Dunedin councillor Benedict Ong says he is going nowhere after being asked to consider resigning by 10 of his fellow councillors.
At this morning's full council meeting Dunedin Mayor Sophie Barker said she was shocked by the contents of an investigator's report into Ong's conduct.
This included his behaviour in relation to a staff member who was a witness in a separate code of conduct case.
The investigator, Steph Dyhrberg, had found this egregious, indicating it may have been retaliatory, as the staff member had provided an account that did not line up with Cr Ong's.
"It horrifies me the person has been treated in this way," Ms Barker said.
Cr Ong had a period of up to 30 minutes to present a defence.
Cr Russell Lund indicated he wanted to move an amendment, that the report not be accepted and the council take no further action. This was not supported.
Cr Ong had the right to be at the table for the full term, he said.
He did not believe the report was even-handed.
Cr Lund sought to talk about the previous code of conduct case, in which Cr Ong complained about remarks by Cr John Chambers.
This complaint ended up being dismissed as without substance.
Cr Lee Vandervis was not sure it was a serious breach of the code, as alleged.
Asking Cr Ong to consider resigning did not serve a useful purpose, he said.
The resolution was carried 10-2.
Cr Ong said outside the meeting he would not resign.
He was also not too worried about people on social media who had called for him to resign.
Cr Ong will also have a pay cut, relating to loss of roles regarding separate behaviour issues.
This had included refusing to remove disparaging commentary online about Dunedin City Council chief executive Sandy Graham.
Cr Ong lost roles as council representative on the Otago Settlers Association and Toitu museum board.
Dunedin Mayor Sophie Barker said she did not believe Cr Ong was an appropriate representative for the council on these entities.
Respect towards others had not been evident, including to herself, she said.
Cr Lee Vandervis said he could understand the mayor's frustration.
However, he doubted Cr Ong should be removed as deputy lead of the technology portfolio, as this brought a "punitive" pay cut.
Cr Andrew Simms said the code of conduct system was flawed.
Nearly all councillors have had their pay edge over $100,000.
Cr Ong's pay will drop from just under $100,000 to about $84,500.
