Are your Zoom meetings ever like this? Parish Council meeting descends into chaos

[chomalungma]

There is some awful behaviour on here.

It breaks down badly at 4 minutes.

rubbish as this was, note that parish councillors don't get paid. County councillors get allowances - and quite a few take them without doing anything, especially at the moment. Parish councillors work for free. I think only the clerk gets paid.

want to sort it? Stand for the parish council.

our local one is a little bit 'hot fuzz' but nothing like this, and hearts are generally in the right place apart from the 'never lived anywhere else' obsession with road building. Our county council however...will say no more as could get in trouble.

This has really brightened my day today. I mean, it's awful - these people are disgusting (and should READ THE STANDING ORDERS AND UNDERSTAND THEM) and it's slightly horrifying that they hold any position of authority but still... Jackie is awesome!

I think this is going to show up the massive difference between what men and women see.

(most) Men are going to shocked at what is going on
(most) Women are going to be sitting there going yep, been there, done that got the T-Shirt

@ancientgran - To be fiar, I woudl not feel too happy about hard earned money for a school being sent to an unknown entitiy abroad.

Those men are going to be fuming that their true colours have been exposed.

I seriously doubt it, they are too thick to acknowledge their misogynistic selves, the morons.

That's exactly what I needed this morning 🤣

Only listened to a tiny segment around the four minute mark, but the aggression is quite something. I've certainly not seen anything like this on Zoom personally.

twitter.com/alexgroves/status/1357443491912167424?s=20

Quite simply brilliant.

Lockdown has shown me one thing, the British abilty to knock up grade A humour on the fly is second to none

I thought that they did get some allowances? I don’t know that for sure though. This is a random google.

westendparishcouncil.org.uk/the-parish-council/councillors-allowances/

Please to say that our PC meetings aren't like this (DH is a parish Councillor). My neighbouring town council, however, is probably very much like this. The reports on the local FB page of the behaviour and attitudes of certain Councillors are something to behold.

There's a small amount of this on our PC, but me and another younger lady are taking them in hand. Apparently there has been rude behaviour in the past, and probably will again, but I've not seen it. Our clerk is fantastic amd we're all quite respectful of other's views.

Can i just add, Handforth is not a small rural village. It is a big, urban suburb next to the airport , a huge dual carriageway and a massive retail park.

Sequel

t.co/TMnu6cziEC?amp=1

It gets worse

.

I think it's more embarrassing for their families than the actual perpetrators, tbh. Imagine having to own up to being married to those men. 😲

Some of our councillors are like that. Not like Jackie Weaver: we could do with some more like her. But like the ones who were thrown out of the meeting: shouting, aggressive and bullying, especially towards any women who have the temerity to speak or offer an opinion different to their own. Unfortunately, they are tolerated and even supported by their fellow councillors and party members.

What’s the bet that she will be phased out as clerk and won’t be attending any more meetings.

please tell me these aren't paid roles? imagine if you behaved like this at work - you're be dismissed almost immediately!

And imagine watching that meeting and thinking “there’s my dad.”

That 'awful behaviour' was the absolute highlight of our evening, yesterday!

Jackie Weaver is a legend and was the no.1 trend on Twitter last night!

You have no authority here, OP!

I think my favourite bit though, just summing up the utter futility, was this

‘One member has not been to any council meetings in the past six months - the fact that there were no meetings is irrelevant’

Handforth Parish Council
www.handforth.org.uk/index.php
Minutes of the meeting
www.handforth.org.uk/archive/2020/Minutes/Minutes-Planning-Dec-2020.pdf
Youtube of the meeting

more here

Committee on Standards in Public Life
www.gov.uk/government/organisations/the-committee-on-standards-in-public-life

Eric Pickles abolished the Standards Board
which used to be able to sanction such bad behaviour.

But if someone doesn't go to a meeting for 6 months, they are automatically disqualified from office apparently. From what i can gather meetings should have been happening and the awful chairman has been refusing to allow them. Hence two of the councillors bringing in Jackie weaver to enable a meeting to take place.

The chairman is incompetent as the second video demonstrates. Sounds as though he's just avoided having meetings during the pandemic and other parish councillors have insisted on them. He was then fuming at being forced to hold a meeting he didn't want. He can't even properly draft and circulate the agenda to his fellow councillors. He's a disgrace.

Jackie Weaver is an experienced clerk who replaced the previous one who had left by the sound of things.

I know a parish clerk and have heard some toe-curling stories. A lot of these councillors have their own agenda - they don't act for the good of the community at all. It's all about them and what they want.

@Oswin

That vice chairs a right knob. So aggressive! I always imagined these types of thing to be gentle events. Like vicar of dibley.

I think that is a Parochial Church Council not a Parish Council?