Nearly six incidents involving the abuse of staff in the past two months were outlined in Waitaki District Council chief executive Fergus Power’s report, tabled at a full council meeting this week.
All incidents involved either verbal or written abuse and appropriate action was taken for all incidents.
In the report, Mr Power described the abuse as "Coviditis".
"However this can never be an acceptable excuse for abuse of our dedicated and hard working staff, who always have the best interests of their community at heart," Mr Power said.
He was working alongside the executive management team to protect staff from unacceptable behaviour.
Waitaki Mayor Gary Kircher also detailed the abuse in his mayoral report, and said the behaviour was not good enough.
"It’s got to a ridiculous extreme," Mr Kircher said.
"The reports of what is being said is really quite shameful and just not warranted."
He understood it had been a difficult year for everyone, but it did not excuse the bullying the council staff were receiving.
"What the cause is doesn’t really matter. The reality is people need to be a bit more understanding, a bit more tolerant."
Ahuriri ward councillor Ross McRobie said he read the reports with sadness, and staff should not have to put up with abuse.
"You have our support totally — that’s not acceptable," Cr McRobie said.
