Sacked PA not questioned in review

Auckland lawyer Simon Stokes, have been looking into Mr Simpson's sacking of his PA Jan Walters for signing the nomination form for mayoral candidate Stan Semenoff. Photo / John Stone

A review of the actions of Whangarei District Council CEO Mark Simpson over the sacking of his assistant will be made public on Monday - but the woman fired was not interviewed as part of the review.

A review committee of three Whangarei District Councillors - acting mayor Phil Halse, Jeroen Jongejans and John Williamson - and independent chair Auckland lawyer Simon Stokes, have been looking into Mr Simpson's sacking of his PA Jan Walters for signing the nomination form for mayoral candidate Stan Semenoff and another of his staff Ford Watson who has done some work for a second mayoral candidate Warwick Syers.

When the review was announced Mr Halse said the review committee would look into the circumstances around Ms Walters' sacking and Mr Watson's work for Mr Syers.

Mr Halse said yesterday the review had been completed and would be presented to the full council at an extraordinary meeting on Monday that would be open to the public.

He declined to say who had been interviewed.

"We can't release that information until we release the report," he said.

But Ms Walters' lawyer Andrew Holgate said his client is out of the country until next week and she had not been asked to take part in the review.

Mr Holgate thought it was unusual that one of the main people involved would not be interviewed by the review team.

"We've heard nothing from [the review team]. In terms of natural justice she had an expectation she would have been consulted as part of this.

"But until we see the result of the review there's not a lot we can do. However, the legitimate expectation would be that if they were going to make any finding against Ms Walters or a finding adverse to her interests that would be discussed with her first."

The review has not been without controversy with another mayoral candidate Crichton Christie saying the panel lacked independence and he wanted a "fully independent" review that did not involve any councillors. He said they were too close to Mr Simpson.

At Wednesday's WDC meeting Mr Halse heaped praise on Mr Simpson in relation to reports and management plans presented in the agenda.

Mr Halse mentioned Mr Simpson's advocacy role on the Upper North Island Strategic Alliance (UNISA) which collaborates on issues of mutual benefit and long term outlook. Mr Simpson is one of several Northland-wide council employees or representatives on UNISA.