Gore District Council fight: Tension mounts ahead of showdown meeting this afternoon

Gore District Mayor Ben Bell. Photo: Supplied / Facebook

Tensions are mounting in Gore ahead of this afternoon’s showdown council meeting where councillors will vote on a motion of no confidence in New Zealand’s youngest mayor.

Protest action is expected outside Gore District Council chambers ahead of the extraordinary meeting scheduled to kick off at 3.15pm.

One of the protesters, Laurel Turnbull, told the Herald this morning that they will be backing Mayor Ben Bell and wants to show councillors where they stand.

Seven of the Southland town’s 10 councillors last week asked 24-year-old Bell to resign.

It comes after months of discord between Mayor Bell and the council’s long-standing chief executive Stephen Parry, with the pair’s relationship breaking down to the point where they no longer speak.

The rift has divided the council since the early days of Bell’s tenure last October, resulting in one six-term councillor resigning, citing a “highly stressful” council environment since the election.

Deputy mayor Keith Hovell and councillor Richard McPhail, who has been acting as an intermediary between Bell and Parry, met with the mayor last week and asked him to resign, saying they had lost confidence in him. Their move was backed by councillors Stewart MacDonell, Neville Phillips, Glenys Dickson, Paul McPhail and Bronwyn Reid.

Gore District Council Mayor Ben Bell and chief executive Stephen Parry. Photo / Otago Daily Times

Hovell said in a statement that the actions of the mayor in recent weeks had led to the difficult decision to request his resignation.

Bell, who has consistently said he will see out the job, which he won by just eight votes over six-term incumbent mayor Tracy Hicks, refused.

Today’s extraordinary meeting will see councillors vote on a motion of no confidence in the mayor.

They will also vote on whether they should seek Minister of Local Government intervention to remove Bell from all committees.

Mataura Community Board chair Nicky Coats told RNZ yesterday that the effort to overthrow Bell is “absolutely ridiculous”.

“He was elected as a member to represent our community and he was voted in by the ratepayers of Gore. There’s absolutely no way he should be standing down or removed from committees,” Coats said.

Key figures have been hunkering down ahead of the crunch meeting including Bell, who spoke at length during TVNZ’s current affairs programme Sunday at the weekend where he spoke of the toll the relationship’s breakdown has had on his mental health.

Gore’s councillors contacted by the Herald yesterday either refused to comment or did not respond to approaches.

Gore District Council chief executive Stephen Parry. Photo / Otago Daily Times

Local Government Minister Kieran McAnulty, however, is keeping tabs on the situation.

Although statutory obligations are being met at the moment, if that changes then “intervention will be considered”, McAnulty said.

“Councils are responsible for resolving their own problems. This is the expectation for all councils in New Zealand,” he said.

“When particular problems arise in councils, the Department of Internal Affairs works with the council to understand the nature and extent of the problem.

“I am being updated as appropriate. At the moment, statutory obligations are being met. If that changes, then intervention will be considered.”

The Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) confirmed that officials met with Parry “and elected members” on Friday.

A DIA spokesperson said there is a “necessarily high bar” for Crown intervention.

“The department will continue to provide advice to the Minister regarding the situation in Gore,” the spokesperson added.

On Saturday, local Gore resident Sean Burke launched a petition calling for Parry to resign.

“The people of Gore are fed up with the circus surrounding our local council and the efforts being made by a select few to oust our newly elected mayor,” it says.

“This appears to be being driven by a select few of the ‘old guard’ on council who seem more than happy to ‘leak’ stories to the press.”

He accused Parry of presiding over a bullying and “toxic” culture.

Parry, who has previously admitted to a “very strained relationship” with Bell, with trust eroding significantly, is currently away on leave.

Gore Mayor Ben Bell’s tenure

• August 2022: Bell throws his hat into the mayoralty race, standing on his own Team Hokonui ticket against six-term incumbent Tracy Hicks.
• October 8: The mayoral race on polling day is too close to call.
• October 17: Bell wins by 8 votes. Hicks applies for a recount.
• October 21: It emerges that Bell’s mother, Rebecca Tayler, had been involved in a recent employment wrangle with the council. Both parties cited legal advice in refusing to speak or say how it was resolved.
• November 2: Bell is confirmed as mayor after Hicks’ recount bid is declined. The new mayor says he hasn’t heard from council chief executive Stephen Parry but Parry later shows phone logs which suggest he had in fact reached out.
• November 23: Bell chairs his first council meeting where his request to hire a personal executive assistant is voted down, with councillor Bret Highsted calling it a “vanity project”.
• November 24: Bell is on leave as seven councillors sign a requisition requesting councillor Stewart MacDonell be removed as deputy mayor.
• November 25: Councillors Highsted, Neville Phillips and Bronwyn Reid boycott a councillor’s retreat in Cromwell. The retreat was organised by Bell’s executive assistant, Shanna Crosbie, and cost nearly $7000.
• November 29: Bell returns to work. Parry says Bell’s proposed governance structure of six committees and five portfolios would cost the council $300,000 a year to run.
• December 1: Council meets behind closed doors to discuss its governance structure. At the meeting, McDonell tenders his resignation as deputy mayor.
• March 28, 2023: Council holds an extraordinary meeting to discuss issues between Bell and Parry. The council unanimously agrees to appoint a councillor to act as an intermediary between the pair on governance and relevant operational matters.
• March 30: Parry reveals his working relationship with the mayor is “very strained” and they no longer talk.
• April 3: Councillor Highsted resigns, citing a “highly stressful” council environment since the election, where he found “levels of anxiety unsustainable”.
• April 18: Council unanimously vote for an independent review into council governance to try to restore confidence. Councillors also moved to formally remove Bell from the committee that oversees Parry’s performance – and to appoint an intermediary for the two men.
• May 11: Seven councillors meet with Bell and ask him to resign. An extraordinary meeting is scheduled for May 16 for councillors to vote on a motion of no confidence in the mayor.