The Dunedin City Council have requested I make an apology and much else beyond the powers of the DCC Code of Conduct rules.
My response to their over-reach was made public by the DCC today.

From: Lee Vandervis <lee@vandervision.co.nz>
Date: Tuesday, 20 August 2024 at 4:18 PM
To: Edward Ellison; Andrew Rouvi; Donna Matahaere-Atariki; Rachel Wesley; Caron Ward; David Ellison Megan Potiki;Matapura Ellison – ALT; Emma Wyeth- ExecSuzanne Ellison; Vicky Totoro; Marlene McDonald; [private email addresses removed on request]

 jeanette.wikaira@dcc.govt.nz<jeanette.wikaira@dcc.govt.nz>, Nicola.morand@dcc.govt.nz <Nicola.morand@dcc.govt.nz>, sandy.graham@dcc.govt.nz <sandy.graham@dcc.govt.nz>, mandy.mayhen@dcc.govt.nz <mandy.mayhen@dcc.govt.nz>, cherry.lucas@dcc.govt.nz <cherry.lucas@dcc.govt.nz>, marie.laufiso@dcc.govt.nz<marie.laufiso@dcc.govt.nz>, jules.radich@dcc.govt.nz <jules.radich@dcc.govt.nz>, sophie.barker@dcc.govt.nz <sophie.barker@dcc.govt.nz>, kevin.gilbert@dcc.govt.nz <kevin.gilbert@dcc.govt.nz>, Andrew.whiley@dcc.govt.nz <Andrew.whiley@dcc.govt.nz>, Christine.garey@dcc.govt.nz<Christine.garey@dcc.govt.nz>, jim.omalley@dcc.govt.nz <jim.omalley@dcc.govt.nz>, brent.weatherall@dcc.govt.nz <brent.weatherall@dcc.govt.nz>, david.benson-pope@dcc.govt.nz <david.benson-pope@dcc.govt.nz>, bill.acklin@dcc.govt.nz <bill.acklin@dcc.govt.nz>, Carmen.houlahan@dcc.govt.nz<Carmen.houlahan@dcc.govt.nz>, steve.walker@dcc.govt.nz <steve.walker@dcc.govt.nz>
Subject: An Apology as formally requested by Elected Members of Ta Pae Maori

Dear Elected and non-Elected members of Te Pae Maori.

I am sorry that some of my statements and actions as an Elected Representative have caused offense to some for which I unreservedly apologise.
Causing offense was never my intention.

Following a 4090 word Code of Conduct complaint brought against me by Cr. Laufiso, the investigator’s opinion is that I have breached the DCC Code of Conduct.
His reasons given included: my refusal  to attend Te Pae Maori Protocols and Waiata singing training, refusal to attend Te Pae meetings at Marae with reasons given, and voicing my opinion that giving unelected Maori elite representatives voting rights on two major DCC Standing Committees was undemocratic.

Elected Council Members of Te Pae Maori have subsequently requested that I:
 “d) provide a full and unreserved written apology by 5pm

on 20 August, 2024 to the Te Pae membership for the behaviour outlined in the

investigation; and Council also requests that Cr Vandervis makes a commitment to

participate in Te Pae meetings and observe the kawa (protocols) of the host.”
This Council resolution further:
“e) Notes that if an apology has not been received by 20 August 2024, Council staff

will provide a report to the 27 August Council meeting on the possible options

available to Council for a material breach of the Code of Conduct.”

In the debate leading up to this resolution Crs Garey, Barker, Walker, Benson-Pope, Mayhem, Whiley and O’Malley made it clear that they wanted to penalise me by removing me from the position of Chair of Finance and Council Controlled Organisations. 
Cr. Benson-Pope had already called for my removal from this Chair over a year earlier on 17/7/23.
Cr. O’Malley went further promising that if I was not removed as Chair he would “refuse to attend” any meetings I was Chairing. 
In the Code of Conduct debate of 31/7/24 it was made clear by many Councillors that I was very unlikely to apologise [Cr. O’Malley “…we will not be receiving an apology”] and Cr. Whiley agreed.

Having tried to coerce me with the threat of loss of my Finance and CCO chairmanship [along with its annual near $14,000 addition to salary] into making what Elected Representatives hoped would be a full, unreserved written apology, they also requested that I make  ‘a commitment to participate in Te Pae meetings and observe the kawa (protocols) of the host.”
Subsequent Anderson Lloyd legal advice recently sent to all Elected Members is that “We conclude that the second part of the resolution requiring Councillor Vandervis to make a commitment to participate in future meetings and observe kawa or protocols of the host goes beyond the terms of the code of conduct. We conclude this aspect of the resolution is therefore outside Council’s power to require as part of a code of conduct decision.”

The Anderson Lloyd legal advice concludes:
“8 It is our view if there is no apology and a future meeting is convened to consider penalties, any

penalty needs to be confined to the options set out in clause 13.1 of the code of conduct. This

does not extend to requiring future commitments to participate in future meetings. We

recommend against such a resolution because it is outside the terms of the code of conduct.”

The NZ Bill of Rights Act provides me with all the defence I need against these Code of Conduct accusations, particularly the sections relating to freedom of speech, movement, expression and religion.

For the Council to attempt to remove me from an appointed Chair position because I won’t alienate those Rights is beyond Council’s powers. I have not contracted out of NZ Bill of Rights freedoms because I have been elected to the DCC.
 It is because I am elected to represent the best interests of Dunedin citizens that I feel obliged to uphold the provisions of the NZ Bill of Rights, especially Freedom of Expression which should always be available to all Dunedin citizens.

Following the Code of Conduct investigator’s report, the Dunedin City Council has only one of eight penalties available under 13.1 of the Code of Conduct. 
Elected Representatives have used their one available penalty under 13.1, namely “2. A request (made either privately or publicly) for an apology;” as above, and they have made this request of me publicly along with claims of alleged racism which I reject, and they have caused me reputational harm.

Since Council have already publicly invoked penalty “2. a request (made either privately or publicly) for an apology;” with the negative attendant publicity that I have incurred, I submit that my apology as above now brings to an end the current Code of Conduct process.
 

Kind regards,
Cr. Lee Vandervis