Councillor Peter Kett and other elected members spoke to the Otago Daily Times yesterday after documents showed Cr Skelt was the subject of a sexual harassment complaint from an 18-year-old female staff member before his departure as manager of ILT Stadium Southland.
The complaint included an allegation Cr Skelt asked the stadium staff member if she would be keen to do jelly wrestling naked.
Invercargill Mayor and stadium trustee Nobby Clark was informed of the incidents in a resignation letter in February, and worked to resolve the complaint by issuing a ‘‘serious warning’’ to Cr Skelt, directing him to get psychological counselling and closely monitoring his behaviour.
He also offered the teenager $3000 to cover lost income, counselling for the trauma and the option of working somewhere else at the stadium or at ILT.
Cr Kett said he felt ‘‘bloody terrible’’ about the situation.
‘‘I think he should do the right thing and resign from the council.
‘‘I don't think he will come back and face the music. I definitely won't be rolling out the red carpet to welcome him back, that's for bloody sure.’’
He had known Cr Skelt and his family members for years and he felt incredibly sorry not only for the victim and her family, but also Cr Skelt’s relatives.
‘‘There's always victims on both sides. It's so sad for for the complainant at the stadium, but also very, very sad for his family and his wife. It's not nice.’’
Cr Darren Ludlow and Trish Boyle said a decision on whether to continue on council could only be taken by Cr Skelt.
Cr Ludlow said he would continue to work with Cr Skelt in a professional manner if he stayed on.
‘‘It's like there are people who you have to work with politically, sometimes that you don't closely align with but you still have to work with them.’’
He believed Mr Clark should not have become as involved in the process as he did, but believed the mayor was trying to help.
Cr Boyle said she did not feel comfortable with the situation, but still had ‘‘absolute confidence’’ in the mayor.
Deputy Mayor Tom Campbell said Cr Skelt should consider the views of his electorate .
‘‘I haven't spoken to Nigel at all since this this because he's been absent, but any councillor at any time should always ask themselves, 'Do I have the trust and confidence of the electorate?' And that's a question that Nigel will ask himself, I'm sure.’’
Mr Clark declined to comment in any detail about the situation.
He would not address why, despite his deep involvement in the case, when previously asked about the circumstances surrounding Cr Skelt’s resignation from ILT Stadium, he said: ‘‘This is a stadium issue, so it is not for me to comment.''
He said he could not make any comment as the process surrounding the sexual harrassment complaint was being investigated by ILT.
The mayor said he had been told Cr Skelt was intended to return to council.
‘‘At some later stage I will make a comment in relation to Cr Skelt’s council position, but now it is not the time.’’
Invercargill City Council chief executive Michael Day said the council had no direct role in this incident, but invited staff to a session this morning to discuss the news, the process it had undertaken to release the information and answer any questions from staff.
‘‘I am not aware of any other complaints or investigations regarding Cr Skelt.’’
The ODT also approached ILT chief executive Chris Ramsay yesterday who confirmed Cr Clark approached him about a potential job for the young woman at an ILT establishment.
‘‘The mayor came to us and said: ‘Look, if if we send this person your way, will you look at employing them?'.
‘‘My comment was 'Yes look, we've got plenty of vacancies at the moment, but the person will still have to follow the usual employment channels and apply for the role.’’
He became aware of the issue previously when an email was sent by mistake to ILT on the assumption that ILT owned and managed the stadium. However, it had only the sponsors’ naming rights, he said.
‘‘I replied to that person and said, ‘Hey, you haven't contacted the right people, but we will make sure that your complaint does go to the right people’ and we made sure it did.’’
Cr Skelt did not return phone calls yesterday.
