Dunedin councillor Benedict Ong says he is going nowhere after being asked to consider resigning by 10 of his fellow councillors.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
This included his behaviour in relation to a staff member who was a witness in a separate code of conduct case.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
“It horrifies me the person has been treated in this way,” Ms Barker said.<\/p>\n
Cr Ong had a period of up to 30 minutes to present a defence.<\/p>\n
Cr Ong read a passage from Kafka – The Trial.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Cr Ong had the right to be at the table for the full term, he said.<\/p>\n
He did not believe the report was even-handed.<\/p>\n
Cr Lund sought to talk about the previous code of conduct case, in which Cr Ong complained about remarks by Cr John Chambers.\u00a0<\/p>\n
This complaint ended up being dismissed as without substance.<\/p>\n
Cr Lee Vandervis was not sure it was a serious breach of the code, as alleged.<\/p>\n
Asking Cr Ong to consider resigning did not serve a useful purpose, he said.<\/p>\n
The resolution was carried 10-2.<\/p>\n
Cr Ong said outside the meeting he would not resign.<\/p>\n
He was also not too worried about people on social media who had called for him to resign.<\/p>\n
Cr Ong will also have a pay cut, relating to loss of roles regarding separate behaviour issues.<\/p>\n
This had included refusing to remove disparaging commentary online about Dunedin City Council chief executive Sandy Graham.<\/p>\n
Cr Ong lost roles as council representative on the Otago Settlers Association and Toitu museum board.<\/p>\n
Dunedin Mayor Sophie Barker said she did not believe Cr Ong was an appropriate representative for the council on these entities.<\/p>\n
Respect towards others had not been evident, including to herself, she said.<\/p>\n
Cr Lee Vandervis said he could understand the mayor’s frustration.<\/p>\n
However, he doubted Cr Ong should be removed as deputy lead of the technology portfolio, as this brought a “punitive” pay cut.<\/p>\n
Cr Andrew Simms said the code of conduct system was flawed.<\/p>\n
Nearly all councillors have had their pay edge over $100,000.<\/p>\n
Cr Ong’s pay will drop from just under $100,000 to about $84,500.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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