Confusion over DCC meeting and methods

HAVING just watched the Dunedin City Council meeting on October 27 on YouTube, courtesy of the ODT website, I am interested — as a community board member — about council procedure, and seek clarification on what I observed.

During the proposed traffic and parking restriction changes debate, a question from Cr Vandervis was ruled out of order by the Mayor and withdrawn because it was not precisely about the report before the council.

Then, during the code of conduct hearing, councillors were to consider the investigator’s report.

The Mayor allowed councillors to talk of personal experiences they had had with the person about whom the code of conduct was being applied.

These were not covered in the investigator’s report, but had quite a profound influence in the final decision.

My question is to clear any confusion. Why did the Mayor not allow a question during the traffic parking restriction changes debate because it was not directly in the report, and yet allowed councillors during the code of conduct debate to bring in other information not in the investigator’s report?

[The Dunedin City Council declined to respond.]

Brian Miller

East Taieri