Councillors told to behave
Hamilton city councillors have been told to ‘‘step up’’ and act like the leaders people expect them to be.
Mayor Andrew King’s warning came at the first council meeting of 2019 – an election year – and in the wake of allegations of a mayor’s ‘‘tight five’’, councillors trading insults on social media, and a conduct complaint between colleagues.
Yesterday morning, King told councillors to focus on running the city not personal attacks and ‘‘cheap political point scoring’’.
‘‘Lift yourselves up, guys . ... You’re getting $70,0000 a year to run the city, not for all of your negative comments against each other to come out in the public setting,’’ King said.
‘‘Act like the members that you’re paid for and you’ve been voted to be.’’
King’s lecture came after questions on a written warning in his chair’s report.
‘‘Step up, guys. It’s a long way to go until [elections in] October,’’ he told his colleagues.
Tempers flared recently as the councillors announced their election intentions, including when Cr James Casson named councillors he said were a ‘‘tight five’’ with the mayor.
Cr Geoff Taylor – one of those named by Casson – responded on social media, prompting a counter by Casson.
And Taylor was quoted in a recent news report saying that Cr Rob Pascoe had also used the ‘‘tight five’’ term; Pascoe said he hadn’t, and laid a conduct complaint against Taylor.
However, King’s written warning to councillors was couched in general terms.
It was excellent that councillors were making early statements about their election plans, he said.
‘‘However, some recent public commentary has seen councillors attack each other on a personal level, which is inappropriate. This type of behaviour is unprofessional and does not give the public confidence in the institution of council.’’
Cr Angela O’Leary repeatedly asked what the mayor was referring to.
‘‘I’m not accepting the broad, sweeping statements that [the report] makes, capturing all members in the chamber, when it so clearly points to one incident,’’ she said in debate.
King didn’t want to go into detail, but eventually said it was about far more than one incident.
‘‘This is about your behaviour on social media and your commentary, and your attacking of each other, and your sideswipes at each other,’’ he told the councillors.
‘‘This is about people saying they don’t like the chairing of other members. This is about multiple things.’’
Cr Rob Pascoe said he agreed with the mayor’s sentiment in the written report, if not some of the wording.
He asked if receiving the report would make it an official decision of council, and also queried whether criticism of a councillor was the same as an attack.
‘‘I don’t want to get into that sort of political, cheap point-scoring around this committee table,’’ King replied. ‘‘You know how to behave.
‘‘We have a manual that tells us how to behave, and I’m just reminding you of that.’’
Councillors voted 8-4 to receive the chair’s report.
Those opposed were Crs James Casson, Siggi Henry, Angela O’Leary, and Rob Pascoe.
Cr Paula Southgate was absent.