Dunedin's mayor has called on councillors to reflect on their conduct, as community satisfaction in their performance remains weak.
Elected members needed to think about whether they were "upholding the community’s respect and trust in this institution", Mayor Sophie Barker said at a Dunedin City Council meeting this week.
"I think that all councillors need to look in the mirror and think about how their behaviour affects residents’ satisfaction."
Public sentiment hardened against the council before the election in October and had since recovered somewhat, quarterly results from the council’s residents’ opinion survey indicated.
Satisfaction in the performance of the mayor and councillors was at 34% in the March 2025 quarter and it dropped to 27% in the June quarter and 17% in the September quarter, before improving to 23% in the December quarter.
The survey’s quarterly figures are less reliable than the full annual results as they have a higher margin of error, which prompted a discussion about whether quarterly updates were useful.
Cr Russell Lund commended the previous council for bringing in the quarterly updates.
Levels of satisfaction regarding the performance of the mayor and councillors had bounced around in the low 30s and lately went from "completely abysmal to just terrible", he said.
"This is the chance to confront why our ratepayers are ranking us so poorly and it’s because we’re not listening to them and it’s because we’re not being fiscally responsible," Cr Lund said.
"Those are the two things that are driving dissatisfaction."
Ms Barker said this was a long bow to draw.
The number of survey respondents for the December 2025 quarter was 328, compared with 297 during the previous quarter.
Annually, the target sample is 1200 residents.
The latest quarter had a margin of error of plus or minus 5.4%, compared with about 2.6% for annual results.
Quarterly results showed overall satisfaction regarding what the council provided went from 47% in the June quarter last year to 35% in the September quarter and it remained at that level in the December quarter.
Satisfaction about value for money from council services and activities in the same periods moved from 33% to 24% to 27%.
The perceived performance of community board members plunged from 40% to 24% and back up to 40%.
After the election, Cr Andrew Simms said he had been "sidelined", but he ended up jointly leading an economic development portfolio with Ms Barker.
Cr Lee Vandervis turned down deputy roles, but later reached an agreement with Ms Barker, who decided he could jointly chair the finance and performance committee alongside deputy mayor Cherry Lucas and he would also lead a council-controlled organisations portfolio.
The existence of a code of conduct complaint by Cr Benedict Ong against Cr John Chambers emerged publicly late in the December quarter, on December 20.
It was this week dismissed by independent investigator Steph Dyhrberg as being without substance.
Council chief executive Sandy Graham lodged a complaint this month about Cr Ong relating to an email criticising a staff member.
Ms Dyhrberg is assessing the matter.
