Farce over bid to extend meeting

A BID to extend the council meeting descended into farce – and a row over voting.

At 10.02pm, Cllr Prue Bray (Lib Dems, Winnersh) asked the mayor, Cllr Malcolm Richards, for a vote to extend themeeting by 30minutes so that the final two motions could be debated.

One was on holding additional meetings to clear a backlog of council business that had built up, the second on pavements accessibility for people with visual impairments.

Cllr Stephen Conway (Lib Dem, Twyford) seconded it and Cllr Richards moved to a vote.

As this was a virtual meeting using Microsoft Teams, councillors were able to raise a virtual hand to indicate their vote.

Unfortunately, some Conservatives voted both for and against extending the meeting.

“It is quite confusing,” Cllr Richards said. “We have to do it again then.”

He was interrupted by Cllr Maria Gee (Lib Dem, Wescott), who said that if someone had voted twice, it was their first vote that should count. “Both Cllr Patman and Cllr Batth shouldn’t be counted the second time round.”

Cllr Imogen Shepherd-DuBey (Lib Dem, Emmbrook) accused councillors of “messing around, not voting correctly”.

A call to run the vote again led to a firm “No,” from Lib Dem group leader Cllr Lindsay Ferris, who was followed by Cllr Bray: “You didn’t vote the way we told you, so nowyou have to vote the way we’re telling you,” she said.

But Cllr Richards said that the councillors’ debate was “just wasting time” and renewed calls to “start afresh” with a new vote. “Please do not vote twice,” he said.

Cllr Ferris said: “I will be asking (democratic services monitoring officer) Andrew Moulton to make an adjudication please. That’s what he’s here for.

“What does (the council’s) constitution say about when people have voted twice please?”

Cllr Ferris then complained about being muted on the virtual meeting, but Cllr Richards denied it was him: “I haven’t muted you, I don’t have the ability to do that,” he said.

There was then an adjournment to the meeting while the mayor sought advice from Mr Moulton.

On his return, he said: “The constitution does not say which way (to go). It is silent on this. But it does say that if people vote twice, that vote is invalid.”

Cllr Ferris then warned that if the vote was invalidated and had to be re-run: “I know what I will do next time – vote twice”.

Mr Moulton then came into the meeting, pointing out that councillors can change their vote up until the point that the actual decision is announced. “In the circumstances we’re in, I think we should start the process again so there is no confusion in terms of the vote,” he added.

A second vote was taken, and Cllr Ferris did vote twice, despite being asked not to.

When challenged by Cllr Pauline Jorgensen (Conservative, Hillside), he said: “Absolutely, it is invalidated.”

“I think you’ve invalidated your own (vote), I’m not sure (if you have for) anybody else’s,” Cllr Jorgensen said.

Cllr Bray said that her opposition member’s comment was “nonsensical”.

After a bit of tussle, Cllr Ferris gained control of the council chamber and said that a vote shouldn’t be held twice.

“This is a point of principle,” he said.

“This has to be dealt with by the constitutional review working group after the meeting.

“I want it to be on the agenda because it was obvious that there were two members of the Conservative group who voted for (the extension) because that’s what they thought.

“And then it was clear that it was to be voted again, that’s what happened, so they voted twice, and that’s what I deliberately voted twice the second time.

“You can do what you like … (the constitution) is silent on this so we can carry on all night because if you want me to, I’ll keep voting twice.”

Cllr Jorgensen argued: “You don’t know why people voted twice at all” saying that it could have been caused by sticky keys.

Cllr Richards, as mayor, suggested a recorded vote as people couldn’t vote twice. It was proposed by Cllr Jorgensen and seconds by Cllr Keith Baker (Conservative, Coronation), but Cllr Andy Croy pointed out that six members needed to ask for a recorded vote, but the mayor overruled him.

The Conservatives won and Cllr Richards moved to conclude the meeting by 10.30pm.

Cllr Ken Miall (Conservative, Maiden Erlegh) said that it was “10.30pm now” but other councillors pointed out it was actually around 10.20pm. As there was fewer than 15 minutes remaining, it was not possible to start debating a new motion, and – despite fresh protests – he brought the meeting to a close.

LIGHTS … camera … action … brains off, mouths in gear. This was not their finest hour, nor even their finest three hours, but it was definitely their worst twenty minutes.

If Ricky Gervais were watching, the first draft of “The Council” would be ready next week, for filming in October and on telly for Christmas.

And while the real thing has already been released via YouTube, it’s not recommended viewing, even the part when the meeting goes to pieces near the end. But it should be mandatory for all 54 of our elected councillors to watch. Not only to see how they come across to the paying public, but also to mark themselves out of 10 for their contribution(s).

A meeting derailed

The meeting had been coming apart long before its less than graceful ending.

Marking the start of the process is tricky as the technology went ‘feet-up’ only two minutes in. Councillors took quite a bit longer, starting with the leader interrupting the mayor. Possibly well meant at the time, it set a poor precedent for later.

By the time 10pm came round, it was clear that more time was needed to finish the last two motions, so a thirty minute extension was requested.

Perhaps it’s the default Tory stance of voting for an early bedtime, but two of their number woke up … and voted the wrong way, but neither were man enough to admit their error and move on.

The mayor was interrupted during the voting process with a “who’s running the meeting Malcolm?” a rhetorical question from a leader who should know better.

With a point of order and some officer advice added in, by the time the leader of the opposition was re-declaring that he’d be voting twice, any resemblance to an adult discussion had totally vanished.

Self discipline

And on the night, self discipline was probably furthest from people’s minds.

One senior politician talked of another’s “monologue of nonsense speech”, but didn’t follow his own observation. Others insisted on having their say and disrespecting as well as ignoring the mayor’s efforts to maintain order.

Indeed, many councillors seemed to lack even the most basic self-discipline of keeping their microphone switched off.

And when a councillor takes four minutes for a three minute speech, boring or annoying their colleagues into the bargain, then the meeting’s always going to over-run.

As one participant observed afterwards — a fellow councillor “might have the right to speak at a Working Group meeting, but they don’t have the right to interrupt”. Advice that participant would have done well to observe themselves.

A ray of sunshine

One of the bits not yet hacked out by the current leader is the statements by executive members on their particular area(s) of responsibility within WBC.

And after all the above, while you’d be forgiven for thinking that this particular full council meeting was the worst of times, it had within it one exceptional speech from Charles Margetts, exec Member for Health, Wellbeing and Adult Services.

Against a backdrop of almost total disaster from Tories on high at a national level, at a local level Cllr Margetts delivered the clearest, crispest and most well put together summary of what the council’s done recently during the Covid-19 pandemic — warts and all.

He gave a good account without exceeding his allotted time. Respect.