Wattle Range Council has responded to a rumour about a supposed Code of Conduct complaint that has been recently aired in multiple regional media outlets.

The SE Voice has directed a number of questions regarding the rumour to the council and its chief executive Ben Gower has provided a response.

“In the event of Wattle Range Council receiving a Code of Conduct complaint, it is dealt with in accordance with our complaint handling policies and procedures, available for public viewing on council’s website,” Mr Gower said.

“On receipt of such complaint, investigations are conducted in confidence to protect the parties involved and the outcomes are only made public through a formal report to a Wattle Range Council meeting if a breach of the Code of Conduct has been found.

“Therefore, in the interests of maintaining this confidence we cannot directly respond to your specific enquiries.

“It should however be noted that no such report has been presented in the past five years.”

The Wattle Range Council Code of Conduct policy operates in line with the statewide requirements of the Local Government Act.

Its complaint handling policy runs to six pages and was last reviewed by the council in January of this year.