Mayor thanks deputy for 'difficult role' following conduct complaint
“My broad apology is to all those concerned; I’m not trying to exclude anybody. I have publicly apologised in the media, I have tabled an apology, I’m not sure what more I can do."
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Invercargill Mayor Nobby Clark has made a second public apology in regard to a Code of Conduct breach and also thanked his deputy Tom Campbell for mopping up some of the mess that came from it.
Last month Clark made a public apology at a council meeting for breaching the council’s Code of Conduct from a speech made at a United Firebrigades Association event in March.
At an extraordinary council meeting on Tuesday, Clark made a second apology which stemmed from the Code of Conduct breach following an interview with comedian Guy Williams which screened on TV in March.
“I need to make a public apology which is part of the commitment I made at the end of the Code of Conduct inquiry into the New Zealand Today TV show that I was party to,” Clark said at Tuesday’s meeting.
“I just wish to acknowledge to my elected colleagues, and to the community, that by participating in the way I did in the interview I breached the Code of Conduct expectations of an elected member and portrayed the city in a very poor light.
“As an add to that, I would also like to acknowledge that Tom [Campbell] has had a difficult role to play, and I thank you for that. It has not been easy to mop some of the mess that we’ve had from that.”
Cr Ria Bond - who along with Cr Ian Pottinger lodged the Code of Conduct complaint against Clark - raised a point of order after Clark’s apology.
Bond said the apology was to be made at a full council meeting.
Clark pointed out that while it was an extraordinary meeting on Tuesday it was still a full council meeting.
“This is the first available full council meeting. If everyone is not attending the extraordinary meeting that is not an issue for me,” Clark said.
“My belief in doing that was to resolve this as quickly as possible. The general feedback in the community, and certainly from the comments made by councillor [Ian] Pottinger over the last event was he felt a bit vilified by this, and this sitting around is not in anybody’s interest.
“This is the first available meeting to me to make that apology.”
Mana whenua representative Evelyn Cook then stated Clark’s apology “was carefully worded”.
“You apologised to elected members, you apologised to the community, you did not apologise to the staff and the mana whenua representatives who were also part of that process.
“I recognise that this has been challenging, but it has been challenging for all of us. I hope that it was not your intention not to include mana whenua representatives and exclude them from the apology, because we were also offended and affected.
“And I hope you didn’t intentionally exclude staff from this, because that was the request that was made by the table at the meeting regarding the Code of Conduct.
“With all due respect, I honour the fact you have made the apology. But for the public sake, I think you need to clarify whether or not all the offended parties were included in your apology.”
Clark responded by saying he doesn’t differentiate between mana whenua representatives and elected members when it comes to the offence around the Code of Conduct.
“The Code of Conduct was heard and mana whenua reps had a voice in that decision-making process, and quite rightly so.
“My broad apology is to all those concerned; I’m not trying to exclude anybody. I have publicly apologised in the media, I have tabled an apology, I’m not sure what more I can do,” Clark said.
On June 21 the council passed a resolution when the first Code of Conduct complaint was heard which stated: “Since Council has received advice from the Mayor that he may suffer from brain fade for the next two years, that Council request the Mayor delegate the attendance at all formal external events to the Deputy Mayor or another Councillor for the balance of the Triennium”.
However soon after that meeting Clark publicly stated it would not be agreeing to that resolution and has continued to attend and speak at external events.
It’s understood the council has received external advice that has indicated the council cannot enforce the resolution which it voted in favour of on June 21.
Apologies done, move forward unto the next issue (bus lane, Donovan Park, museum, council building, rugby park, bluff wastewater, dangerous buildings in town, some stupid vanity project to put lights around some of the parks and paths as a night walk around the city, cause walking at night through a park is a fun time and not asking for trouble at all 🐼 , people on the street due to the lack of housing or shelters in the city and last but definitely not least in my books, the lack of bamboo in the city)
Just take your pick and screw it up more but I digress well done on the apology, in hindsight it could of just been done on the show and none of this would of happened but hey we live and learn.