Cr Elliott faces a censure motion at Tuesday's council meeting after an external workplace consultant found she had committed a "serious breach" of the organisation's code of conduct.

The Herald's opinion: Council infighting returns over Elliott complaints

The consultant's confidential report, seen by the Newcastle Herald, alleges Cr Elliott told Mr Bath she was "sick of the way you run this f---ing joint" and that she thought he was "doing the lord mayor's bidding".

Mr Bath told investigators that Cr Elliott's verbal spray was "one of the most spectacular dressing downs I've ever received in my corporate life".

Cr Elliott, serving in her first council term, has been the subject of at least a dozen code-of-conduct complaints which she regards as largely politically motivated and which have cost ratepayers tens of thousands of dollars to investigate.

City of Newcastle officials confirmed they had received 12 code-of-conduct complaints in this council term which had cost about $50,000, or $4200 each, to investigate.

Most of them appear to have been made against Cr Elliott.

Emails seen by the Newcastle Herald detail more than 20 complaints against Cr Elliott, but some of them are bundled together in single investigations.

In one case, six complaints by Labor councillor Carol Duncan and five by a ratepayer were collated into a 74-page report by consultants Australian Workplace Training and Investigation (AWTI).

Other consultants engaged to investigate allegations against Cr Elliott include Centium, National Workplace Investigators and Pinnacle Integrity.

The complaints range from her comments in television interviews, Facebook posts, taking home confidential business papers, taking notes during a confidential meeting and being verbally abusive during a "robust discussion" with Mr Bath at a workshop on the future of the Newcastle Maritime Museum collection and the city's business improvement associations in late 2018.

The likely censure motion to come before the council meeting on Tuesday relates to the AWTI report into Cr Duncan's allegations that Cr Elliott abused Mr Bath at the workshop.

"Councillor Elliott during that meeting was a bully. She was abusive to the CEO in front of not just councillors, but also in front of senior staff and other support staff that were in that room at the time," Cr Duncan is quoted as saying during testimony to the AWTI investigator.

"And on several occasions during that meeting she spoke to the CEO abusively before walking out of the meeting.

"Towards the end of that meeting there were several instances of her not being respectful, of interrupting the CEO, of making comments along the lines of I'm sick of your f---ing shit.

"I'm sick of the way you run this joint.

"I'm sick of the way you run this f---ing joint and comments of that nature."

When asked why she thought Cr Elliott had behaved that way, Cr Duncan is said to have told AWTI: "Simple disagreement with the CEO and, I suspect, a basic dislike and lack of respect for the CEO."

Cr Elliott was quoted as saying during her testimony that it had been a "robust discussion about the Business Improvement Association report and why we weren't getting a briefing on it" and on the maritime museum.

AWTI said Cr Elliott had not disputed using the term "absolute bullshit" out of frustration.

Mr Bath said in his quoted testimony that Cr Elliott "became very aggressive towards me. She wouldn't look at me, but started speaking in a very loud voice ... words to the effect of, this is outrageous".

When Mr Bath had asked during the workshop for the council's legal manager to explain a point to Cr Elliott about the museum, Cr Elliott had "continued to sigh quite loudly".

"Her body language was quite exasperated. She was throwing her hands around. And again, just kept saying, this is bullshit, absolute bullshit."

Mr Bath told the investigator that Cr Elliott had again expressed her frustration when the subject of the workshop had turned to a council review of its business improvement associations.

"She certainly said, bullshit. This is absolute bullshit. This is a set-up. This is a stitch-up. You're just doing the lord mayor's bidding, which I don't really know exactly what she meant by that. But I remember that was words that were used; this is outrageous. Why are we even going through the theatre of having a Business Improvement Association review?" Mr Bath is quoted as saying.

Mr Bath then reportedly went on to describe how Cr Elliott had started to leave the workshop then "turned back and then took a step back to me in a very aggressive way and then gave me one of the most spectacular dressing downs I've ever received in my corporate life".

"... She said, 'I'm sick of the way that you run this joint' and that I was either a patsy or a stooge for the lord mayor. Words to the effect of that I do the lord mayor's bidding, which was ironic given the lord mayor wasn't actually here."

The AWTI investigator concluded that there was "sufficient evidence to substantiate that the behaviour of Councillor Elliott in this instance caused intimidation and harassment towards Mr Bath and consisted of verbal abuse towards Mr Bath" and that the behaviour was a "serious breach" of the council's code of conduct.

The AWTI report says the Office of Local Government had advised that a formal censure against Cr Elliott would "constitute appropriate remedial action" under the Local Government Act.

The last Newcastle councillor to face formal censure in the chamber over a code-of-conduct complaint was former lord mayor John Tate in 2010.

Cr Elliott, a sparring partner of lord mayor Nuatali Nelmes in the council chamber, dismissed the complaints against her as political in nature, vexatious and trivial.

"I just get them over and over and over again," she said. "It costs a fortune.

"Most of the time they're not upheld. It's all designed to shut me down, stop me from speaking. They just want me to stop saying things about them."

Cr Elliott said she did not recall saying "most of the things that are in the report".

"I don't recall saying anything about how the CEO runs the place ... it is so long ago and the detailed allegations that are in the witness statements were not put to me by the investigator," she said.

"I believe a lot of this is inaccurate. I certainly deny bullying anyone. There is a difference between repeatedly asking questions from which I get no answers and bullying."

While you're with us, did you know the Newcastle Herald offers breaking news alerts, daily email newsletters and more? Keep up to date with all the local news - sign up here