Ben Bell
photo: Supplied / Facebook
Most councilors are calling for New Zealand’s youngest mayor to resign.
In October’s local elections, Ben Bell won the Gore mayorship by a narrow margin.
Since then, the Gora District Council has been engulfed in controversy and discord.
They included controversy over Bell’s desire to appoint his own executive assistant, expenses related to his mayoral training trip to Wellington, a retreat council meeting boycotted by some councillors, the mayor’s plan for committee structure and membership, and attempts to requisition and ultimately resign the mayor his first deputy mayor.
In March, RNZ reported that Bell and council chief executive Stephen Parry they didn’t talk anymore.
At last month’s meeting, Councilman Richard McPhail was appointed as mediator for the two men.
Now McPhail, Deputy Mayor Keith Howelland five of the other eight councilors urge Bell to leave.
On Wednesday, Howell and McPhail met with Bell to ask him to resign.
– Listen Details the episode at the raids in the Gore district council here
Bell’s actions in recent weeks led to the difficult decision to ask him to resign, Howell said.
Most councilors have lost confidence in the mayor and have lost confidence that he is acting in the best interests of the community and the council as a whole, Howell said.
Bell denied the request, and as a result the board will hold a special meeting next week to vote on a series of measures, including calling on Local Government Minister Kieran McAnulty to intervene.
The council voted for three proposals:
- That the council write to the Minister of Local Self-Government about a meeting with council representatives. The purpose of the meeting will be to discuss interventions that will help the council manage effectively and conduct business as usual
- That the council pass a vote of no confidence in the mayor
- The council removes the mayor from all committees, subcommittees and joint commissions
In a statement Thursday night, Bell said it was disappointing to see councilors calling for his resignation.
“I still don’t know why this step was taken during this time. Regardless, I hope the board can effectively communicate and work on this,” Bell said.
“I am very aware of the impact this has on the community and want to assure Gore County that I remain committed to the role I was elected to, and I am also grateful for the many messages of support I have received.”
He said he would not comment at this time.
At a meeting last month, the board tried to remove Bell from the committee that oversees the executive director’s activities.
However, he refused, pointing out that the Local Government Act made the mayor a de facto member of all council committees.
Howell expressed hope that the council could maintain democratic representation in Gore County with some support from central government.
“We are committed to continuing to represent the interests of the wider community and the people we serve,” he said.