A dispute over the sacking of the man tasked with co-ordinating the refurbishment of Balclutha's War Memorial Hall does not reflect well on anybody, a High Court judge says.
Last year Balclutha-born Christchurch builder Kevin Barron filed a judicial review against the Clutha District Council for the way he was removed from the Balclutha Memorial Hall Co-ordinating Group.
Mr Barron claims he was dismissed without proper consultation at a council meeting on May 31 last year, where the public - including himself - were excluded.
The council says concerns about Mr Barron's lack of communication, transparency and proper process were raised with him before he was removed as leader.
The case was heard by Justice Anne Hinton, of Auckland, via video link in the High Court at Dunedin yesterday.
During lawyer Dean Tobin's submission for the council, Justice Hinton said the fact the dispute had ended up in front of her did not reflect well on either party.
''I think it wouldn't be a bad idea for them to sort out their differences, because I'm sure this doesn't reflect particularly well on anyone.''
Given what he knew about the dispute, Mr Tobin said he thought that outcome was unlikely.
Mr Barron's lawyer, Gordon Pain, said by being denied a chance to take part in the process which resulted in him being removed from the group, meant his client had been denied natural justice.
At the very least he should have been given the chance to respond to the claims being made against him, Mr Pain said.
Before the dismissal two meetings were held by the group, which included three councillors, before the decision and at vote taken at one of those meetings resulted Mr Barron in keeping his role.
If the council had explicitly told Mr Barron if he kept leading the group the way he was they would remove him, there would be no issue, Mr Pain said.
Mr Tobin said under the Local Government Act the council did not have to provide Mr Barron with an opportunity to respond to the concerns but had already met him and told him he had to change his ways.
Justice Hinton reserved her decision.
An announcement about the progress made by the committee on the hall project is expected in the coming days.
