A Dunedin City Council finance workshop was scheduled to start at 9am on Monday, but the morning session was quickly abandoned and the workshop did not resume until after lunch.
The workshop was closed to the public and the council had no explanation this week about why it was delayed.
However, Dunedin Mayor Jules Radich revealed what had happened about 9am.
Chief executive Sandy Graham and members of the executive leadership team spoke to councillors to "clearly, but respectfully, explain to them the very real and ongoing impact of continuing leaks of information to the media", Mr Radich said.
These leaks were resulting in "inaccurate media coverage" and this was having a significant impact on the council and its staff, he said.
The ODT asked Mr Radich to supply examples so that any inaccurate information might be corrected.
None were forthcoming yesterday.
"Because the leaks relate to confidential information, you should not have received any information," Mr Radich said.
Senior staff raised concerns about leaks two days after it was reported financial reporting and transparency of communication with elected representatives were being investigated by Deloitte.
The ODT had earlier reported Ms Graham was in the habit of using insulting language to describe the mayor, councillors and staff.
She apologised last month and conceded some of her language had been unprofessional.
Mr Radich said he had no concerns about the conduct of the chief executive at Monday’s workshop.
"As with any council meeting, agendas can change," he said.
"The workshop was delayed, then resumed and was completed as planned."
Cr Andrew Whiley said it was an extremely challenging time for councillors, the chief executive and executive leadership team as they tried to pull budgets together.
"The workload on everyone is extremely high and, yes, so are the tensions and strains," he said.
"This is on top of business as usual," he said.
Councillors made use of the spare time on Monday morning to "have a free and very frank discussion", Cr Whiley said.
"So, actually, at the end of the day, I feel it was a productive process.
"All councillors are very aware of what needs to be done and I have witnessed them being more across issues and focused on what needs to be achieved."
Cr Whiley said there were "distractions" for Ms Graham, but her work with the executive leadership team continued.
Tensions could be tested if what councillors sought did not quite align, he said.
Cr Carmen Houlahan suggested a change of meeting time was no big deal.
"For the record, I’ve always found our staff, including the CEO, to be very helpful and polite."
