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Dunedin city councillor Lee Vandervis has been censured by his colleagues after a investigation found he engaged in "loud, aggressive and intimidating behaviour" towards a staff member.
Councillors at today's full council meeting voted unanimously in favour of issuing Cr Vandervis with a written censure to demonstrate his conduct was unacceptable.
That was despite Cr Vandervis continuing to dispute key parts of the investigation’s findings, insisting he had not been afforded "natural justice" and maintaining the complaint against him was politically motivated.
He also vowed to continue using his "loud" voice to raise call out council dysfunction where he saw it.
The Code of Conduct complaint against Cr Vandervis alleged he had engaged in "an uncalled-for verbal attack" on a DCC customer services staff member during an exchange at the Civic Centre reception on September 13.
An report into the incident by independent investigator David Benham, made public this week, concluded Cr Vandervis’ behaviour breached the council’s code of conduct on three counts.
The resolution to censure him at yesterday’s meeting came from Cr Mike Lord, who said he had also spoken to a trusted staff member who detailed the exchange.
Cr Vandervis had been "loud", and the situation "embarrassing", and Cr Lord accepted the staff member’s version of events as well as Mr Benham’s report.
Most other councillors spoke in agreement, including deputy mayor Christine Garey, who said the council had to enforce the code of conduct to be a responsible employer.
Cr Carmen Houlahan agreed, saying councillors had to be held to an even higher standard than the public, while Cr Chris Staynes said there was no doubt the incident had occurred as described and was not politically motivated.
Cr Jules Radich spoke in support of Cr Vandervis, saying if the exchange was over a $12 parking ticket — as the complainant had claimed and Cr Vandervis had denied — then it was "a very small matter".
He also questioned whether the video showed "much shouting or loud-looking" behaviour, and said he was "very reluctant" to censure Cr Vandervis over the incident.
"We have quite a lot of complaint going on here about not very much," he said.
Cr Marie Laufiso took a different view, saying if she had her way Cr Vandervis would be asked to resign.
His conduct "is violence — and we should have no tolerance for violence of any kind", she said.