Vancouver council had a delay this morning due to technical issues, then Mayor Kennedy Stewart's line got disconnected, so now there's another recess while they figure out what happened.

honestly i respect the difficulties they face being productive, very relatable right now

after an argument over whether they should delay the meeting, kennedy stewart phoned back in before they officially adjourned

but stewart couldn't hear what anyone else was saying, so we had more delays

anyway maybe soon we'll hear about the city wanting $200 million

(now i'm listening to a vancouver clerk saying "mayor stewart, are you on the line now?" every 45 seconds or so, and hearing nothing in return. so it's going great)

"Those fat cats at city hall want $200 million of YOUR taxpayer dollars to bail themselves out, but they can't even get a conference call to work. It's time to put all of them on mute" is a line I'm giving free of charge to any open line radio host out there

update: mayor stewart can't get his computer to work so he's heading to city hall to chair the council meeting from there

city manager sadhu johnston is explaining things and just said "the meeting is adjourned, so we're not being broadcast," but he very much is being broadcast

it's art, really

UPDATE: a vancouver councillor just flushed their toilet on the live conference call and their phone wasn't muted

lots of people laughed about the toilet being flushed, kennedy stewart was not amused, half the councillors can't get on the conference call, but other than that things are going great

now the vancouver council meeting is underway

colleen hardwick is asking why public hearings are going ahead if the city is having so much difficulty hosting a basic livestream

the city manager is saying today (which included a toilet being flushed) is an exception

things are getting increasingly meta, as more councillors are asking if future meetings with the public should happen considering this meeting was such a gong show

kennedy stewart says "the problem with the technology this morning was completely on my end"

as council continues debating whether they should have public hearings, kennedy stewart can't hear melissa de genova

de genova: "i can yell into the phone, but it’s my technology, and my headset isn’t working … i'm trying my best here"

i'm trying my best too, melissa

during this council motion debate on whether there should be public hearings right now, there's an amendment for a trial run to see if it works (during a meeting which is a test run for the new technology in itself https://twitter.com/dril/status/568056615355740160?lang=en

update: another councillor tried paying some bills over the phone and forget their phone wasn't on mute

then councillor christine boyle said technology could help public hearings become more accessible, but her phone connection was so bad kennedy stewart could barely hear her

meanwhile there was a debate on whether to have the march 5th virtual public hearing (assuming the trial run later this month) at 1pm or 6pm, council eventually voted 7-4 to keep it at 6pm

(ordinarily that would have been a very interesting philosophical debate, but you know)

now there's a motion from colleen hardwick to delay the virtual public hearing

says there are serious concerns

"are the people phoning in from vancouver? how do we know the purposes of the people phoning in?"

that's already the case for irl vancouver public hearings

Hardwick's amendment to further delay public hearings doesn't get debated because no councillor agrees with her.

We now have a lunch break, and then things go in camera, so we won't be back until 3pm.

that may have been the weirdest council meeting i've covered