Two investigations have been launched after an alleged assault at Mackenzie District Council’s offices last week.

A police spokesperson said a report had been received and inquiries are underway.

“I can confirm we have received a report of an alleged assault and inquiries are in their very early stages,” the spokesperson said.

Chrislynchmedia.com reported the accused councillor is Frank Hocken.

“I was probably a bit out of order. But never mind. I should not go into it. It was a bit naughty,” he told chrislynchmedia.com.

When contacted by the Herald this afternoon, Hocken declined to comment.

Last week, Local Democracy Reporting (LDR) reported Hocken told the council it was overreacting by hiring more staff, and that health and safety and customer service roles were unnecessary.

He said existing staff and contractors should already manage these responsibilities, claiming the council was “making a mountain out of a molehill” and engaging in “empire building”, LDR reported.

Council chief executive Angela Oosthuizen also confirmed the council was aware of an “incident”.

“We can confirm there was an incident at council offices last week involving an elected member,” Oosthuizen said.

“The matter is subject to an investigation in line with council’s Code of Conduct and it would not be appropriate to comment further on the detail at this time.”

Police said no further details were available at this time.

Ben Tomsett is a multimedia journalist based in Dunedin. He joined the Herald in 2023.