Whangārei district councillor Jayne Golightly told to apologise for breaching council confidentiality

Whangārei district councillor Jayne Golightly has been told to apologise for breaching the council’s Code of Conduct by releasing confidential council information.

Whangārei district councillor Jayne Golightly has been told to make a public apology for breaching the council’s Code of Conduct and for any stress caused to her fellow councillors.

Golightly was the focus of a Code of Conduct complaint hearing at the council on Thursday after she admitted revealing information from a confidential council meeting to radio host Sean Plunkett.

A complaint to the council from member of the public Terry Burkhardt over the radio interview in November last year sparked an investigation by an independent investigator, Auckland barrister James Chrichton, who concluded Golightly’s Code of Conduct breach was material.

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

Chrichton said Golightly had breached the code on a single occasion by disclosing which way she voted on the council appeal against the High Court ruling the council had to pay contractor Jimmy Daisley money.

That was because the information about the way councillors voted on the appeal should have remained confidential, as council discussions on this topic were in the public-excluded session.

After Thursday’s hearing into the investigator’s report, which was held behind closed doors, the council found that Golightly had breached the Elected Members Code of Conduct 2019 with what was revealed in the radio interview.

In regards to the penalty, the council has requested from Golightly a public apology for breaching the council Code of Conduct by releasing confidential information, and a public apology for any stress caused to her fellow councillors.

The draft minutes from the meeting will be published on the council’s website on Wednesday next week.

The complaint came after Golightly spoke to Plunket on his internet radio show The Platform regarding litigation between the council and Daisley.

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 he was owed. The 2.4-hectare site in question includes the Forum North council offices and theatre and the city library.

Council records show these buildings and land have a $20m value.