Vandervis boycott follows 'abusive' emails

Lee Vandervis
Lee Vandervis
Dunedin City Council staff are under instructions not to speak to Cr Lee Vandervis after he gave orders to some staff and described others as "dogs" in a series of angry emails.

Instead, council staff have been told to forward phone calls or emails from Cr Vandervis to their general managers.

The council's customer services agency staff - who answered phone calls from members of the public - have also been told to divert any attempts by Cr Vandervis to contact staff to general managers instead.

The details were confirmed by Mayor Dave Cull yesterday following inquiries by the Otago Daily Times.

Mr Cull said the instructions to staff came from then-acting chief executive Athol Stephens last week, following a series of "abusive" emails from Cr Vandervis to staff, copied to other councillors and Mr Cull.

The tone of the emails prompted complaints from two staff to Mr Stephens, and two formal complaints - alleging Cr Vandervis had broken the council's code of conduct - from Crs Kate Wilson and Syd Brown.

Mr Cull released a written statement yesterday along with copies of the emails, the complaints that followed, and the memorandum from Mr Stephens to staff.

Cr Vandervis was reluctant to comment when contacted yesterday, but described the measures as "utterly Draconian" and hoped new chief executive Paul Orders might yet intervene.

He acknowledged using "strong language" in the emails, but said he had already apologised for one of them.

He also placed the emails on his own website yesterday afternoon - after learning the issue was about to become public - saying: "People can judge for themselves."

The most inflammatory email, on August 16, was sent to Mr Stephens and four senior managers. In it, Cr Vandervis expressed anger at council parking wardens ticketing vehicles in the central city after heavy snow in previous days.

"Staff of the DCC," he wrote.

"Get our parking wardens off the streets IMMEDIATELY! NOW!!

"Failure to respond by return with the decision to call the DCC dogs off our hapless motorists WILL RESULT IN AN ENTIRELY PREVENTABLE PUBLIC ESCALATION."

Cr Vandervis' message - using capital letters, which typically indicated shouting - was followed hours later by an apology to any staff who felt "personally abused".

"I recognise that I have no right to give staff orders, and that the `calling off the dogs' phrase was an unacceptable way of suggesting how we might avoid very adverse publicity."

However, days later, Cr Vandervis emailed another staff member questioning the "dysfunctional" management of council parking facilities and labelling the council "a self-serving bureaucratic culture with little specific expertise".

"If we can't run something as basic as a parking monopoly efficiently, is there any business that we can run properly?"

Cr Wilson, in her complaint to Mr Cull, said the emails had "detrimentally affected" relations between councillors and staff, while Cr Brown said the "totally unsatisfactory" behaviour had prompted him to lodge his first formal complaint in 13 years.

Cr Vandervis wrote back noting he had already apologised once for his first email, but defended the "goading" emails to other staff as a response to "stonewalling" over information he sought.

Mr Cull said yesterday the code of conduct complaints remained "unresolved" as Cr Vandervis acknowledged breaking council rules, but had refused to make another apology to staff and councillors.

Cr Vandervis appeared to believe he was "entitled to be abusive to staff if he does not get the answers he wants", Mr Cull wrote in his code of conduct report to Monday's meeting.

Mr Stephens had acted to ensure the council met its obligation as a good employer, by protecting staff from abuse, but Cr Vandervis would still have access to the same council information through general managers, Mr Cull said.

Mr Orders had also been asked to review guidelines for contact between councillors and staff, "to ensure we all have a clear understanding of what is and isn't appropriate behaviour".

Cr Vandervis' latest run-in with the rules came after the ODT yesterday reported he was complainant or recipient in all six recent complaints alleging breaches of council standing orders.

chris.morris@odt.co.nz

 

 

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