Members are reminded that any declarations of interest in respect of any business set out in the agenda, should be declared as either a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest or Declarable Interest and are required to notify the Chairman of the nature of any interest declared at the commencement of the relevant item on the agenda. Members declaring a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest must withdraw from the meeting for the duration of the item. Members declaring a Declarable Interest, wished to exercise a ‘Councillor Speaking Right’, must declare this at the same time as the interest, move to the public area before speaking to the item and then must leave the room before the debate and vote.
Decision:
(1) Long Service Awards
The Chairman paid tribute to Mark Scanes and Christina Corr, each of whom had each worked for the Council for 25 years or more.
(2) Declarations of Interest
The Chairman reminded Members that, in line with the Code of Conduct, any Declarations of Interest needed to be declared immediately prior to the item in question.
RESOLVED: That the Council places on record its sincere thanks to Mark Scanes and Christina Corr for their long and valuable service to local government in North Hertfordshire.
Minutes:
(1) Long Service Awards
The Chairman paid tribute to Mark Scanes and Christina Corr, each of whom had each worked for the Council for 25 years or more as follows:
(i) Mark Scanes
25 years ago, Mark joined the Council as an Enforcement Officer in the then Legal and Administration Department. In 1990 he was “poached” by the Revenues and Benefits Service and joined as a Recovery Officer as part of an expanded Team to deal with the implementation of the Community Charge.
In 1992, Mark decided on a career change and became a management trainee, where, through his studies, he became an active member of the Institute of Revenues, Rating and Valuation where he served a term as Branch Chairman.
Mark’s next move was to become our Business Rates expert and he was heavily involved in the migration of the Rating system from the old mainframe platform to UNIX in 1998.
Mark’s organisational and management skills were put to good use in the lead up to the Transfer of the Council’s Housing Stock to North Hertfordshire Homes in 2003, when he carried out the role of Project Manager.
Having shown his aptitude for working with systems, Mark became Systems and Technical Manager in 2002 and as such he is responsible for the management of Revenues and Benefits application systems, including implementation of modules and upgrades, ensuring the system’s integrity and management of the annual billing process, which produces around 57,000 Council Tax Bills, and over 4,000 Business Rates Bills, with a combined collectable debit of over £140M and around 8,000 Benefit calculations.
Mark’s other main area of responsibility is the Income Management System, which administers all the Council’s incoming payments. Mark is also responsible for completing the department’s statutory returns, the most important of which is the annual Housing Benefit Subsidy Return, which is then subjected to intense scrutiny by external auditors.
Mark has been instrumental in developing multiple payment options for the Council’s customers, including payments using swipe cards, Debit and Credit Cards as well as promoting more traditional methods such as Direct Debit, where now the Council collects 80% of its Council Tax by Direct Debit, which has significantly reduced collection costs.
Mark is active at National User Groups, serving on the Northgate Revenues Product Group and he is Chairman of the CIVICA National and Strategic Working User Group.
Mark is a very active and valued member of the Team and his work over the years has significantly benefitted both customers and the Council.
(ii) Christina Corr
Christina began her career at NHDC on 11 September 1989 as a Benefit Assistant. Her progression to Benefits Assessor came within a few months.
As the Revenues and Benefits service merged Christina was asked to head Benefits Verification team. Christina lead the introduction of the software that allows Benefits Officers to access the Department of Work and Pension website to help speed up decision making on Housing Benefit applications
In 2001 Christina moved into the Systems and Technical Team as a Senior Technical Officer.
For many years Christina was the key lead officer in preparing the Housing Benefit Subsidy Claim and liaising with internal and external auditors to ensure its successful completion.
During this period Christina also became responsible for Housing and Council Tax Benefit (as it was known then) Appeals and become so proficient that she was seconded for two years to Broxbourne Borough Council to provide expert advice on Appeals.
Latterly Christina has been responsible for the Council’s efforts to provide better joined-up working with the Department of Work and Pensions by taking responsibility for Single Housing Benefit Extract and Housing Benefit Debt Recoveries.
Christina is a valued member of the Team and her work over the years has benefitted both customers and the Council.
Councillor Lynda Needham stated that it was clear that both these members of staff worked in departments that had an excellent reputation within this Authority.
(2) Declarations of Interest
The Chairman reminded Members that, in line with the Code of Conduct, any Declarations of Interest needed to be declared immediately prior to the item in question.
It was moved by the Chairman, seconded by Councillor Lynda Needham and it was unanimously
RESOLVED: That the Council places on record its sincere thanks to Mark Scanes and Christina Corr for their long and valuable service to local government in North Hertfordshire.