Council’s Confusing Conduct

AT the Council meeting last night Councillor Sue Abbott said she would be taking stress leave until mid-February following a code of conduct investigation into her speaking to the media and requested a full cost breakdown of how much of the ratepayers money Council spent pursuing the matter.

“Essentially I have been investigated for talking to the media despite the fact that the particular instance in question was not a council matter and I did not speak on behalf of council,” Cr Abbott said.

“The code of conduct issue appears to have fizzled out now but it has come at a great emotional cost to me and I can only imagine a significant financial cost to ratepayers of the Upper Hunter Shire,” Cr Sue Abbott.

Her statement in Council was as follows:

“I would like to request stress leave effective immediately until mid February 2018,” Cr Abbott said.

“From information available in council minutes and council papers it will be apparent to many ratepayers that I have been party to a code of conduct matter for the past four and a half months – this has taken a significant toll on me and my family,” he said.

“I would like to remind council that councillors are not spin doctors for council,” Cr Sue Abbott said.

Notably the Mayor did not confirm in the meeting if the stress leave was granted.

While Cr Abbott’s statement does not indicate who made the allegations against her to prompt the investigation, in previous closed meetings when the matter was discussed three Councillors consistently left the room Cr Ron Campbell, Cr Maurice Collison and Cr Kiwa Fisher.

scone.com.au has requested all publicly available documents relating to the matter including the full report by the independent investigator, details of how much money Council spent on the matter and who made the allegations against Cr Abbott.

In previous Council meetings the matter was not listed on the agenda, which breaches general meeting standards and in the following meeting was listed as a “security” matter.

Related stories:

• Clarified – Free to Speak – November 28, 2017.
• Council Plot Thickens – October 31, 2017.
• Council meeting – September 2017.