Councillor Niki Gladding may be stripped of responsibilities after information leak

A Queenstown councillor who revealed a confidential council plan to discharge treated sewage into the Shotover River may be stripped of her responsibilities.

Niki Gladding last week revealed the council was planning to invoke emergency powers to pump at least 12,000 cubic metres of treated sewage into the Shotover River per day.

The council had been plagued by compliance issues relating to sewage disposal from its wastewater treatment plant and said ponding wastewater created danger for planes at the neighbouring Queenstown Airport.

An extraordinary meeting was called by Mayor Glyn Lewers for next Tuesday.

Stuart McLauchlan, the independent chairperson of the council's audit, finance and risk committee, wrote to Lewers and said Gladding had breached the council's code of conduct.

"I have been made aware of the actions of Councillor Gladding leaking confidential information to a third party and taking a position in public (for or against the Council ) based on knowledge of confidential information," McLauchlan's letter said.

"This is a clear breach of the code of conduct of a member of the AFRC (audit, finance and risk committee) and of a member of council and as such I would like councillor Gladding removed as a member of the AFRC."

A public report, prepared for Tuesday's meeting, recommended stripping Gladding of her membership of the audit, finance and risk, and infrastructure committees as well as her role as deputy chairperson of the infrastructure committee.

"As the topic was an ongoing legal process still before the court and included legal advice on a number of related subjects, the briefing was conducted with the public excluded on the grounds that making that information available would be likely to prejudice the maintenance of the law, including the prevention, investigation, and detection of offences, and the right to a fair trial," the report said.

"Councillors were advised during that briefing that consultations were required with iwi and other affected or interested parties before further decisions were made."\

The report said during and after the briefing Gladding signalled she did not agree with the decision to exclude the pubic and intended to make a public statement.

"In response, the Chief Executive clearly advised this would be a breach of councillor responsibilities and commitments," it said.

The report said when the information was made public it put officers and the chief executive in the position of "having to answer" to key stakeholders.

"Key stakeholders then expressed disappointment to learn of the matter through media channels," it said.

The report noted Gladding was the subject of previous code of conduct breaches relating to breaches of confidentiality and providing confidential information to the media.

"Notably, after an independent investigation, following two complaints against Councillor Gladding, the Code of Conduct Committee and council found her to be in breach and that the matter was a serious and material matter.

"At that time, councillor Gladding was required to work with a mentor in terms of adhering to good practice and prohibited from attending any discretionary training for a minimum period of 12 months."

She also received a letter from the mayor in July 2024, raising concerns about her behaviour on a podcast.

"I am advised you made a series of disrespectful comments in relation to QLDC staff and failed to respect the majority decisions of Council. For clarity, I am familiar with the podcast transcript," Lewers wrote.

"I have been further advised that you have made several assertions, accusations and criticisms in the podcast. If you would like to raise any matter constructively within a credible forum, my door is open.

"I have no issue with individuals holding their own unique views and I appreciate this work is challenging, but the pathway to building trust and confidence in our community is not publicly undermining and criticising public servants."

The council's report provided councillors with the option to strip Gladding of her duties, undertake a code of conduct investigation, or take no action.

RNZ has approached Gladding for comment.