Police were called to a Hawke's Bay Regional Council meeting in Napier yesterday after a member of the public refused to leave the room when councillors voted to hold a closed-door discussion.
The final two items on the council's agenda had been deemed "public excluded" on the grounds they dealt with one matter that was commercially sensitive and another that involved the privacy of a staff member.
After councillors voted to exclude the public from the meeting, Napier man Ian McIntosh, who had sat through the open session, refused to leave the council chambers.
Council chairman Fenton Wilson adjourned the meeting and police were called.
Following an impasse lasting about 10 minutes, the nine councillors left the meeting room and began to walk across Dalton St, after arrangements were made to reconvene the meeting in the nearby Napier City Council chambers.