Councillor takes conduct censure to High Court

Lack of jurisdiction, flaws claim

A DUNEDIN city councillor who was censured over a conflict about parking is set to argue in the High Court that the process for investigating his conduct was flawed and the censure should be set aside.

Lee Vandervis was found to have breached the Dunedin City Council’s code of conduct over the 2019 incident but, in his statement of claim, the councillor argues independent investigator David Benham should not have been appointed, his investigation was unfair and the council had no jurisdiction to consider the alleged breach, because the conduct was in a previous triennium.

Cr Vandervis wants both the council’s decision that he breached the code and the written censure to be set aside.

A judicial review is due to be heard by the court on November 19.

The incident happened in the council’s Civic Centre building on September 13 last year.

Mr Benham’s report said the complaint was that Cr Vandervis had become increasingly angry while trying to get a parking ticket waived.

Cr Vandervis disputed that. He told councillors he had been trying to report a ‘‘malfunctioning, mislabelled parking meter’’, not dispute a $12 ticket.

Councillors accepted the investigator’s findings that Cr Vandervis had been ‘‘loud, aggressive and intimidating’’ towards the staff member.

In his statement of claim, dated March 13, 2020, Cr Vandervis argues code of conduct complaints against a councillor can only be made by a councillor or the chief executive.

Cr Vandervis argues the complaint was made by another staff member, and the chief executive ‘‘acted unlawfully in purporting to forward the complaint’’ to the investigator.

He also says Mr Benham had no jurisdiction to receive any complaint.

The council selects investigators from a panel, but Mr Benham was ‘‘not appointed by the council as an investigator in 2016 or at the start of the triennium in 2019’’.

He also ‘‘failed to comply with the principles of natural justice and fairness in investigation of the complaint’’.

The Dunedin City Council has kept a file on incidents involving Cr Vandervis since 2012 amid concern about an alleged pattern of behaviour.

His most recent code of conduct complaint related to an incident in July, when an investigator found he shouted at the city’s deputy mayor and his behaviour was intimidating.

Cr Vandervis did not accept the findings and refused to apologise, other than for loudness.