Councils
Invercargill City councillors have decided that Grant Dermody wasn’t in breach of the code of conduct when he made comments at the Rugby Park stakeholders meeting on February 3.
All but one councillor present at the extraordinary meeting in Invercargill today (Tuesday March 31), voted against the motion that it was a material breach, regarding allegations he called a senior staff member a dickhead - (Crs Allan Arnold, Steve Broad, Trish Boyle, Andrea de Vries, Lisa Tau-McNaughton and Barry Stewart).
Cr Marcus Lush voted in support and said that if they decided there wasn’t a breach, then what was the point of the investigation? - council confirmed it had already cost $33,000 with final invoices still to come.
“This appears to be a blue on blue attack,” Cr Lush said, of one councillor taking out another, but he said Cr Dermody was the last person he expected that to happen to.
“I have always found him to be diligent, focused and professional,” he said.
Crs Alex Crackett, Ria Bond, Ian Pottinger - who were behind the code of complaint, were not at the meeting or part of the decision making, and neither was Cr Darren Ludlow. Read the full report here
Cr Lush, a television and radio personality, who is all too familiar with media attention, acknowledged that it must have been a difficult time for Cr Dermody, especially with some of the headlines circulating in mainstream media.
Mayor Tom Campbell agreed with Cr Lush that the lawyer involved in the investigation made a recommendation that the council needed to test, regarding the potential breach of the code of conduct.
But Cr Lisa Tau-McNaughton questioned whether a comment said under your breath, that is not specifically directed at anyone, should result in a code of conduct being brought against you?
She also questioned the integrity of the person (Cr Pottinger), bringing the code of conduct to council when they weren’t even at the Rugby Park meeting.
There were also comments made about the lack of commitment to each other around the council table and potential politicking at play, "and a sharing of information that didn't need to be shared."
“I am very disappointed to be here today… it has diminished our reputation….how does this process benefit our community? It just distracts us from our responsibilities," Cr Tau-McNaughton said.
She said there appeared to be different versions of what was said circulating, and therefore inconsistencies.
Having also attended the Rugby Park meeting as well as several others in the room, she believed the comments were not specifically directed at any staff member.
The fact that Cr Dermody had already apologised to the staff member, to the CEO and to the Mayor, soon after the incident, was also important to councillors.
“It was important to me that there was no power imbalance here, This is a very senior staff member. If it had been a junior then it would be viewed a lot differently,” Mayor Campbell said.