Bay of Plenty Regional councillor Stacey Rose complained of "ageism" in the council. Photo / George Novak
An independent investigation has found claims of "abuse" and "ageism" within Bay of Plenty Regional Council are not substantiated by fact.
However, some councillors were found to have displayed "poor" and "discourteous" behaviour unbecoming of people in such roles, the investigation found.
The council is now considering setting up confidential workshops for elected members as part of their induction to the organisation to address potential unconscious bias.
The councillor who made the allegations, Tauranga representative Stacey Rose, says he will apologise to his fellow councillors but he does not regret raising the conversation.
The council launched the investigation, which cost $14,000, after Rose made public allegations of abuse and ageism regarding the council and others.
The investigation referenced claims Rose, who at 19 became the youngest ever representative on the council, made in an NZME article and in an interview with Radio New Zealand.
Rose told NZME in November that he was effectively being pushed out of his representative role by some of his peers because he was considered "too young" for the job, and confirmed he would not stand in the next election.
He told NZME: " ... the biggest things here is ageism. We are being degraded and shot down for being too young."
"I've received messages, emails, and phone calls pretty much telling me to 'take a hike', 'you're too young', 'you shouldn't be there'. Others have said 'you should be doing things that people your age do," he said in November.
In an RNZ interview that followed, he clarified he was not subject to abuse and ageism by all fellow councillors, and some had been supportive.
According to the investigation report by consultant Maureen Glassey, Rose attributed the ageism and abuse he alleged to three councillors, unnamed in the report.
Glassey found the allegations involving council staff and elected members were unsubstantiated but that Rose's claims involving members of the public were credible.
In her report, Glassey said Rose, when interviewed in November, had acted "somewhat naively" by not naming the individual councillors involved and had, in her view, "unintentionally damaged the whole council reputation".
She said that prior to the start of the investigation, he apologised to council staff and said he had not meant for them to be included in the allegations.
Glassey also referred to a "heated email exchange" between Rose and an unnamed councillor that she did not consider ageism, abuse or bullying but rather "poor behaviour and as such inconsistent with the conduct of a representative [of the council]".
The investigation interviewed the other 13 regional councillors individually on the condition they remained unnamed.
Witnesses to an argument between Rose, now aged 22, and another councillor told Glassey they each gave "as good as they got". No findings were made in relation to claims involving a third councillor.
"I find that the allegations of abuse and ageism made by the informant regarding the conduct of Councillors A, B and C was not substantiated by fact. However, there were two separate instances ... where the expectations of courtesy and approachability described in the BOPRC Code of Conduct have not been reached. In fact, the exchanges by all the parties involved would be considered discourteous regardless of age, gender, orientation or race."
Glassey recommended conversations be had between Rose and the other individual councillors involved, plus consideration of the unconscious bias workshops.
She also found that prior to Rose taking a leave of absence shortly after making the claims, he gained employment at Lake Tekapo but did not inform the council until nine days after he started the new role.
Regional council chairman Doug Leeder said the organisation would likely take on the recommendations.
Leeder said he ran "a tight ship" but the allegations were serious and he was "duty-bound" to respond, prompting the investigation.
"I will hold people to account for statements that are inaccurate or just plain wrong ... " Leeder said.
"They were serious allegations and we took them seriously. We need to assure the public these allegations had no substance to them."
Many of the councillors were "disturbed" and "disappointed" by Rose's claims, he said.
"They took these allegations seriously, they were concerned the matter had not been raised with either myself or with any individual prior to the public position being taken by Stacey. Our council prides itself on a level of governing ... we have high expectations."
In December 2020, the regional council was given a BBB CouncilMARK score in an independent assessment report that showed the organisation performed above average in "leading locally" and "listening and responding".
Leeder said the council's elected members were a family "and within that family, we have a wide range of experience and views".
"We are fortunate to have that but when you have young people coming in, understanding local government is not easy. It's not an age thing either. You can have people come in thinking they are going to change the world but when they get to it, it's not what they were expecting.
"Our main job is to hold the chief executive and staff to account for running the organisation. That's not always easy."
Leeder would not name the individual councillors involved in the allegations, saying the claims against them were unsubstantiated and that they spoke with the investigator in confidence.
Rose returned to his councillor role on February 1. He said he intended to see it out until this year's local body elections in October and his Tekapo employment, raised by Glassey, was a "summer job" he may return to later.
Rose said he was yet to speak with the individual councillors involved and confirmed he intended to apologise to them, and the rest, one by one.
"If I'm going to be apologising, it needs to be wholehearted and sincere and you can't do that in a group. The apology will come with a caution though, just watch what [you] say."
The former barber said he was "annoyed" rather than disappointed by the findings.
"I think there has been some learning curves for all with this report. I was hoping we would've been able to dig down into the nitty-gritty side of things and actually talk about ageism. We did, but in my opinion, we didn't dive too deep. That is my only concern. Otherwise, I thought that report was really clear. It came out with things that needed to come out."
Rose, who received a mataora face tattoo while on leave, said he was looking forward to the 2022 year and hopefully encouraging more young people to take part in the election.
"I think that report has done what it needed to do. I hope we can move forward, hopefully with another young person coming in and the same mistakes aren't made," he said.
"I don't have regrets, the conversation needed to be raised."
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