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Southland Regional Council has been meeting privately to discuss an email sent by the chair of the community board.
photo: RNZ/Ian Telfer reports
Eight months after the Southern Committee began holding private meetings, details about the secret code of conduct issue have finally emerged.
Late on Wednesday night, Southland Regional Council released the findings of an independent investigation into a letter sent by Tūātapere Te Waewae Community Committee chairperson Anne Horrell.
The investigation found that the letter was sent after the board circulated it to members and that the complainant, Myles Greber, felt “deeply offended” by it.
But the report also noted that relations between the board and Graeber were strained and that tensions had been building for months.
The problems began on September 15, when Chairman Horrell wrote to Greber expressing concerns about an op-ed he had published in his community newsletter. Western Hikers It is factually incorrect and contradicts parts of what she wrote in the same version.
Three days later, Graeber responded by asking the board to address his concerns, which included privacy issues because Horrell’s responses came from a shared personal email address.
Graeber said the board may have exceeded the council’s code of conduct and asked it to acknowledge that “your allegations are unreasonable and untrue.”
But Graeber didn’t get his wish because Horrell never sent the email to the other board members.
After bringing this oversight to her attention, Horrell immediately apologized to Graeber but was more concerned that his reporting was negative, derogatory, and inaccurate.
The complainant then raised the issue with the council, culminating in the first of four meetings of the organization’s executive committee in December.
In March, Horrell told the executive committee that she felt responsible and was willing to apologize on behalf of the board for the offense caused, while making it clear that the board still stood by its response.
The committee felt the board’s response was insufficient to warrant an apology and a formal investigation was launched by Sue Wells & Associates.
To date, the investigation has cost more than $7,700.
Director Sue Wells conducted two days of interviews in Tuatapere in May and found the relationship between the board and the complainant had broken down and that “the positions of all parties were deeply entrenched”.
Wells said the problem stemmed from an “unprofessional” email the board wrote after months of frustration.
“This did not happen in isolation, tensions had been building in the months leading up to the email.
“One board member said they had asked the council for help three times but had received no response.”
Wells said that while the incident may seem minor, being reprimanded by the community board “is no small matter.”
She found the board had breached regulations and made a series of recommendations.
These include further training, reviewing decision-making processes, making members aware of information-sharing requirements, reviewing email addresses, reviewing support provided to the board and revising the code of conduct to make it clearer.
On Monday, the council will meet to determine if a violation occurred.
The executive committee agreed with many of Wells’ recommendations and felt that no further action should be taken against the board members.
Horrell was contacted by Local Democracy Report but he would not comment.
LDR is a local news organisation co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air
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