Mitcham councillor Darren Kruse made to write report detailing behaviour change after code of conduct breach

A Mitcham councillor who broke his code of conduct – the second in a week – will have to write a public report detailing how he’s changed his behaviour.

Mitcham’s council chambers. (AAP Image/James Elsby).

A Mitcham councillor will have to write a public report telling his colleagues and ratepayers what he has done to change his behaviour after a legal investigation found he breached his code of conduct.

The $4650 investigation, conducted by the Local Government Governance Panel, found Darren Kruse had failed to establish and maintain a respectful relationship with Cr Adriana Christopoulos, who lodged a complaint last year.

The complaint stemmed from a series of emails between Cr Kruse and Cr Christopoulos, in which he dismissed a question she asked of the council administration as “irrelevant, vague (and) improper”.

Mayor Heather Holmes-Ross gave evidence to the panel that tension between councillors representing the Blackwood hills and Mitcham plains had hit a peak due to a debate over the multimillion-dollar Blackwood Hub project.

The panel’s final report said Ms Holmes-Ross gave evidence that Cr Kruse could “adversely impact the council meetings where he can come over as a bully due to his direct and debating style”.

She told the panel the “combative approach” was “intimidating” for his colleagues.

It came in the same week as a report into fellow Mitcham councillor Karen Hockley was released, finding she had broken four codes of conduct.

Darren Kruse.

Adriana Christopoulos.

While the panel recommended Cr Kruse be given professional counselling to “moderate his behaviour” and report back to the mayor, councillors have instead forced him to write a public report detailing the actions he has taken to change his behaviour.

Cr Kruse this week told his colleagues he was “disappointed” the council had to pay more than $4000 to investigate “a councillor’s hurt feelings”.

He doubled down on his criticism of Cr Christopoulos and also criticised the findings of the panel.

“Clearly robust debate is not to be had in this chamber because people’s feelings might get hurt,” Cr Kruse said.

He said the order to report on his behavioural changes was “contrary” to the panel’s recommendations and he would only modify his actions because “ratepayers money will be wasted if I don’t, by people who can’t handle a bit of criticism … not because I did anything wrong”.

Cr Christopoulos said she was “happy the complaint went through the right process” and that the decision to sanction Cr Kruse was “the right one”.

“He breached it, he needs to own it,” Cr Christopoulos said.

However, she was also critical of the cost involved.

“Given the CEO is paid quite a substantial amount of money, I think, in future, codes of conduct should be managed internally by the CEO and mayor.”

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