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In late August 2019, the Otago Daily Times reported that Vandervis was the subject of 11 complaints of inappropriate behaviour, angry and shouting, insulting, threatening, unsubstantiated allegations of corruption, and intimidating behaviour against several Dunedin City Council staff members and members of the public. Vandervis was also criticised by Mayor Cull and several fellow councillors including Rachel Elder, Aaron Hawkins, and Mike Lord for alleged bullying and intimidating behaviour. In response, Vandervis defended his actions and claimed that he was the victim of a smear campaign timed to coincide with the 2019 Dunedin mayoral election. In early September 2019, Vandervis drew criticism when he made remarks that young voters were ignorant or did not care about candidates during a mayoral debate organised by the Otago University Students' Association. Vandervis subsequently apologised for his remarks.

In mid-September 2019, a twelfth complaint was lodged against Vandervis after he allegedly verbally abused some DCC staff members over a parking ticket. Vandervis contested the complaint and uploaded a CCTV video on social media to support his claim that he did not verbally abuse. David Benham, chairman of the Otago Regional Council's audit and risk subcommittee, was tasked with conducting an independent investigation into the matter. On 10 December, Vandervis was censured by his fellow councillors for the parking ticket incident. In response, he alleged that his privacy was breached at a critical time of the election campaign.

On 12 October 2019, Vandervis was re-elected to the Dunedin City Council as a councillor but lost the mayoral contest to Greens candidate Aaron Hawkins.

On 16 March 2015, Lee Vandervis was subject to a code of conduct hearing dealing with three complaints against him for his alleged bullying, aggressive, and misleading behaviour. Vandervis has defended his actions. The city councillor had been involved in an argument with the Dunedin City Council's chief executive Dr Sue Bidrose and had criticized the council and the local police's investigation of the illegal sale of 150 the Council's Cityfleet vehicles to local residents. On 1 May 2015, Vandervis was temporarily stripped of his voting rights after failing to apologize for these actions. According to the Otago Daily Times journalist Kim Dungey, Vandervis was well known within Dunedin circles for his acrimonious relationship with Mayor Cull and several city councillors; taking issue with the council's alleged misspending of public money, the Cityfleet fraud case, and property speculation by Council's Delta Utility Services. In addition, Vandervis has also opposed a 3.8% rates increase and has called for the council to cut back on staff numbers and to "be run more like a business."

Vandervis states that he is focused on challenging misrepresented projects and bureaucratic waste. At times he is controversial. His recent criticism of Community Board's being a waste of time raised their ire. He has also had clashes over bus shelters, criticised Council's financial management – especially the $480,000 bailout of the Otago Rugby Union, and faced criticism over his suggestion that Christchurch's earthquake rebuild could be shifted to Dunedin.

Lee Vandervis stood for re-election in the October 2013 local election as a Dunedin City Councillor; he also contested the Dunedin mayoralty for the fourth time. He was elected as to Council and placed third for the mayoralty. The Mayor, Dave Cull, did not appoint Vandervis to any committees, commenting that he had no confidence he could contribute constructively, nor maintain any of the relationships needed to do the work effectively.

As of November 2012, Vandervis is the Chair of the Dunedin City Council Heritage Fund and the Heritage Buildings Re-use Committee. He is also on the Board of the Otago Settlers Museum.

In 2004 Vandervis successfully stood for the Dunedin City as a Council councillor and ran unsuccessfully for Mayor coming third with 9.1% of the vote. In the 2007 election he stood on a platform opposing then proposed replacement stadium for Carisbrook. He was defeated both as a councillor (by a margin of four votes after the counting of the special votes), as well as a mayoral candidate. He came second after the incumbent, Peter Chin, but only gained 17% of the votes. During the 2010 election campaign one of his volunteers installing an election hoarding pierced an 11 kV cable near Mosgiel causing a power outage to 747 consumers. The site had been designated for hoarding by the Council, but no mention of the presence of the cable had been made; the volunteer was unharmed. Vandervis was again third in the Mayoral race with 15.2% of the vote. He was re-elected as a Councillor.

In 1984 Vandervis had a brief foray into politics standing for Bob Jones' New Zealand Party in the Dunedin North electorate. He polled in third place.

Lee Vandervis (born 1957) is a local-body politician who was first elected to the Dunedin City Council in the 2004 local elections. Vandervis has run for mayor in 2004, 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, and 2019; finishing second in 2007. He is currently an elected councillor.

Lee Vandervis was born in Balclutha in 1957. He is the second son of Dutch immigrant parents, who settled in New Zealand after the Second World War. He attended Rosebank School (where he was dux), South Otago High School, and Kaikorai Valley High School. Vandervis later acquired a BA in Philosophy from the University of Otago, and has worked as a music technician for many years. In the mid 1970s he went to the United Kingdom and worked as an acoustic engineer for Midas Audio. In 1981, Vandervis returned to Dunedin and set up Vandervision Lighting Audio and Video in the early 1980s.