A complaint about the conduct of Cr Carmen Houlahan was received yesterday, the Dunedin City Council confirmed.
It was filed by Cr Sophie Barker, who resigned as deputy mayor on Monday.
Cr Barker, who is to continue as a councillor, said yesterday she was unable to discuss the complaint.
However, before she stepped down as deputy mayor she disclosed she had received "17 awful texts" and eight unanswered phone calls from Cr Houlahan.
Cr Houlahan told the Otago Daily Times she had since asked council chief executive Sandy Graham to pass on an apology to Cr Barker.
She had not realised she had sent so many text messages.
This followed Cr Barker, supported by Cr Jim O’Malley, filing a complaint on Friday about the conduct of Dunedin Mayor Jules Radich after he minimised on national radio a racist outburst from a community board chairman.
The council had issued a censure against Strath Taieri Community Board chairman Barry Williams, asked him to consider resigning as board chairman and labelled his remarks as appalling, but Mr Radich told RNZ the incident was "just a relatively minor thing".
Mr Radich later apologised.
Cr Barker said she believed the mayor had disclosed information from a confidential council meeting and this was the final straw that led to her resignation as deputy mayor.
Cr Houlahan was one councillor who was shocked by Cr Barker and Cr O’Malley making the complaint about the mayor.
Cr Houlahan on Monday said the messages covered the weekend.
"I was trying to find out what was going on."
Cr Barker was furious on Monday when Cr Houlahan accused her of starting campaigning for the mayoralty two years out from the election.
"It is very disturbing to be harassed and have completely untrue accusations made," Cr Barker said.
Cr O’Malley told RNZ yesterday he had received 12 phone calls from Cr Houlahan on Friday night.
That was a strong response from someone who had not seen the details of the complaint against the mayor, he said.
A council spokesman said yesterday the council was working through a process of appointing an independent investigator regarding the complaint against the mayor.
Cr Barker said the code of conduct was foundational to good governance and she could not stand by and allow standards to slip.
She was not at the council’s committee meetings yesterday, but expected to attend the next meeting towards the end of this month.
She remains the strategy, planning and engagement committee chairwoman.
Recent days had been challenging and she had received a lot of support for the stand she had taken, she said.
