Majority of Gore District Council calls on Mayor Ben Bell to resign

Gore Mayor Ben Bell. Photo / Rosalie Willis

By RNZ

New Zealand’s youngest mayor ever is being called on to resign by the majority of his council.

Gore Mayor Ben Bell has now shot back, claiming he is “disappointed this step has been taken”.

Ben Bell won Gore’s mayoral chains by a razor-thin margin at October’s local elections.

Since then, Gore District Council has been beset by controversies and discord.

RNZ revealed in March that Bell and Gore District Council chief executive Stephen Parry were no longer speaking.

At a meeting last month, councillor Richard McPhail was appointed as an intermediary for the two men.

Now McPhail, Gore Deputy Mayor Keith Hovell and five of the other eight councillors are calling for Bell to go.

Hovell and McPhail met with Bell yesterday to ask him to resign.

In a statement, Bell said he was unsure why this step had to be taken.

“It is disappointing that this step has been taken by certain councillors in the midst of the council seeking a resolution to the dynamics around the council,” Bell said.

“I am very mindful of the impact this is having on the community and wish to reassure the Gore District that I remain committed to undertaking the role I was elected to do, I am also grateful for the many messages of support I have received.”

Bell also said he hoped the council can “communicate effectively” to work through the current issues at hand.

Bell’s actions in recent weeks had led to the difficult decision to request his resignation, Hovell said.

The majority of councillors had lost confidence in the mayor and no longer trust in him acting in the best interests of the community and council as a whole, Hovell said.

Bell rejected the request, and as a result, the council will hold an extraordinary meeting next week to vote on a number of measures, including calling on Local Government Minister Kieran McAnulty to intervene.

The council would vote on three motions:

• That the council writes to the Minister of Local Government requesting a meeting with council representatives. The purpose of the meeting will be to talk about intervention measures available to assist the council to effectively govern and conduct its business as usual;
• That the council passes a vote of no confidence in the mayor;
• That the council will remove the mayor from all committees, sub-committees and joint committees.

At last month’s meeting, the council attempted to remove Bell from the committee which oversaw the performance of the chief executive.

However, he pushed back, noting the Local Government Act made the mayor a de facto member of all council committees.

Hovell said he hoped the council could preserve democratic representation in the Gore District with some support from central government.

“We are eager to continue to represent the interests of the wider community and the people we serve,” he said.