Participants in a meeting like to try the following sentence: “Everything has already been said, but not yet by everyone.” With this self-irony, those who speak up at the end of the debate and thus drag out the meeting hope to tame the resentment of the impatient. So that the time budget of the meeting participants might not be strained as much in the future, the neo-parliamentary group in the Unterhachingen municipal council recently requested that the speaking time of external parties be reduced to a maximum of 15 minutes. Too often a lot was repeated or simply lectured for hours on the basis of the template. Can you save yourself, thought the Neos. But nothing will come of it. Because with 13 to 13 votes the local council decided now: We have to talk!
Emil Salzeder from the Neos had made his suggestion very carefully. Knowing full well that many a frequent speaker on the committee might get their idea down the wrong track. After all, the Unterhaching-based group is extremely open to debate and does not miss any opportunity to question even the tiniest detail of the papers, templates and plans from the town hall administration. The external experts, then, should at least stay briefly, found the Neos, who also have no desire to hang around in the meeting room when they are asleep, although everything could have been read through beforehand so that they could meet with their local council colleagues and – if necessary – only to discuss specific questions with the experts. If specialist planners or project managers or other experts on the subject do not come every time, it not only saves time, but also money, Salzeder argued.
Half of the local council was quite convinced. And some would have been happy to come home earlier that way. But in the event of a tie in the vote of a municipal committee, points are not shared like in football, but the application is simply rejected. The administration’s proposal for a resolution was also verbose and complicated. Because you can’t just decide to limit your speech. It would then have become part of the municipal council’s rules of procedure. Paragraph 45, paragraph 3. And 13 parishioners didn’t let themselves be talked about about that.