Bob Edlin: Invercargill weakened its democracy to give tribal groups voice......

Invercargill weakened its democracy to give tribal groups voice – but one of them has relinquished its privilege

PoO must confess to having focused on the $33,000 costs of an Invercargill City Council “Code of Conduct” investigation, thereby failing to note the savings gained from a tribal group’s decision to relinquish a place on council committees.

The council four years ago voted to enable two rūnaka to appoint representatives to committee posts. But two voices have been trimmed to one.

Bob Edlin: Report on Code of Conduct investigation costs Invercargill ratepayers $33,000......

Report on Code of Conduct investigation costs Invercargill ratepayers $33,000 – and the council rejects its findings

What (we wonder) does Cr Ian Pottinger have to say about the outcome of the $33,000+ investigation which he triggered when he lodged a Code of Conduct complaint against Invercargill’s deputy mayor.

PoO reported on Monday about the captious councillor’s latest complaint, this time concerning the robust language allegedly directed at a council staffer at a meeting he did not attend.

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.