheila Ross, Sharon Kinnaird, Anne Hay, Jim Christie, Brian Menzies, Willie Clarke, Jack Colquhoun, Tom Kinnaird
Also Present: Cllr Rosemary Liewald, Cllr Linda Erskine, Cllr Lea Mclelland, Cllr Vettraino, 10 members of the public
Absent: Cllr Lockhart
Chairman’s Welcome
Chair welcomed all to the AGM.
Apologies: Brian Di Placito
Minutes of the previous meeting
The minutes of the previous meeting were handed out.
Matters Arising
There were no matters arising. The minutes were proposed as correct by Anne Hay and seconded by Brian Menzies.
Chairman’s Annual Statement
The Chair read out the following statement
Welcome everyone.
I would like to start by thanking everyone who has helped out in our community groups and clubs and with the many great causes which needed our support over the last year. The groups and clubs of the Benarty area are what make these villages stand out; we’re a busy community, bustling with activity and thriving for it.
Thanks to my fellow members of the Benarty Community Council for giving your time, energy, knowledge and expertise and contributing to the stewardship of Benarty this year. Everyone here is a strong and valued member and together we are making a difference.
All of the groups in Benarty are noteworthy and all are to be commended for the part they play in making this a very strong community, from the very young to the senior member groups.
Special thanks go to The Benarty Events Group for the absolutely mammoth undertaking each year to lay on the Benarty Civic Week events and our street bunting decorations, the Gala, the Pipe Band Championship and Highland Dancing Competition, Rockore, The Christmas Light Funding and Switch On Party, The Kids Christmas Pantomime Trip, The Santa Parade, The Christmas Fayre, the Boxing Night Party and not forgetting the hours sacrificed each Sunday afternoon to run the hugely successful Benarty Community Lottery. A special mention is due to Mrs Shona MacKenzie, the Benarty Events Group Secretary. Shona’s workload is mountainous and I have huge respect for the way Shona gets through it, always smiling. Thank you Shona.
To the Benarty Community Forum for this year’s huge volume of work on running the Benarty Community Shop, funding the Drivedeck Project at Lochore Meadows Country Park the F24 Project at BRAG, and the Save the Cage Campaign. The Forum have also run an excellent competition in the schools and produced community posters designed by the children to combat dog fouling in our streets. We’ll be seeing these soon.
The Benarty Centre Management Committee can’t be thanked enough for the work they do. Forming a management committee and running the Benarty Centre successfully is a huge task and means that Benarty Centre is truly ours. Funding generated here in the centre, stays here in the centre for reinvestment in the facilities and as I’ve mentioned, to good causes in the community from time to time.
The Forum also partnered up with the Benarty Centre management committee and funded Pop-up Police patrols for our school children and the nursery kids, to raise awareness of parking issues on the roads outside and help prevent accidents.
A special mention in that regard, for his work at the Community Forum and the Centre Management Committee goes to Mr Michael O’Hare. In his role as Secretary and Chairman respectively, Michael puts in an extraordinary amount of work and I for one am hugely grateful for his input and wise council. Thank you Michael.
The Benarty Fundraisers have had another fantastic year, laying on special events for the children and families of Benarty, kicking us all off with a short sharp shock at the Splash for Cash at the Meedies on New Years Day followed by a fantastic Burns Supper for the residents of Graham Court and friends and then hosting a series of great parties at Easter, Halloween and Christmas, and then also showering the area with a generous round of cheques for other deserving groups in the area. Special thanks go to Mr James Fotheringham who is tirelessly running about organising, helping and driving things forward with the fundraisers and many other groups in Benarty and the surrounding communities.
The Benarty Environment Group have done great work this year again, maintaining and improving the Jewel of Benarty that is the Miner’s Memorial Garden. Special thanks to our former Community Council members James and Maryellen Rafferty who seem to be in the garden working away each time we all pass.
I would also like to applaud our Young Citizens of the Year, the Benarty Kids Community Club for the work they are doing to brighten up the area by getting the kids involved in planting around the community.
The Benarty Community Shop Volunteers. What can I say, but they are all absolute megastars. The work going on in the community shop is good, honest hard work by a team of volunteers who have come together and learned how to run a shop and run it well. There’s a great atmosphere in the shop between the staff and the customers and the popularity of the shop grows week by week. It’s been a success from day one and with the decision to expand and the recent good news from the National Lottery everyone is looking forward to the exciting times ahead.
The Benarty Heritage Preservation Group are another fantastic group of people who research, scan and archive huge volumes of local historic information. This year the group formed a partnership with the Benarty Community Boundaries Group and supplied the historic information on the exact boundary of Glencraig. More on that in a moment.
Community Volunteers are the lifeblood of Benarty and we are blessed to live in a community where so many people come forward and contribute their time, talent and energy either in the running of the groups or as a helper on the day. My sincere thanks go out to all.
2018 was another campaign year in Benarty. The Community Council identified an anomaly with the boundary line between Glencraig and Lochgelly which appeared to be in the wrong location and set about the task of researching the boundary line position, how it came to be where it was and when it was established.
It’s important to note that identifying the area boundary is the first step in writing our constitution and when this Community Council was elected, that was one of our first tasks in order to clearly establish where our jurisdiction extends to and who we are representing. By coincidence, residents living in Almar Cottages and Longview House in Glencraig had approached the Community Council for advice and assistance when the new Fife Cycle Park was being constructed and during conversation with the planning officers it was revealed that those homes were outwith the Glencraig settlement boundary and in fact came under the jurisdiction of Lochgelly Community Council.
Members of the Community Council formed the Benarty Community Boundaries Group and a series of public meetings were held here in the centre with members of the Benarty Heritage Preservation Group and others to gather together information and local views. Willie Clarke and Brian Menzies visited the Fife Council archives on several occasions to retrieve whatever information was held on file there, but this proved to be difficult. Files were unavailable, the historical documents and maps had been destroyed and that made our task very difficult indeed. We focussed then on what we had, the cultural, historical and social ties. A petition was started and through the summer months we set out our stall and invited members of the community to come and see us. We gathered huge support from the community and heard many stories from people who have fond memories of growing up and living in Glencraig. The social ties are still strong.
The Heritage group members worked on the historical boundary, in particular the old estates of Glencraig and how they all came together to form the southernmost edge of the village. It’s testament to the members of that group that they retain all of that knowledge for the benefit of the community and this campaign has shown the value in their work.
When we submitted our findings and petition for consideration, we had almost 1500 signatories and a wealth of historic information to support us. The internal process of review began at Fife Council and after some further public consultation to confirm our findings, our campaign was successful. A new boundary map has been produced, but unfortunately, we can’t show it to you yet due to a small error with the new line which is currently being corrected. As soon as the map is corrected and ratified, the Benarty Community Council can set about the task of writing our new constitution and the whole of Glencraig will once again be part of Benarty.
The campaigning goes on. With Westfield we are now part of the liaison group and although the Benarty Community Council is not included in the Mossmorran consultations, we have close ties to the Mossmorran Action Group through Claire who is a board member, and we will offer our support in the campaign to see improvements made.
Finally, I would like to pass on to our former members Stevie and Mary Nardone, thanks for your work on the Benarty Bells project in the previous years. We are assured that the start of works is approaching and we would invite you both to perform the unveiling when the time comes.
That concludes my statement for this year. Thank you all.
Finance Annual Report
Treasurer issued a financial report for the year, and gave details.
Election of Officials
Cllr McLelland took the Chair for nominations of Office Bearers
Chair
Tom Kinnaird was nominated by, Brian Menzies and Seconded By Anne Hay. There were no other nominations and Tom Kinnaird was duly elected Chair
Vice Chair
Jim Christie was nominated by Brian Menzies but declined.
Sharon Kinnaird was Nominated by Claire Graham and Seconded By Sheila Ross. There were no other nominations and Sharon Kinnaird was duly elected Vice Chair
Treasurer
Jack Colquhoun was Nominated by Sharon Kinnaird Seconded By Jim Christie. There were no other nominations and Jack Colquhoun was duly elected Treasurer.
Secretary
John Purdie was Nominated by Jim Christie and Seconded By Willie Clarke. There were no other nominations and John Purdie was duly elected Secretary.
Cllr McLelland thanked everyone and handed the Chair to Tom Kinnaird
Constitution and Standing Orders
It was expected to adopt the constitution with the new map, but the map supplied by Fife Council was not suitable, having two borders. It was mentioned that the meeting would have to be suspended pending the new map and adoption of the constitution. It was discussed that both the Chair and Secretary had been in contact with Fife Council allowing them plenty of time to submit the map before the AGM but this had not happened. It was asked how long since the decision to change the map and the answer was close to three months. It was noted that the meeting could not be closed. Willie Clarke asked if there were copies of the Constitution. It was mentioned that the new constitution was not brought to the Community Council because of the issue with the map but the constitution as part of the Scheme by Fife Council was available online and in the library.
Notice of Motion
The following motion was discussed and voted on.
Benarty Community Council Motion for Adoption as of 5th May 2019
I have noticed that some members of the public tend to be disrespectful, discourteous and uncivilized during Benarty Community Council meetings, by talking loudly among themselves, in addition to unsolicited questions and comments. They have also questioned members of the committee on their own personal lives and on goings. This is not protocol for any Community Council, not just in Fife.
At the April meeting one Community Councillor had to abruptly draw attention to some members of the public to ensure quiet, which is in essence having a detrimental effect on the business being conducted by Community Councillors at these meetings. The Community Council should make clear that the position of the public at Community Council meetings is attendance only. The general public should not interfere or intervene in any of the business of the Community Council out with the two allocated slots of Public Questions and Any Other Competent Business.
The Community Council should also decide if members of the public who raise their hand to speak during council business would be allowed to speak on Community Council business, at the discretion of the Chair or through an amendment of the standing orders only. Members of the public sitting at the same table as the Committee should never have been appropriate conduct and this confuses the situation about who is and who isn’t a Community Councillor. To follow appropriate format the public should not be at the table where the Councillors are – this is standard practice for Committees and Benarty Community Council should adopt this.
The Motion Proposed:
Motion on clarity of the status of members of the public at Community Council meetings, for the purpose of certainty it should be declared that the position of the public when attending Community Council meetings, as being attendees only.
- To include expected conduct by any member of the public attending the meeting and to the correct code as to how and when members of the public address the 4th tier of government committee at meetings.
- For members of the public to remain seated in the gallery and to not interrupt, interfere or disrupt any committee business until the stated time within the agenda.
- To show all due respect to the Chair of the meeting being held and to follow set codes how to address said Chair.
- These are within accordance to all other known Fife Community Councils and the same respect will be asked from this committee.
- Any break of these conditions will ultimately result in said members of the public being asked to leave the committee meeting.
- Standing orders and the Fife Scheme for Establishment of Community Councils state attendance only.
- As per section 9.4 Public Access to meeting in the above-mentioned Document.
Chair invited Claire Graham to propose the motion. Claire spoke briefly about her time on other Community Councils and how Benarty Community Council should adopt the standards of other community Councils and enforce more rigorously the standing orders and proposed the motion.
Sharon Kinnaird agreed and seconded the motion.
The vote to adopt the motion was unanimous and the motion was carried.
The Chair thanked everyone, informed everyone of the next AGM and the AGM was suspended pending conclusion.
The Chair reconvened the 2019 AGM after suspending the 6 June 2019 meeting.
Present: John Purdie, Tom Kinnaird, Sharon Kinnaird, Claire Graham, Anne Hay, PC Smith, Cllr Linda Erskine, Brian Menzies, Willie Clarke, Cllr Rosemary Liewald, Jim Christie, Jack Colquhoun
Also present: 7 members of the public
Apologies: Sheila Ross
Absent: Cllr Lockhart, Brian Di Placitio
Chair briefly explained the situation of how the map came to be, there was a discrepancy found and months of investigation, a public petition and submission to the Community & Housing Services Committee saw the boundaries redrawn. The Community Council discussed the map received from Fife Council. It was pointed out that the Committee minutes stated this was the map that was passed, but there was some confusion about which map was presented to them and which map they actually decided on. A point was made that those who signed the petition did not sign for the map boundaries currently offered and it would betray the many people who did sign to accept this map. Another view was that rejecting the map could lead to months of further delay.
A vote was taken. 4 were for accepting, 4 were for rejecting. There was 1 abstention. As it was a tie the Chair cast a deciding vote to reject the map. There was some confusion about the Chair voting twice and the vote was taken again after it was explained the Chair has a vote and an additional vote on tied votes. The second vote was 4 for accepting and 4 for rejecting with 1 abstention and the Chair cast a deciding vote to reject the map. The map was rejected and the Constitution not adopted. The Chair thanked everyone and closed the AGM.
Date and time of next scheduled AGM:
Thursday 7 May 2020
7 pm
Benarty Centre
