He complained about another councillor, but now Dunedin city councillor Benedict Ong’s own behaviour is under scrutiny.
Dunedin City Council chief executive Sandy Graham confirmed yesterday she had lodged a complaint about his conduct.
The alleged breach of the council’s code of conduct will be assessed by independent investigator Steph Dyhrberg.
‘‘I won’t be making any further comment during the investigation,’’ Ms Graham said.
Ms Dyhrberg was last month appointed by the council to look into a complaint by Cr Ong against fellow city councillor John Chambers.
She is in the process of making a preliminary assessment about this.
The council has not said what the complaint against Cr Ong is about.
However, it came within 24 hours of Cr Ong sending Ms Graham and the Otago Daily Times an accusatory email about a council staff member and also possibly breaching confidentiality.
Cr Ong said in a social media post yesterday the complaint against him was ‘‘no big surprise’’.
He would not be deterred from ‘‘serving the most special great city in our great country’’.
Cr Ong has had a tumultuous start to the term.
In meetings this week, he was asked several times to stay on topic and to be concise when asking questions.
Cr Ong submitted two notices of motion before next week’s council meeting, covering subjects such as ‘‘exploring innovative debt financing structures’’ and consideration of international visitor fees for cultural institutions.
Dunedin Mayor Sophie Barker said yesterday ‘‘neither has been accepted at this stage’’.
She expected such issues could be covered in the 2027-37 long-term plan process.
