Auckland mayor Len Brown is confident he can rebuild relationships with his councillors, who have taken the rare move of publicly censuring him for breaching a code of conduct.
Brown was yesterday spared a vote of no-confidence when three quarters of the councillors opted instead to censure him and vowed to work with him when they return from a summer break.
The three hour debate was at times harsh, with Councillor Dick Quax referring to the stench of a rotting political corpse, but the 15 councillors who opted not to hold a no-confidence vote spanned the political divide.
The mayor told Radio New Zealand that changes to be put in place will include regular briefings with councillors, which did not occur during the first term.
But Councillor Quax still insists that Brown is a lame duck mayor.
