Christmas silences rows at council

John Law

A flurry of tit-for-tat complaints about the conduct of Rodney District councillors and the mayor has prompted the council to adopt a new behaviour code.

It has also decided - after a Christmas lunch - to drop all complaints before it under the former code of conduct.

Rodney mayor John Law said the vote was passed in the spirit of Christmas, unanimously and by mutual agreement of the affected parties.

But before the lunch break at Thursday's meeting, Mr Law seemed determined to get an independent investigation into a complaint that he had made against Whangaparaoa councillor Wayne Walker.

Mr Law was angered by Mr Walker's August press statement about chief executive Vijaya Vaidyanath, which he believed crossed the line in criticising staff.

This was one of four complaints lodged during August and September under a code of conduct that was brought in after a previous council in 2000 was sacked by the Government for infighting. The man hired to assess the merit of the complaints, former Auckland City Council chief executive Bryan Taylor, said three of them - including a complaint by Whangaparaoa councillor John Watson against the mayor - did not merit further investigation but that Mr Law's complaint against Mr Walker did.

Despite the "clean slate" move which lets Mr Walker off the hook, Mr Law will not accept the $5000 independent report which cleared Mr Watson and he says he will have its findings reviewed at his own cost.

Ratepayers associations in Rodney welcomed the news of a truce in council. Former councillor Jill Jeffs said a lot of ratepayers were disenchanted with the council's "nit-picking" behaviour.