Mount Barker District Council will not force councillor to apologise over false stalking allegation
An elderly resident accused by a councillor of “conducting surveillance” on her house is disappointed she will not be forced to publicly apologise — and will seek an official review.
Adelaide Hills
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An Adelaide Hills councillor who falsely accused an elderly resident of conducting surveillance on her house will not be forced to make a public retraction.
Mt Barker District Council has voted to take no further action against deputy mayor Samantha Jones after an official investigation found her guilty of breaching its code of conduct.
The inquiry by the Local Government Governance Panel recommended Cr Jones publicly retract a “reckless and inappropriate statement” she made about retired businessman Brian Calvert in an email sent to councillors and staff last November.
Warning other elected members to respond “with caution” if contacted by Mr Calvert, she said she believed he had been in a vehicle with two other men outside her house when he was nowhere near the property.
The pair previously had been involved in several exchanges on social media over council decisions, including a rate increase, with Cr Jones having to apologise for saying that Mr Calvert was trying to “ignite hate and fury” towards the council.
Mr Calvert, 80, later took defamation action against Cr Jones and lodged a code of conduct complaint over her email, which resulted in a private letter of apology in May as part of a confidential settlement.
During a public debate on Thursday night, supporters of Cr Jones argued the letter negated the need for her to make a further apology.
Other elected members said her email — and subsequent publicity about Mr Calvert’s complaint — had brought the council into disrepute and exposed serious internal divisions.
Cr Jones lodged a code of conduct against another councillor, David Leach, over an email he sent to her in response to her email.
A separate inquiry by the Local Government Governance Panel found Mr Leach had breached the code of conduct by failling to “endeavour to establish and maintain a respectful relationship with all council members, regardless of differences of views and opinions”.
Several councillors argued the email was not marked by Cr Jones as confidential and Mr Calvert was entitled to know what had been said about him.
Cr Ian Grosser said the council needed to act on the panel’s recommendations and order Cr Jones to make a retraction.
“This whole situation that has unfolded has been a sorry saga based around a series of mistakes,” he said.
“It reflects poorly on council and doesn’t do anybody in local government any good to see something like this.
“There are a number of lessons for all elected members to learn from this.”
Cr Grosser said Mr Calvert was “obviously sophisticated and intelligent” and deserved another apology from Cr Jones.
Cr Narelle Hardingham argued Cr Jones already had made an apology and that should suffice.
“I don’t believe there should be any sanctions against Councillor Jones for a minor breach of the code,” she said.
Cr Bradley Orr urged for the dispute between Mr Calvert and the council to be resolved as soon as possible.
“The longer this is in the headlines, the longer we look like fools,” he said.
Cr Greg Morrison said Cr Jones “probably didn’t know who she was messing with” when she criticised Mr Calvert in her email before lodging her complaint against Cr Leach.
“They are tough operators who have been around,” he said.
Cr Morrison said Cr Jones was “not the first person to take a tumble” for making public comments “without being aware of the consequences”.
“I don’t want to go through this crap too often,” he said.
Mr Calvert said he was disappointed the council did not discuss the panel’s recommendation for Cr Jones to make a public retraction.
“It was there on the original agenda and then it just got lost, it wasn’t even discussed,” he said.
Mr Calvert said he would be seeking an official review of how the meeting was conducted.
“I am not too fussed about the apology, it is the retraction I want,” he said.
Mayor Ann Ferguson said the council “has made its decision and that’s the end of the story” while Cr Jones declined to comment.
The two investigations into the email sent by Cr Jones cost the council $21,912.