Bob Edlin: Another costly Code of Conduct inquiry....

Another costly Code of Conduct inquiry – but captious councillor contends he had to lodge yet another official complaint

Exactly what was said seems to be uncertain.

According to the Southland Tribune, Invercargill deputy Mayor Grant Dermody is alleged to have directed some vituperative words at a council officer, whereas Dermody claims he said something else to someone else.

Whatever the words, they sparked yet another Code of Conduct investigation – the sixth since 2020 by our count – and yet again it has brought Cr Ian Pottinger into the headlines.

He has been directly involved in at least three formal codes-of- conduct investigations since 2020, primarily in the role of the complainant.

Most recently, he lodged a complaint against Deputy Mayor Grant Dermody regarding whatever he said to a council officer last month.

The complaint has been upheld.

The Southland Tribunal reports:

Invercargill deputy Mayor Grant Dermody is alleged to have called a senior council staffer “you f**king dick”, “you’re a dickhead”, or something similar.

As a result, the deputy mayor has been found to have breached the council’s Code of Conduct, although Dermody himself denies using those words, instead suggesting he said “that’s ridiculous” in an aggressive tone.

However, two councillors said they heard Dermody use the words “f**king dick”, or something similar, during a council staff member’s presentation.

The incident is alleged to have occurred at a briefing on Rugby Park at Rugby Park on February 3. The briefing involved councillors, council staff, and community stakeholders.

Councillors Ria Bond, Alex Crackett, and Darren Ludlow, are said to have discussed Dermody’s behaviour soon after the Rugby Park briefing.

This Pottinger bloke did not attend the briefing, according to the Southland Tribune report.

But when he was made aware of Dermody’s alleged comments towards a council staffer, he felt it breached the Code of Conduct and chose to make an official complaint.

That sparked Dunedin-based lawyer Michael Garbett to undertake an independent investigation.

Garbett found from his interviews that, on the balance of probabilities, Dermody did make a comment towards the senior council staffer, stating “you fucking dick” or “you’re a f**king dickhead”.

And what did the council staffer do to earn the rebuke?

It seems he was making a presentation on Rugby Park

Various witnesses said Dermody “was clearly not happy” with some aspect of the presentation.

Dermody contends he stated “that’s ridiculous” in an aggressive tone

Moreover, his remark was directed towards another person at a nearby table, not at the council staff member, who had suggested that if the Southland Stags were to play in Frankton, instead of Invercargill’s Rugby Park, Frankton was still in Southland.

Yep. Southlanders can get passionate about their rugby.

But here’s the thing: Dermody has apologised to the council staff member for his behaviour, saying he had “let himself down” at the Rugby Park meeting.

The council staff member had accepted the apology.

Dermody told the staff member he had been misheard by those nearby but “should not have put myself in that arena”.

But saying “sorry” is not enough nowadays.

The independent investigator has ruled that Dermody’s behaviour breached 8.2 of the Code of Conduct.

“It was a comment that did not treat the Council Officer with courtesy and respect, and did not avoid publicly criticising any employee in any way. It’s a material breach of the Code in my assessment.”

Garbett recommended that Dermody carry out governance training.

An extraordinary council meeting has been organised for tomorrow, when the council will decide what happens next.

First, councillors must determine whether they agree that Dermody’s actions were a breach of the Code of Conduct.

If they say there was a breach, they must decide on what penalty, if any, is handed to Dermody.

Code of Conduct penalties can range from a letter of censure to the elected member, right through to an invitation for the elected member to resign.

Ratepayers are penalised, too, because dealing codes of conduct complaints costs money.

In 2020 a code of conduct complaint against Invercargill’s deputy mayor, Cr Nobby Clark at the time, cost ratepayers $10,000.

That sum — without GST — was to cover the fees of barrister Robert Buchanan who carried out an independent investigation following a complaint from – guess who?

Yep. Councillor Ian Pottinger.

Clark was found to have breached the council’s code of conduct when he made comments about the chief executive Clare Hadley in a council meeting.

Speaking to the Otago Daily Times at that time, Clark reiterated he had admitted his mistake at the earliest opportunity.

While he appreciated council had to follow process, he believed the money spent on the investigation could have been put to better use.

He said at the start of the process he had acknowledged fault and had asked if a full investigation was necessary.

That was declined.

Clark further said:

“It would save money. Definitely. Probably would be a quarter of that price.”

The previous year, Cr Lesley Soper lodged a Code of Conduct complaint against Mayor Sir Tim Shadbolt. The investigation into that complaint cost $9000.

On the matter of his complaint against Deputy Mayor Dermody, Pottinger is resolute.

The Press reports his position under the headline: –

‘No choice’ but to lodge code of conduct complaint against deputy mayor: Pottinger

Invercargill City councillor Ian Pottinger has welcomed a report upholding his code of conduct complaint against deputy mayor Grant Dermody, saying the rules could always be changed, but not ignored.

Pottinger acknowledged “it always seems to be me’’ lodging the complaints.

He previously laid two upheld complaints against former mayor Nobby Clark, one together with councillor Ria Bond against the mayor citing the N-word on national television, and the other for his questioning the honesty of comments by then city manager Clare Hadley.

Pottinger said he hadn’t been at the Rugby Park meeting, but he had heard from Bond, who was there, about the language used.

He said he respected Bond and “I knew she wasn’t making anything up, … I guess I had no choice”.

But he did have a choice. It was to subject the council to another costly investigation – or do nothing.

Another option would be to talk with the council staffer and establish the extent of any mischief done by the Deputy Mayor, then mediate or help sort things out informally.

Anything to keep the lawyers (and their charges) out of resolving the matter.

Only last month Pottinger was involved in a tense exchange with a committee chair, Alex Crackett, where he refused to apologise for a comment. Crackett indicated she would take the matter “offline,” but there is no public record of a formal code of conduct investigation.

This reinforces our view that Pottinger did have a choice: things can be sorted out behind the scenes.

Bob Edlin is a veteran journalist and editor for the Point of Order blog HERE. - where this article was sourced.