Councillors will come under investigation after a leak of confidential information was revealed at a previous council meeting.
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The leak relates to two code of conduct matters involving three councillors and the costs of investigating the matters by independent reviewers.
Council's general manager has said that she had "determined to undertake a confidential investigation" surrounding the leak.
The matter came to a head at the last council meeting on April 10 when regular speaker at council meetings, David Jesson, gave a deputation on the costs relating to the code of conduct matter.
It was a matter that he had raised previously at the March 13 meeting when he made statements concerning the costs which he put at a total of $30,000 for the two code of conduct matters.
I would not allow my name to be smeared. Your integrity as a councillor is paramount. You deal with confidential information and you should honour that protocol.
- Cr Tony Allen
Following the meeting the Mr Jesson confirmed to the News Weekly that the information had been supplied by "several councillors".
At the April meeting Mr Jesson asked why the code of conduct matter was being considered again.
"What is the additional cost. How did council get the process so wrong. What are the rights of the three councillors involved," Mr Jesson asked the meeting and called on council to release the details.
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He called it a "serious and costly error in process" and suggested there was no reason why his questions could not be answered in open session.
Following his deputation the mayor Kristy McBain said that he had made "a number of assumptions on costs and why the code of conduct matter had taken place" adding that much of that information was not in the public domain.
Cr McBain then asked Mr Jesson who had provided the information to which he replied it was not council staff.
The two code of conduct matters were later discussed in closed session after which two councillors made a statement.
It's a declaration to the public. It's about my reputation.
- Cr Sharon Tapscott
Crs Tony Allen and Sharon Tapscott both stated that they had not provided confidential information to Mr Jesson.
Cr Allen told the News Weekly there was an innuendo that the information had come from a councillor.
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"I would not allow my name to be smeared. Your integrity as a councillor is paramount. You deal with confidential information and you should honour that protocol," Cr Allen said.
"I didn't want my name associated with it and be guilty by association," Cr Allen added.
Cr Tapscott said it was about her integrity being questioned.
"It's a declaration to the public. It's about my reputation," Cr Tapscott said.
