A Hamilton City Councillor says she has witnessed a wide range of inappropriate and sexist incidents at work and claims the Mayor is yet to have "honest conversations" with elected members about their behaviour.
Her comments come after a Hamilton freelance journalist and mother of three outed a councillor on social media following a crass message he sent to her over Facebook.
Angela Cuming has recently been working on a campaign to stop the council putting a freeze on new playgrounds for the next decade and thought a message from Councillor Mark Bunting on Tuesday might have been a message of support.
However, he'd sent her a sexually explicit message in reference to her last name.
Ms Cuming took to Twitter to share her disgust.
"I thought, you know, call him out," she told TVNZ 1's Seven Sharp programme.
"I'm just someone who wants to hold men to account and in particular people like Cr Bunting because he's a man in a position of power and authority."
Since the incident, Cr Bunting has only apologised online but hasn’t picked up the phone to say sorry to Ms Cuming.
"Then he put it back on me saying 'I thought you were a good mate.'"
In light of the message, Councillor Angela O'Leary told Seven Sharp "some fundamental honest conversations" needs to happen between the Mayor and elected members over complaints.
"I don't think to date this has happened," Cr O'Leary said.
Cr Bunting now faces a disciplinary hearing following a formal complaint by Ms Cuming.
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