A controversial public hearing in Berne over a proposal to expand the town Planning Board from five to seven people and to allow convicted felon and ex-judge Thomas Spargo to serve on the Planning Board, devolved into an acrimonious shouting match filled with technological glitches, unmuted microphones, and Zoom-bombing before adjourned to another date.

The raucous and unruly video-conference debate featured insults between board members, confusion over who was speaking and ultimately a foreign language being typed on the screen

The meeting was largely unmuted, which meant that anyone who wanted to speak at any time could do so. Eventually, town attorney Javid Afzali muted everyone’s microphones except Town Board members.

After realizing there were clear difficulties in ensuring everyone could be heard during the hearing, the Town Board voted to adjourn the public hearing and reopen it next month during an in-person meeting so they could discuss the proposal.

The rest of the article discusses the background of the controversy.