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A claim from Cr Lee Vandervis that CCTV video of his interaction with a customer services staff recorded sound, and therefore proved he wasn't shouting, is incorrect, the Dunedin City Council says.
This comes after a council spokeswoman yesterday confirmed independent investigator David Benham, of Wellington, would investigate the code of conduct complaint filed against Cr Vandervis.
The complaint was that Cr Vandervis had shouted at a staff member working in the council's customer services reception area, inside the Civic Centre building, during an exchange over a disputed parking ticket.
Mr Benham is the former chief executive of Greater Wellington Regional Council and now the chairman of the Otago Regional Council's audit and risk subcommittee.
After the council declined to release video footage of the incident, citing the need to protect privacy and avoid prejudicing the investigation, Cr Vandervis himself posted the video of his interaction with the customer services representative on social media.
His words cannot be heard, but he can be seen waggling his finger at the staff member and a passing person can be seen stopping to watch the interaction for several moments before continuing on their way.
He notes in a post on his Facebook page there is audio with the video recording which picks up some words from the front desk, but is not close enough to record his words.
"The audio track of the video is enough to confirm that I did not raise my voice excessively or shout as alleged," he says in the post.
However, the DCC issued a further statement this afternoon, refuting Cr Vandervis' claim.
The CCTV footage contained no audio at all, the DCC spokeswoman said.
Due to technical difficulties, Cr Vandervis and the council's independent investigator had been unable to play the CCTV video on their devices.
To provide Cr Vandervis with a copy, a council staff member had played the CCTV on her computer and filmed the screen on her iPhone. A copy of the iPhone video was then provided to Cr Vandervis.
The audio that could be heard was background noise captured by her iPhone, not the CCTV footage.
"The CCTV system does not capture sound," the DCC spokeswoman said.
The iPhone video had also been provided to Cr Vandervis in confidence, she added.
The Otago Daily Times earlier asked for a copy of any video or audio recording of the incident, after learning earlier this week another complaint had been filed against Cr Vandervis - his 12th so far this term.
Cr Vandervis was happy for the footage to be released, but Mr Benham asked for it to be withheld while his investigation was carried out ''and on that basis we are withholding the information'', the spokeswoman said.
Cr Vandervis has ignored ODT requests for comment on the latest incident, but posted an explanation - and an email to Dr Bidrose complaining about the ticket - on social media.
A council spokeswoman, responding to the request yesterday, said there was no recording of Cr Vandervis' earlier exchange with the parking officer who issued the ticket to him.
That appeared to suggest the parking officer did not feel the need to activate their body camera.
The subsequent exchange between Cr Vandervis and the staff member inside the Civic Centre reception was captured by a CCTV camera, which recorded video only and not audio.
It was not yet known exactly how long the investigation would take, but the findings were expected to go to the new council to consider, the council spokeswoman said.
Mr Benham would report back to council chief executive Sue Bidrose, who would prepare a report - including Mr Benham's full report - for the full council, excluding Cr Vandervis, or a code of conduct committee to consider.