Complaints bill high ... and climbing
“They were just the usual attempts to shut me down, which I’ve grown used to in recent years but which I don’t really worry about too much.”
Councillor Geoff Taylor
Ratepayers have shelled out more than $16,000 to litigate code of conduct complaints against city councillors since the 2022 election.
The figures, which will increase, were furnished this week in response to an information request from Waikato Times about complaints over alleged breaches of the code that councillors are obliged to comply with.
The request was made after Hamilton city councillor Andrew Bydder announced at a recent meeting that he and councillor Geoff Taylor were in a contest to see who could get the most complaints.
That apparent levity has been questioned by mayor Paula Southgate, who says “I don’t think it’s a joking matter personally” and the comment could disincentivise complainants.
“The public have every right to complain and have that tested.”
All but one case related to complaints from members of the public. The majority weren’t upheld and none appear to have led to serious consequences for councillors.
But, as it turned out, the council’s figures showed Taylor leading the field in complaints made against him this term, with five.
That was followed by two each against Bydder and councillor Anna Casey-cox, and one each against Southgate and councillors Louise Hutt, Angela O’leary and Ewan Wilson.
Four of the five Taylor complaints – all related to Facebook posts – led to findings of no code breach, while the fifth was dealt with informally.
However, the latter still cost more than $1600 to deal with, while the other four cost more than $2200 combined.
Taylor said he had no concerns about the complaints against him.
“I’ll continue to be open about what I’m thinking and my views.”
He didn’t want to be shut down by people trying to “cancel” him.
In an earlier email on Tuesday, Taylor said none of the complaints were worth “the paper they were written on”.
“They were just the usual attempts to shut me down, which I've grown used to in recent years but which I don't really worry about too much.
“These sort of complaints are symptomatic of the culture in our city and our country where we have a bunch of social activists who feel they know better than anyone else and who cannot stand that someone has a different opinion on something.”
He generally thought people should be allowed to say what they wanted about him and the only time he’d acted “was when I felt the mayor had damaged my reputation and I needed to set the record straight”.
That comment related to a complaint – which has cost more than $7300 to handle with legal costs still to be finalised – that Taylor made about Southgate.
Soon after the 2022 election, she initially said he’d made allegedly “inappropriate” comments – the situation contributed to him not getting a deputy committee chairperson’s role.
After mediation and listening to Taylor’s side of things, she later apologised
for the use of that word and said on Tuesday she accepted it was a bit “vague”.
She said the situation related to Taylor allegedly swearing at deputy mayor Angela O’leary and that councillors should resist swearing at colleagues, name calling and any misleading statements.
Earlier reports said the incident involved online comment, although details were never spelt out.
Taylor said he couldn’t recall swearing at O’leary in what he thought was a verbal discussion, but he had apologised for it if he did.
O’leary confirmed a Taylor apology but said she was sworn at in a text message after asking him to dial down social media comments about committee chairperson appointments.
Taylor’s complaint against Southgate was withdrawn after she issued a media statement apologising for the use of the word “inappropriate”.
On the high cost of handling the complaint against her, Southgate said: “It’s always going to cost something.”
She was keen to see standardised national guidelines for local government code of conduct issues to help save costs.
Taylor said of the cost: “It’s not ideal is it.” But he had felt strongly he needed to pursue the matter.
He had no view on whether Bydder’s contest comment at the recent meeting demeaned complainants.
Bydder, meanwhile, wasn’t apologising for that comment.
“I’m annoyed how far Geoff is ahead – I thought I could catch up,” he said this week.
He believed most of the code of conduct complaints were attempts to shut down “free speech”.
The complaints against him – related to conduct at a Residents & Ratepayers meeting and a Youtube clip – cost just under $1000 and a share of $3037 respectively. The former saw an informal resolution process while the other complaint wasn’t upheld.
Bydder said councillors needed to speak up if they were to do their jobs properly.
“If you try to please everyone, you end up pleasing no-one.
“I fully expect to annoy more people and I’m not apologising.”
On the question of his “contest” comment being disrespectful to the complainants in his cases, he said: “If they had first respected my right to free speech, there wouldn’t have been a problem.”
The two complaints against Casey-cox were not upheld, nor were the single complaints against Hutt, O’leary and Wilson.
The council said there was one other complaint still under a review that should be finished in a few weeks. More detail was due on costs of responding to all the complaints.