Deputy Mayor Found in Breach of Code of Conduct

An investigation into a complaint on deputy Mayor Nobby Clark by a fellow councillor has found him in breach of the council’s Code of Conduct.

Chief executive Clare Hadley received a formal complaint by councillor Ian Pottinger on August 17, following comments made by Clark at a public meeting, implying Hadley had been untruthful about how she had dealt with a separate complaint involving Toni Biddle.

Pottinger found it “completely unacceptable” for a councillor to make statements criticising the CEO in public, and investigator Robert Buchanan agreed – in a report made public before today’s Performance, Policy and Partnerships Committee.

“In my preliminary assessment of the complaint, I concluded that the conduct complained of had breached section 5.2, and that the breach met the code’s test of materiality in that the breach would, if proven, bring the council into disrepute.”

After interviewed by Buchanan, Clark accepted that his statement was in breach of the code’s obligation to avoid publicly criticising an employee.

In his view, Clark believed the chief executive had on several previous occasions been dishonest with, or had lied to, him by withholding information from him as a councillor, or giving undertakings that turned out not to be correct.

Buchanan concluded in his report that under Section 5.2 of the Code of Conduct, he found it difficult to see what justification Clark had for making a public statement which questioned the CEO’s truthfulness.

“He may have thought her response ‘shallow’, not giving him the full picture…but the proper course of action at the time would have been to seek clarification…without using language which elevated the issue to one of truthfulness and, consequently, integrity.”

The committee accepted Clark’s verbal apology at the meeting, but councillor Lesley Soper requested that a written apology be made as well, which was seconded by councillor Alex Crackett.

The motion was lost and chair Darren Ludlow also made a point of saying that Hadley wanted the agenda item to remain in the public arena “to show greater transparency.”