Full Council Meeting Thursday 16th March

[admin]

Next meeting of the full council is this Thursday, 16th March

Agenda:

https://www.hartlepool.gov.uk/meetings/meeting/3552/council

[DRiddle]

When the video comes out of this one I'd be surprised if anyone can hear anything on the audio. For whatever reason the sound system last night was nothing like it was when it was first put in. It was VERY quiet in terms of it being projected around the room. I was also told by a member of the public who wears a hearing aid that it was very difficult to hear anything while sat inside the chamber. Where as if you went OUTSIDE the chamber, the hearing aid loop system was crystal clear.

As for the meeting itself . . .  * sigh *

[steveL]

When the video comes out of this one I'd be surprised if anyone can hear anything on the audio. For whatever reason the sound system last night was nothing like it was when it was first put in. It was VERY quiet in terms of it being projected around the room. I was also told by a member of the public who wears a hearing aid that it was very difficult to hear anything while sat inside the chamber. Where as if you went OUTSIDE the chamber, the hearing aid loop system was crystal clear.

As for the meeting itself . . .  * sigh *

It says a lot about HBC that even after having two goes, spending thousands in the process, it still can't do something as simple as install a decent, sound system in its council chamber nor place TV screens in a place where their intended purpose can be fulfilled.

[jeffh]

What surprised me was Councillor Beck's inability to hear the question he'd been asked - how much notice had he been taking up to that point?

With the mumblings of CAB, the mutterings of MD and the Olde Hartleeepooool English of Crannibal I found it very difficult to follow proceedings - though I don't think I'll have missed much

[steveL]

Beck just about s**t himself when he was asked to supply a personal opinion on something. 'Personal Opinions', freely expressed, are a complete No No if you're a Labour councillor and Christopher quickly intervened to prevent it happening thereby allowing Beck to quietly slip back into dreaming about his next fondue..

[DRiddle]

Councillor Cranney seemed quite upset that I didn't appear to be listening and was on my phone when he answered my very innocuous question about the business event.

For the record, I was turning on a translation app I have on my I-phone.

You can select the language being spoken and it'll translate it in text form to the language you want it in.

Unfortunately, there wasn't an option to translate "Language- unknown" into "Language- English".

So at that point I had indeed given us listening. I vaguely remember him muttering something at it only costing £75, but I wasn't sure whether he was talking about the event itself, or the suit he was wearing.

[Foggy]

Cranney is a absolute disgrace.  I loved the way he took his piece of paper over to the lectern. Read (badly) from it for a line or two then just made it up, contradicted himself then spat his dummy! Some people are born to be public speakers and some... aren't.

Beck just about s**t himself when he was asked to supply a personal opinion on something. 'Personal Opinions', freely expressed, are a complete No No if you're a Labour councillor and Christopher quickly intervened to prevent it happening thereby allowing Beck to quietly slip back into dreaming about his next fondue..

That was the highlight of the evening for me. but I feared the worst when Barclay scurried over with a piece of paper. Unfortunately CAB saved his bacon so we never got to discover the contents of that piece of paper. I'm sure it would have been enlightening.

[steveL]

Careful. From what I'm hearing, they're about to have another go at making him Mayor in May. YouTube will be chokker......

Let's see what happens. Everyone is waiting with baited breath for the OFCA accounts to appear; they're now several weeks late. Perhaps this is because Cranney has changed his mind about the original Middlesbrough accountant firm he was hoping to use to sign them off - perhaps they weren't cooperative or 'creative' enough.

Not to worry. We're approaching the final straight now and all roads lead to Holme House.

Are Yer Listening Kevin?

[fred c]

I don't think I am alone in thinking the audio system settings could be 'manipulated........over the years there have been dozens of requests from the public for questions to be repeated and for councillors to 'Speak Up'.......... the result, spend money on an 'Improved System' then turn the councillors backs to the public......... sheers bad manners ? Or........ sheer ignorance ?

There is no need for a microphone...... IF...... the speaker actually bothers to speak clearly, concisely and with reasonable volume, (no need to shout) there are those in the chamber who deliberately speak in a low voice, there are others who are incapable of forming a sentence that actually makes sense.

Only in Hartlepool and Only Under The LabTor Mob

[fred c]

Careful. From what I'm hearing, they're about to have another go at making him Mayor in May. YouTube will be chokker......

One of the real pleasures of being retired is having the time to do whatever you want, whenever you want, I look forward to the possibility of attending 'every public appearance' of Craney as Mayor.........I seriously doubt even this dysfunctional shower would go that far, it would be a racing certainty that sooner rather than later, he would revert to his well documented type.........


Not to worry. We're approaching the final straight now and all roads lead to Holme House.

[Foggy]

I have to really concentrate to hear some people but others are a lot clearer, i.e. Paul Thompson and James Black. Having their back turned on the public does not help at all.  I can't understand a word CAB says when he is in his normal seat but I suspect he is a deliberate mumbler.  His tone and demeanour is getting worse meeting by meeting.  He doesn't show any respect to anyone and acts like he is far too important to be answering questions.

I did notice that when someone accidentally spoke whilst sitting down (which was immediately jumped on by Cook) it was much clearer.  I think therefore, the problem is obvious.  The closer you are to the microphone the clearer the sound.  Maybe this should have been considered before choosing the fancy new system.  Or maybe just let people sit down to speak. The Chair, Chief Solicitor and CEO do. Simples.

Moving onto more important issues.  CAB's answer regarding the carpet fiasco was BS.  Again, they seem to think that the decision to save the carpets was OK as the project was under budget.  Maybe the money left over might have been better spend on Adult Social Care.  I was a little disappointed that wasn't followed up by anyone.

Clearly Cook was trying to save Marj's bacon as she was getting more and more agitated as the questions continued.  In the world of Marj and (Cranney) "parking charges won't affect business at Seaton" and "charging people to dispose of waste won't lead to an increase in fly tipping".  We'll see how that one works out shall we 

Paul Thompson referred to the constitution and had a valid point.  Devlin waffled and more or less said yeah that's what is says but lets move on anyway.  What's wrong with these people??

The least said about Cook's chairing of the meeting the better.  He accuses people of being petty and childish... pot... kettle.. black?

[DRiddle]

CAB's answer regarding the carpet fiasco was BS.  Again, they seem to think that the decision to save the carpets was OK as the project was under budget.  Maybe the money left over might have been better spend on Adult Social Care.  I was a little disappointed that wasn't followed up by anyone.

I did consider following up on that question. But to be honest, Labour have embarrassed themselves and the council enough over the carpet issue. Sometimes I think the moral high ground is to quit while you're ahead and not feel the need to hammer home the point even further.

Plus i also feared there was a possibility that an officer could be sacrificed, unfairly, to help the certain people save face if the issue was pushed even further.

The REAL story (or at least the one that is being offered up as the official version) is now known to myself and other 'opposition' Councillors.

That's a hell of a lot further on than we were a few weeks ago when certain people were battling to suppress completely what had happened.

Labour deployed their usual tactic of saying "Yes we accept that £14,500 was wasted, but let's not forget, we came in under budget overall".

Which is a bit like saying "Yes we accept it was us that set fire to the money, but let's not forget we saved 2p a litre on the petrol we used to douse the money in".

[steveL]

I have so lost track of the different versions offered in excuse for Carpetgate that I've ended up dizzy at the thought of it. I don't want to put people in the same position so I'll just offer a brief summary.

We are, essentially, back not too far from where we started.




• It was CAB who took exception to the colour - there are witnesses. He wanted the carpets changed to the corporate colours
• It was agreed that, because the £4m project was coming in under budget, they could afford to placate the leader and buy a second carpet. The plan was to keep the whole thing quiet
• The total cost of the two sets of carpets was £90,000
• The story leaked
• A cover story was concocted that it was all to do with Autism and Dementia
• Guidance notes published on-line showed the original cover story to be bull***t
• The cover story was expanded and now it wasn't only about Autism and Dementia but about achieving a 'professional look'
• The 'absolute denial' that carpet tiles had been laid on top of other tiles was later retracted and it was admitted that new tiles had been laid on top of vinyl tiles that couldn't be lifted and 'some carpet tiles' 
  
• This was later added to by claiming that the whole thing was down to a single council officer who had gone beyond the permissible decision level for his pay grade

Sending a memo around asking if anyone wants some new carpet tiles for their office does not constitute the efficient use of resources. The bottom line is that this was a £45,000 sheer waste of money directly down to the Leader of the Council -

Calamity Chris and some sycophantic officers that were just too cowardly to tell him where to get off.[/list]

[kevplumb]

[quoye="steveL"] This was later added to by claiming that the whole thing was down to a single council officer who had gone beyond the permissible decision level for his pay grade [/quote]

or in other words the sacrifical lamb has been chosen and the knives are being sharpened

and if they get away with it that will be a bl**dy disgrace

[mk1]

or in other words the sacrifical lamb has been chosen and the knives are being sharpened

and if they get away with it that will be a bl**dy disgrace

Don't worry. UNISON will never allow it...............................