Senior councillor to call for Mayor's resignation
“The damage to the city is huge, and the reputation… It’s the respect for people.”
A senior Invercargill city councillor will call for Mayor Nobby Clark’s resignation at an extraordinary meeting on Friday.
A meeting will be held on Friday to deal with a Code of Conduct complaint lodged by council CEO Michael Day on behalf of the United Fire Brigades Association.
The United Fire Brigades Association [UFBA] CEO Bill Batzbach wrote to the Invercargill City Council on March 28 believing Clark was in “serious breach” of the council’s Code of Conduct following “bizarre” and “inappropriate” actions at a March event that the Mayor and his partner were invited to.
Butzbach alleged Clark mocked, disrespected, degraded, offended, and embarrassed its members, staff, and other guests when he attended an event held in Invercargill on March 16.
After reading the letter of complaint and independent investigation findings Cr Ian Pottinger believes Clark should resignation as Mayor of Invercargill.
“There is no claiming any excuse for that so I will be asking for a resignation,” Pottinger, who has been a councillor since 2010, told The Tribune.
“The damage to the city is huge, and the reputation… It’s the respect for people.”
Clark has said he would not be commenting on the matter until Friday’s meeting.
He has though stated the investigation findings were overly harsh and he does not believe there was scope in the Code of Conduct for the public to trigger a complaint.
It’s unsure whether Pottinger’s request for Clark to resign would gain any support from fellow councillors.
Cr Ria Bond - who has lodged another Code of Conduct complaint against Clark with Pottinger - preferred to wait until Friday’s meeting before sharing her thoughts.
Clark does appear to have supporters around the table who have publicly declared Clark is doing a good job.
Deputy mayor Tom Campbell, Grant Dermody, Barry Stewart, and Allan Arnold, all ran as part of the Let’s Go Invercargill ticket, alongside Clark, at the last election.
Pottinger indicated he would raise the resignation request either way.
“I’ve got my own values… We’ve got to have standards,” he said.
Even if Pottinger’s call for Clark’s resignation did gain support from council colleagues, Clark would not need to resign.
There has been some obvious tension between Pottinger and Clark this term.
Pottinger and Cr Ria Bond lodged a Code of Conduct complaint against Mayor Clark following the screening of Clark’s television interview with comedian Guy Williams earlier this year.
There was also a differing opinion between Pottinger and Clark as to whether Pottinger had asked for some time out from his role as chair of the infrastructure committee, or whether Clark told Pottinger to take a break.
The fifth-term councillor was absent from the role since December 15 after Mayor Clark called a one-on-one meeting with Pottinger to discuss “performance issues”.
Following that meeting, Clark advised councillors and council staff that Pottinger had sought some “time out” as infrastructure chair and that deputy mayor Tom Campbell would step in in his absence.
However, Pottinger disputed he had asked for a break. His version was that Clark had told him to take some time out to “settle the waters” following complaints from fellow councillors.
Clark said the matter would be reviewed on June 30, but Pottinger returned to chair meetings on May 6.
Friday’s extraordinary meeting to discuss the findings of Code of Conduct complaint lodged by the council CEO on behalf of the United Fire Brigades Association is scheduled for 2pm.
Wellington-based lawyer Linda Clark investigated the matter and found Clark had breached the council’s Code of Conduct.
On ya bike Nob.