The map was drawn up in February this year, but it was itself a source of some contention and the relationship returned to crisis conditions within weeks.
Mayor Ben Bell at one stage stewed on the map’s contents for two weeks, mainly because he was uncomfortable about the inclusion of the sixth and seventh points in it.
Council chief executive Stephen Parry had said as early as December 12 last year there should be "an appropriate written road map or action plan for the future that will need to be adhered to".
By the end of March this year, both men were exasperated and in April the council decided an independent review should be carried out to restore confidence in the organisation, but it has yet to start.
Parts of the road map have been released to the Otago Daily Times under the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act.
Much of it was redacted.
The first point was Mr Bell and Mr Parry were "committed to developing a constructive working relationship for the betterment and advancement of the community that they mutually serve".
Point 2: "Both Ben and Stephen acknowledge that communication prior to Christmas 2022 has not been adequate to form and maintain an effective working relationship."
The third and fourth points were redacted and the fifth point was about their working relationship proceeding on a "no surprises" basis.
"Towards this end, they have committed to hold weekly meetings to keep each other informed of current and upcoming developments in their respective roles."
It appeared that Mr Bell objected to a clause about the two men needing to agree on commentary about the other in media, saying "we do need to allow for potential disagreements in approach".
The sixth and seventh points were redacted but, whatever they were, they surprised Mr Bell and he said the map then "sat with me for the past two weeks" and "it has taken some time to process those and understand how those may play out".
In response to Mr Bell’s email, Mr Parry said he was "somewhat troubled" by a suggested amendment from the mayor.
Regarding a summary of points about a meeting, Mr Parry considered it reasonably accurate, "with one significant exception". The next sentence was blacked out.
"In response, I said that behaviours leading up to Christmas were clearly serious to the point of councillors asking that our insurers be placed on notice of a potential legal liability," the following sentence read.
A redacted phrase was followed by "I also said that you in turn cited the insurers being placed on notice, as a reason to instigate mediation".
"I believe this information needs to be incorporated into the record of our discussion," Mr Parry said.
Mr Bell said he did not recall making such a comment, "and the only reason I know that is that I would strongly object to that statement, as I didn’t cite that the [insurers] be placed on notice, nor was that my reason for a facilitated conversation".
Mediation ended up falling apart.
Terms of reference for the independent review have yet to be confirmed and it has not been established who will lead it.
There is not yet a date for when the review will be back on the council’s agenda.
