A written apology has been issued by Central Otago District mayor Tim Cadogan after a legal expert advised a code of conduct complaint against him was justified.

Russell Garbutt, former deputy chair of the Vincent Community Board, made the complaint to Central Otago District Council (CODC) chief executive Sanchia Jacobs after the mayor emailed Radio New Zealand identifying Russell as a community board member, in relation to an opinion he had expressed as a member of the public.

In April Russell had written a letter to the Otago Daily Times supporting a newspaper column by Joe Bennett. The column stated a Radio NZ presenter, in using a mix of English and Te

Reo, was “educating no-one, patronising Maoridom and barking up a barren linguistic plum tree”.

In his letter of complaint against CODC, Russell stated he recognises the Maori language as an official language of New Zealand and has “no issue with anyone wishing to learn the Maori

language”.

“What I do have an issue with is that my agreement with Joe Bennett’s piece resulted in the mayor using his position by the use of his council email to disclose my position as a community

board deputy chair and to link my support of Joe Bennett’s views with the CODC. 

“It is my position that he further impugned my integrity by these actions and associated comments.”

Yesterday (Monday June 13) Tim also apologised for his actions to the Vincent Community Board (VCB) at its monthly meeting in Alexandra.

He said he accepted his actions were “improper” and has offered to meet Russell to apologise in person.

“I accept fully I should not have sent the email that caused this issue and am disappointed with myself for having done so.”

Russell resigned from VCB with immediate effect when the matter came to light on June 3 but this was not acknowledged by chairperson Martin McPherson yesterday. 

It was, however, noted by  board member Dr Roger Browne, who wished to issue thanks to Russell for his six years on the board. 

In a statement to media at the time Russell had described the situation involving the mayor’s email as a tipping point for his resignation, pointing to frustrations around addressing the

needs of the community via the board and council systems as a contributing factor. 

The vacancy left on the VCB will not be filled until the upcoming local body elections, yesterday’s meeting heard, as there were only two meetings to go before elections were underway.  

Nominations for community board and council seats open on July 15 and results will be declared between Thursday, October 13 and Wednesday, October 19, according to the CODC

website.