However, that did not stop an overwhelming majority from censuring her for leaking information from a public-excluded meeting nearly a fortnight ago.
At an extraordinary meeting in Queenstown yesterday given extra colour by a packed and rowdy public gallery, they voted 8-2 in favour of removing her from two council committees.
The meeting was called by Mayor Glyn Lewers after Cr Gladding blew the whistle on a council decision to invoke emergency provisions in the Resource Management Act to directly discharge treated effluent into the Shotover River.
With the exception of absent councillor Lisa Guy, all elected members spoke during the half-hour debate, which began with Cr Gladding making a statement before leaving the table to a loud round of applause from the public gallery.
Cr Gladding said she did not accept she had broken any rules, and wanted a code of conduct investigation instead.
The code said elected members should make decisions in an "open and transparent manner" and not withhold information from the public.
That gave them "conflicting obligations".
"We have to be really careful when we sit as judge and jury on each other that we go through the proper process."
Although all councillors said during the debate Cr Gladding’s actions were wrong, deputy mayor Quentin Smith and Cr Esther Whitehead opposed the motion on the grounds a code of conduct investigation was more appropriate.
Cr Smith said he was disappointed by her actions, but an independent investigation would apply "natural justice principles".
Cr Cody Tucker said Cr Gladding had to be one of the hardest-working councillors in New Zealand, and many residents would feel confused about why her colleagues felt "let down" by her actions.
"I’ve never received so many threatening emails, or seen so much anger in the community."
However, he was "annoyed" she had prevented the council from telling the community about its decision in the way it had intended.
"The difficulty is when someone leaks information, it reinforces the narrative of conspiracy and can deepen the wound of mistrust."
Cr Craig Ferguson said she had admitted to breaching the rules, which made a code of conduct investigation unnecessary.
"There’s a purpose for those rules that we govern by.
"They’ve been broken, and there have to be consequences."
However, releasing confidential information prematurely had denied council staff the ability to update stakeholders and regulators before the public was informed.
Councillors often had to make unpopular choices between "bad and worse", Cr Wong said.
"While some may wish ... clear-cut support for their views, framing these debates as battles between right and wrong does not help us find the solution."
Cr Gavin Bartlett said the plan by council staff to keep information confidential for a few days was "not some great cover-up or conspiracy".
"I even respectfully and politely asked you not to release it, but you chose to ignore all that, and as a result lost my trust.
"What resulted has potentially damaged relationships, caused great difficulty for council staff and created a media storm that has unfortunately led to a huge amount of misinformation and ill-informed commentary."
Mr Lewers said the vote to remove Cr Gladding from committee roles was simply a consequence of her actions, and reflected a "lack of trust in an elected member’s ability to handle sensitive information".
He believed a majority of councillors had wanted to work with her on the issue, and she had options for addressing her concerns through "normal process".
Council in-house lawyer Brendan Peet told councillors before the debate an injunction application by water lobby group Aotearoa Water Action to stop the direct discharge had been dismissed in the Environment Court on Monday.
