Tea Tree Gully Mayor Kevin Knight found guilty of breaching Code of Conduct 31 times following probe

Embattled Tea Tree Gully Mayor Kevin Knight has been told to resign after sexually inappropriate behaviour and a slew of code of conduct breaches following a referral from ICAC.

TEA Tree Gully Mayor Kevin Knight labelled a council employee he patted on the backside with a rolled up document a “$2 tramp”, according to an independent investigation.

The council appointed lawyers Norman Waterhouse to compile a report following a referral from the Independent Commissioner Against Corruption. Mr Knight has denied any wrongdoing and intends to fight to clear his name.

Mr Knight has denied any wrongdoing and intends to fight to clear his name. Picture: Keryn Stevens

The council yesterday renewed its call for Mr Knight to resign after he was found to have breached its code of conduct 31 times.

It has also flagged possible legal action to remove Mr Knight from office.

Norman Waterhouse investigated an October 2, 2019, incident in the Modbury Civic Centre, where it was claimed the mayor inappropriately touched the female staffer on the backside.

In new documents released by the council yesterday, the law firm found Mr Knight referred to the woman as dressing like a “$2 tramp”.

The comments were allegedly made two days after the incident during a conversations with council chief executive John Moyle.

The lawyers also found Mr Knight breached the council’s code of conduct by calling for the woman to be sacked, along with another staff member who saw the incident.

Further investigations by the law firm found Mr Knight also engaged in other “inappropriate conduct” towards a female councillor during a workshop in March, 2019.

That included pulling her skirt away from her waist and saying: “Plenty of room in there – can I jump in?”.

According to the lawyers’ report, he also made inappropriate comments to her at a council function in November 2018 about her being “his type” and how he would have “gone for (her) if he was her age”.

Tea Tree Gully Mayor Kevin Knight and his wife leave responding to calls for his resignation on Monday morning, April 19. Picture: 7 News

Norman Waterhouse has recommended Mr Moyle lodge a complaint with the South Australian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (SACAT) “with a view that Mayor Kevin Knight be removed from the position of mayor”.

The law firm also found Mr Knight told elected members at a workshop in February last year that Mr Moyle “has to go because he has thrown me under the bus with the complaint”.

Mr Knight sought support from councillors to end Mr Moyle’s employment, according to the lawyers.

He also said that Mr Moyle “needs to go” because of his role in managing and progressing the complaint, the investigation found.

In a statement posted on its website yesterday, the council requested Mr Knight resign as mayor.

“As a council, we set high expectations of acceptable behaviour for our elected members and staff which must, as a minimum, meet reasonable community expectations and comply with our obligations to provide a safe working environment for staff and elected members,” it read.

Mr Knight yesterday “vehemently” denied all of the allegations, saying the invest­igation process was “flawed”. In a statement through his legal team, he said Norman Waterhouse had an “irreconcilable conflict of interest” investigating the matters.

“I have, at all times, maintained that I would fully co-operate with an independent and arm’s length inquiry into these matters,” Mr Knight said.

“These requests have been ignored. It is distressing to me that council have committed significant sums of ratepayers’ money to conduct these unfair and procedurally flawed investigations.

“I am flabbergasted that my right to a fair hearing has been further prejudiced by the public release of large sections of the Norman Waterhouse reports.”

Mr Knight said he would welcome the opportunity to have the matters properly investigated by either ICAC, the Ombudsman or the SACAT.

“I intend to defend myself from these allegations,” he said. “I am confident that an independent and objective investigation of these matters will clear my name.”