The first Council meeting at Brent's £100,000,000 Civic Centre was the occasion for opening remarks praising this 'magnificent' new building by Labour councillors.
Then things went downhill.
Councillors' microphones were either not working or only intermittent, making proceedings inaudible to the public and some councillors sounding like short-circuiting Daleks. The speakers' screen that shows the Mayor, who chairs the meeting, who is due to speak was not working. The mobile phone signal in the conference room was very poor and the broadband not sufficient to download the documents under discussion. The display board merely displayed the Brent logo rather than documents, speaker's names or motions under discussion.
The public are now roped off on the same floor level as the councillors with some councillors seated right in front of them, this obscures the view.
More complaints are coming in to me regarding the phone service including residents' calls not being answered, being abruptly cut off, barely audible answerphone messages and the robot switchboard voice recognition 'mishearing' names and departments and making ludicrous suggestions as to what the customer may require.
It is beginning too look more than mere teething problems.
Then things went downhill.
Councillors' microphones were either not working or only intermittent, making proceedings inaudible to the public and some councillors sounding like short-circuiting Daleks. The speakers' screen that shows the Mayor, who chairs the meeting, who is due to speak was not working. The mobile phone signal in the conference room was very poor and the broadband not sufficient to download the documents under discussion. The display board merely displayed the Brent logo rather than documents, speaker's names or motions under discussion.
The public are now roped off on the same floor level as the councillors with some councillors seated right in front of them, this obscures the view.
More complaints are coming in to me regarding the phone service including residents' calls not being answered, being abruptly cut off, barely audible answerphone messages and the robot switchboard voice recognition 'mishearing' names and departments and making ludicrous suggestions as to what the customer may require.
It is beginning too look more than mere teething problems.