Whangārei district councillor Jayne Golightly to front up over code of conduct breach

Whangārei district councillor Jayne Golightly will formally apologise next week for breaching the council’s code of conduct for elected members.

Whangārei district councillor Jayne Golightly will publicly apologise next week after being found in breach of her organisation’s code of conduct.

She will apologise at a full council meeting on Thursday for breaching the code of conduct for elected members and for any stress caused to her fellow 13 elected representatives.

The Whangārei urban general ward councillor’s apology comes after an investigation by independent investigator and Auckland barrister James Chrichton following a complaint to the council from a member of the public, Terry Burkhardt, over a radio interview in November last year.

Golightly, in her third council term, admitted revealing information from an earlier confidential council meeting to radio host Sean Plunket on his internet radio show The Platform. This regarded litigation between the council and Whangārei contractor Jimmy Daisley.

Golightly said she will read out a short statement to the meeting.

Chrichton’s investigation report was considered by councillors at a confidential code of conduct complaint hearing on March 30 which also looked at a suitable consequence for the code breach.

Chrichton found the central allegation made against Golightly was substantiated, on the balance of probabilities. He said her code breach was at the lower end of the scale of severity.

He said Golightly had breached the code by disclosing which way she voted on the council appeal against the High Court ruling Whangārei District Council had to pay Whangārei contractor Jimmy Daisley money. That was because information about the way councillors voted on the appeal should have remained confidential, as council discussions on this topic were held during a public-excluded meeting.

Daisley asked the High Court at Whangārei to sell the council’s Forum North head offices after the council missed a critical deadline for paying some of the court-ordered $6 million-plus he was owed. The 2.4-hectare site in question includes the Forum North council offices, theatre and the city library. Council records show these buildings and land have a $20m value.

■ Local Democracy Reporting is Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ On Air.