Sanson censured over treatment of NCC staff
Councillor Rachel Sanson will receive a letter of censure for her treatment of Nelson City Council staff, after a contentious debate over a code of conduct complaint.
Sanson has taken a complaint over the code of conduct process to the Human Rights Commission, saying she has been professionally isolated and has received ‘‘poor treatment’’ from council leadership.
She alleged at an extraordinary council meeting on Thursday that the complaint was politically motivated to silence her views, particularly on the council’s forestry activities. Several of the complaints relate to her behaviour in, or social media posts about, meetings about this.
Council chief executive Pat
Dougherty made a complaint about 10 instances of Sanson’s treatment of council staff.
He said at the meeting that he was in an ‘‘invidious position’’ and had used the process as a last resort, but ‘‘on reflection, I waited too long’’.
‘‘One or two instances can be attributed to carelessness, not all 10.’’
Dougherty said he did not believe Sanson was aware of the power imbalance between elected members and council staff, particularly when delivering reports in the public eye, and questioning their credibility undermined public confidence in both them and the council as a whole.
He said that when he discussed the instances with staff involved, they were ‘‘upset, furious, [and] disappointed that their integrity had been challenged and undermined in such a public fashion’’.
Sanson said she had made every attempt to have mediation, mentorship or guidance, and highlighted several instances when attempts or recommendations had been declined.
Sanson said her conduct did not meet the threshold for a code of conduct complaint to be upheld, the process was ‘‘deeply flawed’’, and the negative impact of the process outweighed any punishment.
She was ‘‘deeply sorry’’ that any of her questions had been interpreted as undermining or criticising staff or caused any concern or distress.
The council voted to send Sanson a letter of censure, with nine votes in favour and three abstentions. Sanson could not vote.