The issues began with a DCC customer services employee refusing to record the Identification Number of a faulty parking machine that I went to get sorted [it soon was], then my complaint to DCC Management of the employee not doing her job, her subsequent complaint of my manner [see the full video on leevandervis.com] and the unprecedented escalation to an improper Code of Conduct complaint against me that was slanderously leaked to the media and FaceBook by DCC staff in the run-up to the 2019 Mayoral election which I narrowly lost.

My initial complaint of the staff member went nowhere and my court action has been necessary to learn whether it is legal under the Code for a staff member to make a Code of Conduct complaint against an elected representative [the reverse is impossible] and whether the process run by CEO Bidrose was fair.

If the Appeal Court decides in favour of the DCC, then criticism of Council staff by an elected representative becomes fraught and dangerous, and staff and CEO ability to skew election results will be extended.

https://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/dcc/vandervis-censure-case-back-court