In April, Cr Shields was granted a leave of absence until May 26 for medical reasons.

In a report to be presented to the council on Tuesday night, acting chief executive officer Dean Frost has outlined two options available.

"Whilst the deputy mayor is acting in the capacity of mayor, council may resolve to pay the deputy mayor a percentage, decided upon by the council, of the mayor's additional fee. Any amount is deducted from the mayoral fee so there is no additional cost to council," Mr Frost said.

He said the other alternative was for council to withhold part or all of Cr Shields' annual fee.

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The mayor currently receives an annual fee of $84,000, while the deputy mayor position is worth $24,320, the same as the other councillors.

Mr Frost has not made any recommendations in the report about what option the councillors should take.

Council has already determined any phones, iPads or cars to be returned if a councillor is absent for more than a month.

On Tuesday night, the councillors will also look into hiring an independent investigator to deal with the "unprecedented" number of code of conduct complaints made in the last two months.

In the council report, Mr Frost said there had been 23 code of conduct complaints since the start of March.

He said each of the complaints had been reviewed and 10 had been passed on to investigators at O'Connor Marsden and Associates.

"Council is currently reviewing suitable independent third parties to provide advice and guidance with regards to any future complaints for the immediate future," Mr Frost said.

There have been another 28 code of conduct complaints received since the beginning of the council term in September 2017.

Mr Frost said the review of any complaints prior to March were already finalised but where appropriate they could be referred to the Office of Local Government for review.

The discussion on the mayoral and councillor fees, independent investigator and council's bulling policies will be conducted during open council.

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