Apology required over dredging comments

Cr Peter Freewater will be required to apologise to council staff and mayor Cr Chris Holstein, following a code of conduct investigation into comments Cr Freewater made on the dredging of Ettalong Beach channel.

Cr Freewater will also be encouraged to join other councillors in attending Code of Conduct training.

The complaint was lodged against Cr Freewater in February this year after he made comments to local media on Cr Holstein's handling of the dredging issue.

An investigation carried out by conduct reviewer Mr Peter Reynolds was reported to council on June 9.

Mr Reynolds said that Cr Freewater had admitted using the words "no one wants to offend the mayor" and found Cr Freewater had breached three clauses of the Code.

Mr Reynolds said that in the context the words implied that council officers might alter a report to council for other than proper reasons, and the mayor may have influenced the findings of council officers.

The report stated: "The words admitted by Cr Freewater in the context of which they were said were a personal attack on council staff in a public forum and were therefore a breach of the code of conduct."

Mr Reynolds recommended that Cr Freewater be counselled.

However, according to Cr Freewater, the report "effectively cleared" him in relation to criticism of Cr Holstein.

"It would have been a sad day for local democracy if this complaint against me had culminated in a serious sanction," Cr Freewater said.

"It's important that Codes of Conduct are not misused to censor legitimate public debate or to stop elected representatives from raising issues of public concern.

"I hope that in future the Mayor chooses to respond to media criticism by engaging in the public debate so that the community can consider what he has to say about an issue, rather than resorting to formal complaint processes that occur out of public view."

Council agenda COM.29, 9 Jun 2009 Press release, 2 Jun 2009 Cr Peter Freewater, Gosford Council