Cr Leslight was required on either December 9 or on Tuesday to “offer an unqualified apology to all council planning staff for his conduct” after comments he made to planning staff at a July 8 meeting.

A council spokeswoman said councillors must comply with council resolutions requiring them to take action as a result of a breach of the code of conduct.

“A failure to comply with these obligations will constitute a fresh breach of the code of conduct and will be dealt with by the Office of Local Government under the misconduct provisions of the Local Government Act 1993,” she said.

“The Act provides for a range of penalties that may be imposed on councillors for misconduct.”

The Bay Post/Moruya Examiner understands the complaint related to discussion about council’s Broulee biodiversity certification strategy on July 8. 

During the debate, Cr Leslight said council’s planning department had failed to provide adequate information on bio-certification, which “may equate to negligence”.

He also said the people of Eurobodalla were “fed up” with the behaviour of council’s planning department. 

“They have misled the public on so many issues from E-zones, ‘like for like’ zoning, overlays and sea-level rise,” he said.

“We have had enough.

“We must not allow the administration to dictate to our people any longer.”

Cr Leslight went on to say “we will not tolerate having a gun held to our heads by the planning staff who have allowed this situation to occur”.