Crux podcast councillors summonsed by QLDC mayor and CEO

The mayor and CEO of the Queenstown Lakes District Council are putting pressure on councillors that have taken part in the Crux podcast series to not discuss council issues in public.

None of the councillors would share exact details of their communications with Mayor Glyn Lewers and CEO Mike Theelen but Councillor Cody Tucker has said that he, Niki Gladding, Esther Whitehead and Matt Wong have been "invited by Glyn to have a meeting with him and Mike in early August to discuss concerns with us about publicly undermining public servants and the work they do."

"As far as I’m aware it’s an aspect of code of conduct but it’s pretty imaginative to think we were in any way trying to do that. (I'm) so annoyed about it."

The Code of Conduct process is used to penalise councillors who don't follow council rules and the results can include losing paid positions on council sub committees as well as other sanctions.

There are no council rules that stop councillors from speaking with media and the QLDC's public mission statements include a commitment to open, transparent local government. 

One of the dominant themes voiced by councillors in the podcast series was a feeling they had "all the responsibility but no control" in the council decision making process and that Mayor Lewers was remote and inaccessible - siding with the CEO and council managers rather than his fellow elected members. 

Councilor Niki Gladding confirmed that she's received a detailed communication from mayor Lewers but would not share a copy with Crux. We understand though that the theme is the same as reported by Cody Tucker with councillors being blamed for "undermining public servants." 

Crux believes that the specific email sent to Councillor Gladding was copied to all other councillors, one of whom responded with further attacks on Councillor Gladding.

Councillor Matt Wong says that "Glyn has raised concerns but nothing formal" while Esther Whitehead says that she's not received anything in writing from the Mayor or CEO and has not been invited to the early August meeting referred to by Cody Tucker.

Deputy Mayor Quentin Smith has also been part of the Crux podcast series but it appears he has so far been spared a "disciplinary" meeting with the mayor and CEO.

Mayor Lewers has himself ignored requests to be part of the podcast series.

All episodes of the series can be accessed here.