John Harrison lays complaints against Napier Mayor Bill Dalton

Napier mayor Bill Dalton is at the centre of two complaints laid to the Auditor-General's office by former Napier councillor John Harrison. Photo/File

Two complaints to the Office of the Auditor-General have been laid against Napier Mayor Bill Dalton.

Former Napier councillor John Harrison claimed the public exclusion in the redevelopment of the war memorial, which led to a public outcry, was out of order and Mr Dalton was bias in the process of recruiting a new chief executive.

In an email to the office, Mr Harrison said there was no reason for the Napier City Council to have voted "in committee" on the decision to rename the Napier War Memorial Conference Centre and to remove the Eternal Flame and Roll of Honour.

"You go in committee if it's commercially sensitive but changing the name of the centre war veterans and widows helped paid for and ripping out the Roll of Honour and Eternal Flame isn't commercially sensitive.

"The public were only told about it when it was too late and I think the Auditor-General will look on this unfavourably and I believe this item should be nullified."

Mr Harrison said he also wished to confirm that a number of councillors, from the deputy mayor down, publicly stated they were not given all the necessary facts before voting on that motion.

Deputy Mayor Faye White refused to comment this afternoon but in a Talking Point column last month in Hawke's Bay Today said: "I was unfortunately unaware of the War Memorial's meaningful and significant history and the fundraising that had occurred by the people for a Napier War Memorial Hall 60 years ago."

Councillor Tony Jeffery also said in a Talking Point in Hawke's Bay Today that it was now very clear that the Napier City Council didn't recognise that the city's conference facility and the War Memorial articles were one and the same in the hearts and minds of many.

However, Mr Jeffery didn't agree with Mr Harrison and said the information they were given about the RSA, both local and national, was accepted in "good faith".

"The RSA said it was no longer a good fit for the articles and with the upgrade the articles had to be removed. This whole thing has been blown out of proportion and people have been misinformed."

In Mr Harrison's second complaint he said Mr Dalton had shown a very clear case of predetermination in ensuring that the applications received for the role of CEO were effectively ignored and called for councillors to stand by current CEO Wayne Jack, who was understood to have reapplied for the position.

Mr Jack's term started in 2013 and recently ended.

Mr Harrison said that, according to Part 5 of the Guidance for Members of Local Authorities about the Law on Conflicts of Interest, Mr Dalton had "no leg to stand on".

"I believe that Dalton should be excluded from this process due to his public predetermination and the process left up to a competent third party as he has well and truly 'poisoned the well'.'"

Mr Dalton declined to comment today but earlier said his call to support Mr Jack had nothing to do with that recruitment process.

"The claim that by calling for support of my CEO, who's my sole employee, to suggest that that somehow may render me ineligible to choose the next CEO for Napier City Council is nonsense.

"It was a case of me, as a responsible employer, saying to my councillors to stand by our only employee.

"If an employer is not allowed to ask for support of their employee there's something wrong."

Councillor Larry Dallimore believed the process hadn't been biased and, as he understood it, councillors would be able to help with the final decision once the committee had made a recommendation.

An Office of the Auditor-General spokesman said the query was received yesterday and it was beginning to consider it.