Some Wagga councillors are calling on the Office of Local Government to make substantial changes to the way it handles code of conduct matters, despite voting against its recommendations at their last council meeting.
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Councillors have raised concerns around transparency, delays and appropriate outcomes, with Mayor Greg Conkey reiterating his longstanding complaint that the code of conduct process is a "toothless tiger".
A council spokesman said there had been 11 code of conduct complaints lodged in this financial year so far, of which three were still being finalised and one had made it to the council chamber to be considered by councillors.
If a council colleague or a member of the public believes a councillor or general manager has breached the NSW Model Code of Conduct, which sets out expected standards of behaviour, they may lodge a complaint which can result in disciplinary action.
Most complaints are dealt with by councils themselves, who pay for an independent reviewer to investigate an alleged breach and prepare a report that councillors then vote on in a confidential closed section of one of their meetings.
The six councillors who were present in the Wagga chamber on May 10 voted unanimously against adopting an independent investigator's findings against one of their colleagues, because they believed the "evidence contained within the investigation report does not support a conclusion that a breach of the Code of Conduct has occurred".
However, Cr Conkey, who was one of the six councillors, has since said he has been "agitating for years" for the OLG to strengthen its capacity to bring councillors to account if it is established they have engaged in poor behaviour.
"I believe the OLG has powers to address the situation in a more appropriate fashion to what they're doing at the moment," he said.
He questioned the "resolve" of NSW Minister for Local Government Shelley Hancock, who in March released a statement warning the state's 1300 councillors that they were "on notice" and faced "harsh penalties" if they failed to uphold high standards of behaviour before the September elections.
Councillor Dan Hayes has called for an overhaul of the code of conduct complaints process, saying the community needs to have faith that it is "fair".
"My main problem is the length of time that they take for the investigation. That's most frustrating ... The length of time it takes and the costs associated are pretty poor," he said.
"But it's still better to do it than not. Otherwise you allow poor behaviour to continue to go on and there's no mechanism [to stop it]."
Councillors Tim Koschel and Paul Funnell have both previously said they would prefer to see code of conduct matters dealt with publicly in open council meetings.
In the 12 months to December 2020, Wagga ratepayers had to cover a $60,000 bill for code of conduct complaints.
Ms Hancock's office and the Office of Local Government were both contacted for comment, but were unable to respond by deadline.
Catie McLeod
Catie is a reporter at The Daily Advertiser covering health and Wagga City Council. You can contact her on c.mcleod@dailyadvertiser.com.au or 0475 819 651.
Catie is a reporter at The Daily Advertiser covering health and Wagga City Council. You can contact her on c.mcleod@dailyadvertiser.com.au or 0475 819 651.
