Eight councillors signed a letter in November requesting a report from a Dunedin City Council committee as soon as possible.
It is understood most councillors still do not have access to a report by King’s Counsel Maria Dew, who investigated bullying allegations.
A three-person decision-making committee — Dunedin Mayor Jules Radich and Crs Bill Acklin and Marie Laufiso — received her report and decided on behalf of the council what to do about the contents.
The committee has never said publicly what its decision was, although Ms Graham apologised to a staff member for an undisclosed reason.
Having received the request for more information from most councillors, Mr Radich forwarded the letter to council lawyer Karilyn Canton and Anderson Lloyd counsel John Farrow and Michael Garbett.
"Naturally, there will be a response required and I await your deliberations on what that should be," Mr Radich said.
The ODT is unsure how much councillors were able to learn after this about what the report they commissioned revealed and Mr Radich was unavailable for comment yesterday.
Emails were obtained by the ODT after a Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act request about November correspondence.
One was from deputy mayor Cherry Lucas to Mr Radich on November 3.
"I know this has been a difficult process and acknowledge that it hasn’t put you in an easy position," Cr Lucas said.
Much of her email was redacted, but she suggested information that should be provided to the full council could include the terms of reference for the investigation, the executive summary from Ms Dew’s report and her findings.
Cr Lucas also asked what exactly the decision-making committee decided and whether the decision was in line with staff employment policies.
"I can’t walk up the street, go to the supermarket, let alone go to a function without being bombarded by questions about this," the deputy mayor said.
"It’s very hard to defend council’s position when I have no information."
Cr Lucas told the mayor in order to "to support you, and therefore defend your decision, I believe it’s necessary to have more information".
Cr Sophie Barker wrote to the mayor on November 7.
She wanted to see the results of Ms Dew’s investigation, as well as the committee’s decision and the reasons for it.
Cr Barker highlighted she was a member of the chief executive performance review committee and she wanted to see a report about the complaint before key performance indicators for Ms Graham were agreed upon.
Cr Barker had a point she was very concerned about, but this was redacted from her email.
It appeared from her email it was argued having a small decision-making committee might accelerate the process.
However, the process started in April last year and several months then went by.
An "update report" was considered by the decision-making committee behind closed doors on September 27.
Ms Dew’s report cost $132,509.01, including GST.
The bill from Anderson Lloyd in relation to the matter was $122,069.67, including GST.
The eight councillors who requested more information were Crs Lucas, Barker, Mandy Mayhem, Jim O’Malley, Andrew Whiley, Christine Garey, Kevin Gilbert and Steve Walker.
Four councillors who had not seen Ms Dew’s report did not sign the request for more information.
They were Carmen Houlahan, David Benson-Pope, Lee Vandervis and Brent Weatherall.
