Cr Deon Swiggs was absent from Tuesday's city council meeting, one of the last for the term. He did not submit an apology for his non-attendance.
Cr Swiggs denies allegations that he sent "grossly inappropriate messages" to three young people aged between 13-21. He said in a statement on Monday he would fully cooperate with an investigation being conducted by the city council.
Retired associate Justice of the High Court John Matthews has been appointed by the city council to look into the complaints.
RNZ interviewed one of the complainants on Monday who said Cr Swiggs was involved in late-night messaging and insisted on hugs instead of handshakes.
The boy, Josh, whose name was changed to protect his identity, said he was 13 when he met Cr Swiggs at a youth event in July 2017.
He offered to shake the councillor's hand but was instead offered a hug.
"At the end, when I was being like, 'okay bye' to go off to talk to other people, he was like, 'okay come on', and went in for a hug. I didn't want a hug from him. I hadn't even known who he was. And that whole entire time it was an incredibly uncomfortable experience for me being a young person with someone who is much older and in a position of power."
Just over a year later Josh said there was more physical contact that made him feel uncomfortable, again at an official function for young people that Mr Swiggs was attending in an official capacity.
"I went in for a handshake, he said, I think we're past that. He then went in for quite a big hug. And that was kind of not just your typical kind of friend hug, it was very over the arms going into quite a bear hug, which made me feel incredibly uncomfortable, not a place I wanted to be after that...It made me feel unsafe, and made me feel like this wasn't a place I could belong because I was constantly having to worry about those types of things."
Josh said there was more unwanted touching by Mr Swiggs, about six months later, at a youth festival.
"He wanted a selfie and I was like, 'okay cool'. He then went in to hold around my back and hold [me] by my hip. He went and took numerous photos holding on in a very uncomfortable place that was uncomfortable for me for a long period of time, probably eight to 10 seconds which is quite a while when you think about it, taking a photo."
Then there was the pet name Councillor Swiggs had for Josh that involved calling him "baby".
"That in itself is just so gross", said Josh.
At the same time as all of this was going on, Josh said Mr Swiggs was exchanging late-night messages with him on Facebook.
He said the only reason he was friends with the councillor on Facebook was that he was a city councillor and somebody he felt he needed to maintain a professional relationship with.
One of the first messages he received from him on facebook was signed off with an "x".
Others included emojis with love heart eyes.
But it was the one Josh received in May of this year that encouraged him to finally break his silence and tell somebody what had been happening.
An exchange took place over two days culminating in the councillor telling the teen: "You're a good looking dude, no matter what. Don't be to (sic) harsh on yourself."
"Again, I saw that message, I wanted to avoid it. I didn't want to have to reply, [it] made me feel uncomfortable, gross, almost sick to some point with the power imbalance and kind of his, where he was standing in society and me as a young person," Josh said.
At this point, Josh's case was taken to the mayor on his behalf by an advocate.
A short time later he told his father.
At first, the advocate only disclosed the late-night message to the mayor.
Lianne Dalziel said she agreed to speak to Mr Swiggs about appropriate behaviour and the power imbalance that existed between a councillor and a young person.
She also said she banned him from events where he would be in contact with young people.
Ms Dalziel said she met with representatives for the young people again later in June and explained to them that the council's code of conduct process was extremely poor for dealing with such matters because it relied on a vote of the council, and even then the council could only make a recommendation.
At this point she offered up the possibility of restorative justice.
She then handed the matter on to the acting chief executive Mary Richardson to deal with.
Ms Dalziel said in a statement on Monday she acted in "good faith" and had not been provided with the most serious of the allegations.
The allegations that have now been made and advised to me last Thursday go much further than I was originally told and cast a different light on the situation.
"That is why an independent investigator has been appointed by the acting chief executive under the code of conduct and I fully support that course of action," she said.
- Star News / RNZ
