Kavinda Herath/Stuff
The Gore District Council has met behind closed doors to discuss the consideration of employment advice. (File photo)
Gore District Council chief executive Stephen Parry may have described his relationship with mayor Ben Bell as ‘’irreparable’’ – but Bell has voted in support of him at an in-committee meeting.
The council met behind closed doors on Wednesday morning to consider legal employment advice, as requested at its extraordinary meeting on 28 March.
General manager community lifestyle services Rex Capil said the council unanimously passed the resolution ‘that the mayor and councillors support and have full confidence in the chief executive and staff in providing for the ongoing functioning of the council in undertaking its day to day activities’.
All elected members were present, and the meeting was held in-committee under provisions of the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act that relate to protecting a person’s privacy, and maintaining legal professional privilege.
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The March meeting was held in committee but information from it about the breakdown of the working relationship between Parry and Bell was later leaked to media.
At that meeting, councillors moved that in respect of the mediation and/or facilitated meeting held on December 19, 2022, [between Bell and Parry] the council noted that this process was incomplete and therefore had not been concluded. It voted on two other motions, but they were redacted from the minutes Stuff requested under the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act.
Bell told councillors at the March meeting that the relationship had been unresolved since November ‘’despite his very best efforts”.
At the same meeting, Parry told councillors the mediation pulled no punches and led to an agreement to working better together and have no surprises. The mediation did not get resolved, he said.
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There’s been a breakdown of communications at the top between New Zealand’s youngest-ever mayor, Ben Bell, and chief executive Stephen Parry.
Council general manager communications and customer support Sonia Gerken said Wednesday’s meeting was not to discuss whether Bell should sit on Parry’s appraisal committee.
At the in-committee meeting on March 28 councillors sought to remove Bell from that committee after learning of a communication breakdown between the pair.
At a full council meeting in April, Bell told councillors that under the Local Government Act he could not be removed from the committee, and the council resolved to seek legal advice about the situation.
The mayor’s position on the appraisal committee will be the subject of a report to the May 16 council meeting.
