Hawke's Bay Regional Council deputy chairwoman Christine Scott has hit out at "incorrect statements" made by fellow councillor Tom Belford who suggested protesters target her home last weekend.
At a rally in Napier over water issues on Saturday, Mr Belford directed protesters to Mrs Scott's nearby home, telling them that as a long-term councillor, she was an appropriate target for voicing their concerns.
At the time, Regional Council chairman Fenton Wilson labelled Mr Belford's actions "a cowardly act".
At a council meeting yesterday, Mrs Scott said she objected to the protest being "directed at me, and to my home by a fellow councillor by incorrect statements".
She said the protesters "were informed that I had a role in degrading the Tukituki and Ngaruroro River ... I have degraded no rivers". Mrs Scott said in her role as a hearings commissioner she had sat on hearings granting water takes which had "properly been assessed against the law".
None of the decisions she had been a part of had been overturned by the Environment Court, she said.
"That is a record to be proud of."
She said the weekend protesters had been told some councillors were in favour of water bottling, a claim that was "untrue and twists those councillors' recognition of just and proper application of environmental law".
Under the law, the council's role was to assess the environmental affects of water takes, not to decide which industries should have priority, something that would "open a can of worms".
"There is no easy answer and that is why it must be addressed fairly and openly through informed rational debate and not through personal attacks."
Mr Belford stood by his actions.
"I make no apology for encouraging citizens to express their views to councillors in whatever way and whatever form they care to," he said yesterday.
"There are councillors that need to hear the message that these folks want to deliver and she [Mrs Scott] is an appropriate starting point to hear that message."
He said Mrs Scott had played a role in setting council policy since 2001 and "her record deserves to be challenged and it is going to be over the next year".
The two councillors clashed last year after Mr Belford claimed in a blog post that Mrs Scott, other councillors and council managers wanted the Ruataniwha dam built "at any cost".
The claim prompted Mrs Scott to lodge a code of conduct complaint against Mr Belford but she did not pursue it, saying yesterday that to do so would have been a waste of council resources.