Embattled Rotorua Lakes councillor Reynold Macpherson is vowing to "boycott" the latest code of conduct investigation into his behaviour.
Reynold Macpherson. Photo: Rotorua Daily Post / Andrew Warner
Macpherson said he had advised the chair of the council's Audit and Risk Committee, Wallace Bain, that he would not be participating further in the third complaints process he had "been subjected to".
The council and mayor have declined to comment on the specifics of the code of conduct process under way.
The latest complaints relate to three separate social media posts written by the councillor, who is also the chairman of the Rotorua Residents and Ratepayers Association.
They were made by chief executive Geoff Williams, fellow councillor Fisher Wang and Rural Community Board chairwoman Shirley Trumper.
The posts were about a wastewater leak, the Trility wastewater management contract and homelessness in Rotorua.
Last year, five complaints were made against the councillor, resulting in nearly $60,000 in costs for ratepayers and the mayor apologising to complainants.
Macpherson said, in his opinion, the complaints process had been "corrupted" and "weaponised to suppress freedom of speech".
He claimed he was informed the Audit and Risk Committee - which deals with formal complaints under the council's elected members' code of conduct - met on 5 May after the three-part complaint was referred to the committee by Rotorua mayor Steve Chadwick on 13 April, 2021.
He said the council's elected members' code of conduct required the committee to meet within five days of receiving a formal complaint to assess options to resolve the complaint.
The document states: "The … committee will convene within five days of receiving a formal complaint and will consider the complaint and identify and assess the options that are available to resolve the complaint".
Macpherson said he took the view that "failing to meet that requirement has rendered the complaint null and void".
Macpherson claimed Audit and Risk Committee chairman Wallace Bain told him he had indeed received a formal complaint from the mayor within five days before the Audit and Risk Committee and Bain had proposed engaging two independent investigators "nominated" by Local Government New Zealand (LGNZ).
"I confirmed that I had a copy of the mayor's referral letter dated more than five days before the Audit and Risk Committee meeting.
"LGNZ is a central political lobby group that represents the views of mayors and chief executives and lacked plausibility regarding legal and political independence, and asked him not to harass me further on this matter."
LGNZ declined to comment in response.
The organisation is a representative membership body for elected members and Taituarā Local Government Professionals Aotearoa is the national membership organisation for local government managers.
The code of conduct laid out a staged approach to dealing with complaints, beginning with an informal attempt to resolve an issue before it was progressed as a formal complaint - stage two.
Macpherson said, at the stage one meeting with the mayor and chief executive, he encountered what he described as "an emotional mayor" attempting to "browbeat" him into "accepting her predetermined position".
He described Williams as "a complainant with a conflict of interest" in his opinion.
He said Chadwick and Williams had recused themselves from the Audit and Risk Committee but councillors Dave Donaldson, Merepeka Raukawa-Tait and Tania Tapsell had not.
Macpherson previously claimed those three councillors had shown predetermination due to comments Tapsell and Donaldson made against the Facebook posts in a council committee meeting, and Raukawa-Tait because of an opinion she expressed on TVNZ's Q&A programme about the demographic of people who caused dysfunction on councils.
She'd described them as "invariably older white men, Pākehā men, acting badly".
Macpherson said another problem in his view was the code of conduct was "not fit for purpose".
"It has not been revised to accommodate the Harmful Digital Communications Act (HDCA), despite a direction from the Audit and Risk Committee."
In April, a council spokeswoman confirmed to Local Democracy Reporting the council accepted and noted the recommendation of the committee, but had not decided to review the code of conduct "at this stage".
The council also provided an extract from legal advice it had obtained in order to consider the alignment of the code of conduct with the Act.
The advice warned of "a risk that aligning the code of conduct too closely with the HDCA would expose [the] council to employment law risk".
It also stated a complaint under the HDCA "would not prevent a parallel process under the code of conduct" and that use of the HDCA process outside of the code of conduct would sit "uneasily with the legislative intent behind the code of conduct".
The council was asked for an update on the course of the code of conduct complaints, and when a resolution was expected.
Council district leadership and democracy deputy chief executive Oonagh Hopkins said as the process was still under way it would be "inappropriate to comment or discuss specifics at this time".
"We do not intend to run this process through the media."
However, she said the code of conduct provided "guidelines" and the Audit and Risk Committee had quarterly scheduled meetings.
"The timing of unscheduled meetings in between is dependent on the availability of those involved but all efforts are made to meet the five-day timeframe regarding code of conduct referrals."
The council was also asked how much the most recent code of conduct complaints had cost the council to date, and for clarification on whether an independent investigator had been confirmed, and how much that was expected to cost.
Chadwick said the appropriate process was under way and it would be "inappropriate to undermine that by commenting further at this stage".
Bain has been approached for comment.
Another complaint was made against Macpherson in between last year's five complaints and the current three, which was dealt with informally.
That related to Macpherson's misattribution of a social media account to council deputy chief executive Te Arawa partnership Gina Rangi, which Macpherson told Local Democracy Reporting was "a case of mistaken identity".
In a social media post, he had accused the account of "persistently abusing those who disagree with her", accusing it of "angry intolerance" and "extremism".
A council spokeswoman said Macpherson had acknowledged the error, apologised "profusely" to Rangi and her whānau, and the matter was closed.
It brought the total of code of conduct complaints brought against Macpherson to nine.
Ombudsman declines to proceed with Macpherson's complaint
On 22 March, Macpherson complained to the Ombudsman with his concerns about whether Geoff Williams, as chief executive of the council, could make a code of conduct complaint.
He also raised concerns about whether the behaviour of the mayor and other elected members exhibited what was in his opinion "predetermination" regarding the current code of conduct complaints.
Ombudsman intake and early assistance team manager Scott Martin responded on 12 May, saying the Ombudsman would not take further action on the complaint.
"There does not appear to be any restriction on chief executive Geoffrey Williams in making a formal complaint against you ... if in his engagement with you, he believes you have not adhered to the standard of behaviour expected of an elected member as set out in the code."
Martin said any elected members could raise issues about the chief executive with the mayor.
"Mayor Chadwick and chief executive Williams have excused themselves from the committee due to concerns you raised around natural justice.
"As it appears you are still engaging with the code's complaints process, the Chief Ombudsman is unlikely to take any action about this matter.
"Given those with whom you raised concerns about have excused themselves from the committee, your engagement with this process may resolve your complaint, and any investigation by this Office would be premature."
However, Martin wrote if Macpherson continued to be dissatisfied with the response after step two of the process, he could write to the Office again.
Local Democracy Reporting is a public interest news service supported by RNZ, the News Publishers' Association and NZ On Air.