THE amount spent investigating breaches of Orange City Council's code of conduct has remained at a low $9025 during the first half of the year, despite historically reaching as much as $86,000.
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A report to councillors revealed five complaints had been lodged between November and June, with three referred to a conduct reviewer.
Two of those found no code breaches, while the third was resolved - councillor Glenn Taylor apologised in December for the way he debated the Robertson Park toilets.
One complaint was referred to the NSW Office of Local Government, but no breach was found.
Councillor Kevin Duffy asked whether complainants were informed of the outcomes, referring to complaints from the Orange Residents and Ratepayers Association, where councillor Tony Mileto formerly served as president, as a "political party" who "helped him out in regard to the election".
I'm so, so, so, so sorry.
- Councillor Kevin Duffy's apology to councillor Tony Mileto during debate
The association had complained about councillors Duffy, Taylor, Scott Munro and deputy mayor Sam Romano, who left the chamber during debate on the domestic violence crisis centre.
After being pulled up by mayor Reg Kidd as irrelevant, Cr Mileto sought an apology and Cr Duffy replied he was "so, so, so, so sorry".
"I think it is relevant, that's the mayor's point of view," he said.
"We have about $10,000 [spent] - you nearly double that and that's well over 100 metres of footpath."
Cr Taylor said the system was intended for corruption or defamation.
"But I will say this, we've seen much larger amounts in this chamber over the years, so I congratulate [staff] - she's certainly tightened up the process," he said.
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