17 December 2021
Media: Local Democracy Reporter
Topic: Code of Conduct decisions
Enquiry
Councillor Macpherson has provided me with his thoughts on the council's statement last night re the code of conduct decision.
Former mayor Grahame Hall also has a viewpoint on it.
I'd like to invite the council and or the mayor to respond to what they have said below.
If the council and or mayor would like to respond, can you please do so by 2.30pm.
Thanks very much
Felix
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COMMENTS:
[Cr Reynold Macpherson]
SILENCED FOR CHRISTMAS - FOR SPEAKING TRUTH TO POWER
Mayor Chadwick’s ‘kangaroo court’ went exactly as scripted, behind closed doors. Not a word was changed. Six out of ten elected members accepted the advice of the Audit and Risk Committee that an ‘independent’ Investigation Panel had found that I had breached the Code of Conduct in my posts at the RDRR Facebook page.
Three complaints were selected out of eight to prosecute me. Those deselected were from Mrs Shirley Trumper (a fishing expedition), from the Chief Executive (which misconstrued a complaint against Council by Justin Adams), and two secret complaints I was not allowed to see.
Those selected for prosecution were from the Chief Executive had complained of ‘misinformation’ when I linked sewage leaks to under investment in infrastructure maintenance due to over investment in iwi partnership projects. Mrs Shirley Trumper had complained about my criticism of organisational restructures and the Trility contract. Cr Fisher Wang said I lied when I reported that Council was involved in bussing homeless into Rotorua. Apparently, the truth hurts.
The Mayor and Crs Dave Donaldson, Merepeka Raukawa-Tait, Trevor Maxwell, Mercia Yates and Fisher Wang (a complainant who admitted a conflict of interest but then was allowed to speak and vote) conspired to ban me from the Strategy, Policy and Finance Committee and the Operations and Monitoring Committee for 2022. They gave reasons for suspending my human rights to freedom of speech and access to information, and for denying my democratic duty to represent my constituents. I had to be banned for peddling ‘misinformation’, not being on the Mayor’s team, being a bully (by the bully-in-chief herself), spelling mistakes, and for not apologizing and showing sincere remorse. For revealing the truth?
My careful documentation of many due process errors and maladministration were ignored. Crs Sandra Kai Fong, Tania Tapsell and Raj Kumar noted that the punishment did not fit the ‘crime’ when they abstained. Cr Peter Bentley was absent. The Chief Executive recused himself.
I won’t be apologizing for telling the truth about the sewage leaks, the reorganisations and outsourcing, and the assisted migration of the homeless. They must be stopped if we are going to restore Rotorua as a fit place to live. Criticism of this Council won’t be stopped by a purchased ‘investigation’, an elaborate and orchestrated show trial, and blaming the whistleblower for the appalling waste of ratepayers’ money.
So, a muted Merry Christmas but a Happy New Year of more revelations of waste and incompetence as I watch SP&F and O&M committees online. There are no more sanctions available to the Mayor’s power bloc wanting to stop my back chat to stay in power. I expect that, on 8 October 2022, Rotorua’s citizens will rid themselves of this Soviet-style regime.
Dr Reynold Macpherson
District Councillor and Chairman of RDRR
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Grahame Hall:
"I support standards of behaviour and expect to see respect for other people's views. I'm very disappointed to see the current situation.
"In 27 years in local government I never experienced staff bring code of conduct complaints against an elected representative and incurring huge costs. The time and expense is unbelievable and inappropriate. One would hope there have been lessons learned from this and I like many other ratepayers look forward to seeing some major changes in the way [the] council operates next term.
"To be perfectly honest I wish that they would just get on with their jobs.
"The voters are the the ones that have the final say if people have been inappropriate. To go through this procedure is madness. People are entitled to have opinions, and if they're incorrect they should just be corrected."
He believed the suggestion of removing a councillor from committees was "an attack on democracy".
"People are entitled to have their say. Just because other people disagree that isn't a reason to hassle them and put them through this process.
"The code of conduct is important but there's a far better way to deal with [issues]."
He said that way was face to face and if Macpherson had not engaged in an offer to resolve it informally, Hall believed it was because there was not a genuine approach to hear Macpherson's point of view.
"It's 'my way or the highway'."
ENDS
Response
The following information and comment was provided:
Nothing from the organisation Felix but see minutesHERE which have been added to information proactively released yesterday (Code of Conduct decisions released - Rotorua Lakes Council) and which record the abstentions.
See below comment provided by Mayor Chadwick:
There are no ‘secret’ complaints. Mr Macpherson was aware of all five of the complaints that were referred to the Audit & Risk Committee for investigation and were then referred to Council for decision yesterday.
As I stated yesterday, these are difficult matters but there has been a fair and robust process and it remains my hope that Cr Macpherson will ultimately honour the process and the outcome.
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Media: Local Democracy Reporter
Topic: Council's 2020/21 Annual Report
Enquiry
Reporter sought copy of the annual report
Response
You’ll find the 2020/21 Annual Report at this link: https://www.rotorualakescouncil.nz/our-council/council-publications/annual-reports