In a closed door meeting on Thursday, the Otago council voted unanimously to stick with Dave Witherow and express its displeasure at the way he was treated.
It has written to national council chairman Rob Roney, telling him it deplores personality attacks and that it fully supports Mr Witherow as its appointee to the national executive.
The letter, supplied to the Otago Daily Times yesterday, says the Otago council wants to stick to the policy and procedural issues rather than perpetuate unnecessary debate.
"What we can say is that we support Mr Witherow's deep concerns, and his very genuine wishes to improve organisational performance, however those concerns and wishes may be expressed."
The letter is the latest in a series demonstrating the strained relationship between the Otago and national councils.
In a letter to Mr Roney last month, the Otago council said it was seriously concerned about lapses of good governance in relation to decisions being made relating to an audit of the Central South Island Council.
Later referring to the role of Mr Roney and chief executive Bryce Johnson, it said the full council was not being involved in decision-making and that relevant material was not being made available to all councillors.
There seemed to be an "unacceptable informality creeping in" to national council decision-making "which is denying our appointee the opportunity to conscientiously do his job as an NZC governor".
In reply, Mr Roney suggested Mr Witherow was selective in his use of information when reporting national affairs and that the council made no attempt to verify his opinions before accepting them as fact.
He claimed Mr Witherow may have breached nine policies in 12 months and saying "he acts on his own account and, in my opinion, is now perceived by many within the NZC as self-serving and destructive".
In yesterday's response, the Otago council says the comments about Mr Witherow were "unfortunate and disappointing and a sideshow to the real issue".
It considered the handling of the Central South Island audit issue as muddled and, at times, inappropriate. However, it did not discuss specific detail: "that will simply perpetuate unnecessary debate".
Otago chief executive Niall Watson said in an interview yesterday that the council decided at its in-committee meeting that it had no further public comment on the matter.
Mr Roney, of Greymouth, and Mr Witherow could not be contacted yesterday.
The relationship between the councils has been strained for some time. Late last year, the Otago council, and the Central South Island council, passed a motion of no-confidence in Mr Johnson.
It said the style, focus and delivery of national advocacy was failing to make tangible gains and had been damaging to external relationships.
Mr Roney replied, saying Mr Johnson had the full confidence of the national council.
