by Nobby Clark says Sir Tim Shadbolt is no longer capable of leading the Invercargill City Council.
And, Clark says its his personal opinion that its time a vote of no confidence in the Mayor is considered.
Deputy mayor Clark described Shadbolts chairing of an extraordinary council meeting on Tuesday as an embarrassment as he struggled with confirming minutes and handling one agenda item.
It was embarrassing beyond belief, Clark said.
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My personal view point is it has come to that stage [vote of no confidence]. I think we need to make a public statement that this man is no longer capable of leading this council.
Clark did not rule out putting up a motion to do that but would wait until after the findings of Richard Thomsons second independent review are made public. That is expected in a week’s time.
In response, Shadbolt said: A vote of no confidence is no reflection of my ability of mayor but more an illustration of the determined workplace bullying I face daily.
He was comfortable that he was capable of leading the council and said while Clark was entitled to his opinion he did not agree with it.
Clark urged people to take a look at the recorded video of Tuesdays meeting, which Shadbolt chaired, and make up their own mind.
Shadbolt believed he should not be judged on one meeting and said he was frayed when chairing the council meeting following a “let’s attack the Mayor fest at a chairs meeting earlier in the day.
The attacks on him were regular, behind closed doors and had become more intense and prolonged with each week, he said.
He referred to a chairs meeting, held earlier on Tuesday, where he felt it sought to humiliate him over the use of the word regime he issued in a press release.
This related to him storing personal items in council-owned buildings.
The [chairs] meeting moved on to attempt to force me to apologise publicly for wrongfully claiming a staff member had sorted through my belongings. They tried to force me to concede I was not telling the truth when in fact I was.
I was traumatised by the ongoing tone of the meeting.
Shadbolt said by the time he went to chair the 4pm extraordinary meeting his nerves were frayed.
I admit that my trauma was reflected in my chairing yesterday.
Councillors and mayor Sir Tim Shadbolt at an extraordinary Invercargill City Council meeting held on Tuesday.
Clark is adamant that no council staff member was going through Shadbolts belongings. He said it was himself, the mayor and the mayors partner.
Stuff contacted the other city councillors and asked if they supported Clarks view Shadbolt was no longer capable of leading the council and would they consider a vote of no confidence.
Former deputy mayor and current councillor Rebecca Amundsen said in 2019 she had indicated her view around Shadbolt not being up to the job.
“Certainly I think it’s become more and more the case, as time has gone on that he has become less and less able….in terms of a vote of no confidence, certainly happy to have a discussion around that, unfortunately even if we did do that it doesn’t achieve anything in terms of changing the situation we are in, which is unfortunate.”
Cr Ian Pottinger said: “I think there’s parts of the role [Shadbolt] isn’t fulfilling, one was leading the long term plan, and an example was chairing Tuesday’s council meeting. I am not sure what was wrong but he didn’t seem prepared to lead the meeting, he seemed lost.
Councillors and Shadbolt should meet and have a frank discussion, Pottinger said.
We have got a year to go [until the election]. It’s a long time.”
Cr Graham Lewis believed the council might be getting closer to considering a vote of no confidence.
Many other councillors said they wanted to wait until the next Thomson report had come out before considering any possible action.
Clark said he had no agenda to get at the Mayor. Clark is not standing again for council and is not interested in the Mayors position in the interim.
He keeps saying he is a victim of people internally crucifying him, or making his life a misery and not focusing on the big issues. The truth is that the Mayor cannot articulate anything on those big issues, Clark said.
Clark had suggested to Shadbolt that he should retire to retain his Mana as a long-standing leader.
