An independent investigation has found that phone calls made by a Hutt City councillor about a potential land deal breached the council's code of conduct.
The report, conducted by former Ombudsman Leo Donnelly, has been made public today and assessed complaints made against councillor Chris Milne.
It found three materialbreaches of the code - and that his actions could be detrimental to the council's reputation, bringing it into disrepute.
Milne told the Herald: "There's a lot more to this story than what's up there on the website."
He said he would be presenting information at an extraordinary council meeting on Friday.
Milne's wife is the president of Hutt Valley Tennis, but neither have a pecuniary interest in the organisation.
However, the councillor was warned at the beginning of this year by the council's Chief Legal Counsel that he had a conflict of interest.
Following the inquiry, the idea was mooted that the council could redirect some money from the proceeds back into Hutt Valley Tennis. The inquiry was still in its early stages and no formal proposal had been drawn up.
On May 11, Milne rang senior council officer Bruce Hodgins about the inquiry.
Hodgins later said Milne tried to encourage him in a "quite bullish" and "forceful manner" to bring a formal proposal before council as soon as possible, the report says.
The Mitchell Park Hutt Valley Tennis Facility.
Milne submitted to the investigation his normal manner of speaking was generally bullish.
He also said he thought his conflict of interest was limited to participation and voting at meetings.
Donnelly accepted that was genuine - but said Milne's understanding of a conflict of interest and how it should be managed was misconceived.
"The fact that Councillor Milne was not the decision-maker is irrelevant. He was attempting to influence the decision-maker, Mr Hodgins, to adopt a particular course of action."
One month earlier, Milne made another call, in a separate matter, to Waste Management's Lower North Island general manager David Howie.
It occurred during a live tender for the council's waste collection services - Waste Management was the incumbent supplier and a prospective tenderer.
The report determined the tender itself was not discussed during the phone call, but Howie began to feel uncomfortable during the conversation.
"Two or three times during the call he felt that the conversation was getting close to crossing the boundaries that had been agreed and he reminded Councillor Milne of those boundaries," Donnelly's report says.
Milne commented several times during the phone call that he'd spoken to other people in the industry.
The report found Milne's call was inappropriate while there was a live tender process and risked Howie gleaning information that potentially gave Waste Management an advantage over other prospective tenderers.
"Upholding the reputation of Hutt City Council necessarily involves an elected member not overstepping into operational matters during a tender process," Donnelly said.
Milne claimed the council's chief executive was "out to get him" when she raised concerns about the call, but Donnelly's report said there was no credible evidence to support that allegation.
The three code of conduct breaches relate to ethical behaviour, conflict of interest, and relationship with the public.
The report will be tabled at an extraordinary Hutt City Council meeting on Friday.
