Another row has erupted at the troubled Sandown Town Council (STC) after draft minutes of the last meeting incorrectly suggests one councillor said it was ‘rigged’.
The draft minutes declare:
Cllr Andre is recorded as accusing the meeting of being rigged.
Cllr Debbie Andre wrote to the town’s clerk on Friday last week when she discovered she’d been incorrectly attributed to saying the meeting was ‘rigged’.
Video evidence
The meeting held on 10th September – in a cramped room with standing room only for the residents attending – was filmed and the recording posted to Facebook.
The recording (at 3.05) clearly shows that Cllr Andre was not speaking when the words were said by a member of the public standing nearby.
Andre: Assertion “incorrect and untrue”
Cllr Debbie Andre told OnTheWight,
“The draft minutes of the meeting on 10th September include a passage that asserts that I said the Council meeting was rigged. Anyone who watches the video taken by Cllr Lightfoot, widely circulated on Facebook, will see that this is incorrect and untrue.
“The video clearly shows at 3.05 minutes in, that while the comment was made, it was clearly not made by me and appears to have come from a member of the public.”
Reported to the clerk
Cllr Andre went on to add,
“I am not sure how this error, which if it had any substance, would be damaging to me, has come about.
“I wrote to the clerk on Friday pointing out the error and asking her to correct the minutes prior to publishing them on the STC website, but I have not, as yet, had a reply.”
Response from the clerk
OnTheWight has written to the clerk to ask how the error could have been made and why minutes have not been corrected.
At time of publishing, we had not heard back.
Image: © Alex Lightfoot
