Quick u-turn sees Executive Board meeting to be held virtually

A row over a planned move to in-person meetings disenfranchising some councillors has been quelled with swift news tonight from the Council Leader that Tuesday’s Executive Board meeting will now be held virtually.

As we reported earlier in a passionate Democratic Service meeting the Executive Board meeting was brought up, with the news that it would be in person only being a surprise to many.

If it had gone ahead as planned those attending the council chamber would take part in person, with no facility for other councillors who are still cautious due to the ongoing pandemic to ‘dial in’ and take part virtually.

One councillor had expressed concerns to Wrexham.com that questions were due to be placed via the Chair, Cllr Mark Pritchard, and another had asked us about the process around points of order and other normal business – something that clearly had not been communicated at that point to members.

Tonight Wrexham Council Leader Mark Pritchard has told us the meeting will now be held virtually, in line with how business has been conducted over the last two years.

“After considering the views raised in the Democratic Services Committee this afternoon I have reviewed the arrangements of the Executive Board next Tuesday.

He confirmed, “This meeting will be held virtually and not in person.

“We will continue the conversation regarding multi-location meetings, and plan ahead to introduce those in the future. This will be a decision of the new administration.

“As Leader of the Council I was quite shocked to witness the Democratic Services Committee and some of the comments which was said at that meeting. I have asked the monitoring officer to investigate these comments, and I await to see the outcome.”

Which comments Cllr Pritchard is referring to is unclear, although as we reported earlier Vladimir Putin got an unusual reference from Cllr King.

Cllr King also made an another odd comment to Cllr Dixon who had just returned to the meeting after taking a call and was unsure what he was being asked to volunteer for, to which Cllr King replied, “It was to be sold in slavery in Saudi Arabia actually! But no, no, you’re not. It was actually to take part in a task and finish group to tighten up the protocol.”

You can read the full story on what took place in the Democratic Services Meeting here.