Councillors shocked at mayor's tirade

Several Invercargill city councillors expressed shock yesterday at Mayor Tim Shadbolt's tirade against council management and urged him to keep his nose out of staffing issues.

Mr Shadbolt said he was disturbed at the treatment of some staff over the years, singling out chief executive Richard King for criticism and saying communications manager Eirwen Tulett hated him.

Councillors spoken to yesterday fell in behind Mr King and Mrs Tulett and said they had no issues with either manager's performance.

Cr Lindsay Abbott said Mr Shadbolt had shown a prejudice towards Mr King and should not be involved in the recruitment process for the chief executive position, which is under way.

"I was a little bit saddened to see the mayor giving personal opinions, which I believe didn't have foundation, about existing members of staff."

Others said he appeared to be lashing out because he had been reined in by the council over his campaign to bring down the Government.

Cr Graham Sycamore said he did not think it was appropriate for elected members to comment on employment matters. "It surprised me ... I hope I'm not on the hate list," he said, jokingly.

Deputy Mayor Neil Boniface said there was obviously a lot going on behind the scenes, which he was unaware of.

Mr Shadbolt said his comments had caused a lot of debate and consternation but there had been a lot of kissing and making up yesterday.

He said he had a chip on his shoulder about the influence council chief executives wielded. "(Staff) pay huge respect to the CEO, but there's a little bit of a falling off towards the mayor."

His first election pledge in 1993 had been to sack Mr King and, as he was still there, "I don't think they can argue that I'm that vindictive".

He said he was still bitter about the "emasculation" of mayors since local government was rejigged in 1989, although not many mayors complained as their salaries had trebled since.

- © Fairfax NZ News