Labour MP and water spokesman David Parker echoed these comments.
"It's cute of the mayor to say in terms of responsibility I have asked the CEO to look at mid-level managers. It implies they are the only ones being criticised, which is not true.
"The inquiry found there were systemic problems with water management at the district council for years - how can you put that entirely on middle managers rather than take responsibility at the top?"
Mr McLeod responded that he did not think his contribution to the crisis warranted his resignation, especially given the inquiry found that no single entity, or person, was at fault.
"If I thought we had directly caused this, we would be having a different conversation.
"That's not the case, the inquiry pointed to a lot of failings in our organisation with respect to managing risks around water safety, but they did not say the council directly caused the event."
He said an issue around middle management was identified by the inquiry panel, and that was just one area the council needed to look at.
Work was already under way on an independent review of the council's operations, by a high-powered team, he said.
This included independent asset management consultant Ross Waugh, former assistant auditor general for local government Bruce Robertson (who is now an independent consultant) and former Napier City council chief executive Neil Taylor.
"They are going through how we deliver water services and how we resource that - the systems, teams, people and other resources."
He said that work was almost complete, and would take into account the inquiry findings and be publicly tabled next month.
"I'm also considering the inquiry findings myself and I am quite clear we will be taking corrective steps and looking for accountability, at the same time as I am quite clear the council did not cause the outbreak."
Last year, Hawke's Bay regional councillor Neil Kirton called for Mr McLeod to stand down after seeing the evidence put forward by the regional council's own investigation into the outbreak, which informed its subsequently dropped prosecution of the Hastings council for not complying with its resource consents to take water.
At the time he pinpointed the council's inadequate bore maintenance, which he described as "derelict".
Yesterday, he said he expected there would be great interest at the Hastings council in finding "a groundsman, cleaner, filing clerk to blame for the problem - they will be searching for that person now, but the reality is there does need to be accountability".
Taking heed of the inquiry's findings about the dysfunctional relationship between the Hastings and regional council he said he would leave it to the district council and their entire structure to reasonably and fairly deal with that accountability.
He did note, however, that the inquiry highlighted substantial failings of administration, on the part of both the Hastings and regional council.
"In my view it's the biggest failing in public administration in New Zealand history - it's right up there with Cave Creek and Pike River. People died - the outbreak may not have directly contributed to their demise but it hastened it."
He said this had not been acknowledged by the staff of either the Hastings or the regional council, and that it was something both councils needed to reflect on.
To that end, he said he was advocating for an independent "top to bottom" internal review at the regional council.
"Our consenting and compliance regime is failing - look at the CHB wastewater and Napier stormwater issues - we need to restore confidence and credibility."