Live: Gore’s council vote not to receive petition calling on its CEO Stephen Parry to resign – mayor votes against motion

The credibility of a petition calling on the resignation of the Gore District Council chief executive officer has been queried.

A meeting has begun at the Gore District Council where the council discussed a petition calling on its chief executive Stephen Parry to resign.

Gore mayor Ben Bell opened the meeting and warned people in the packed public gallery that if there were any major disturbances he would stand, and that would be a final warning.

Bell presented the petition to the council, which had 4858 signatures, and then opened the floor for comment. Staff would refrain from speaking on it, he said.

The council voted not to receive the petition, but Ben Bell voted against the motion.

A report from council deputy chief executive/group manager community lifestyle services Rex Capil, which will be tabled at the full council meeting, questions the validity of them of the signatures on the petition.

A pie graph presented in the report shows 29% of signatories left their location blank, 1% were from overseas, 9% were from Gore, 12% were from Southland, 46% were from the rest of New Zealand and 3% were from Australia.

It said a quick overview had found a total of 54 duplicate signatures. It had noted 10 people with the same name signed twice, including someone named ‘Steve Parry’, and others who had signed between three and five times, including people from Foxton, Auckland, Invercargill and an unknown location.

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Cr Glenys Dickson said the petition was null and void because it had more than 150 words and it was disrespectful. She did not agree with it being on the agenda.

“We all just want to get on with our roles without harassment as it is very hurtful and unjustified.”

Cr Keith Hovell wished to move that it was not accepted. He said the council had agreed with some words on Facebook. He questioned what people were supporting.

He said it failed to meet the test of what was required by a petition. There were no email addresses to identify people on the list and there were names that appeared multiple times.

“What has been submitted to us has little or no credibility,” Hovell said.

He said the staff here were suffering from the bullying, had been spat at meetings and he apologised to the staff.

Cr Bronwyn Reid said in her opinion the petition was malicious in its intent.

Councillors had committed to work together as a team to build trust and it should not accept the petition, she said.

Cr Richard McPhail said councillors sought legal advice which said the appointment of the CEO was private.

The report said the council would have to weigh up the validity, credibility and legality of the petition, in terms of fulfilling its stated purpose.

“In other words, can the petition achieve what its purpose was intended and if not, what may be any unintended consequences for the council, especially as an employer?’’ the report said.

Parry hit headlines last month amid claims of bullying council staff members, and has been embroiled in controversy around the breakdown of his working relationship with mayor Ben Bell.

Last week he broke his silence on the issue, saying the claims had been ‘’extremely hurtful and stressful’’.

Karen Broome, a member of the public who is at the meeting, said “I’m not quite sure what the councils have the power to do, but there was a problem with staff turnover many, many years ago that was costing ratepayers humongous money and redundancies.

“The recruitment of staff, the training of new staff. Some of them were having to be on sick leave when all these restructurings were happening. So there would be double pay for the staff that’s on sick leave and whoever’s covering the work they were supposed to be doing.

“The cost to rate payers was absolutely horrendous. And people tried to do something about this years ago but could get no traction.”

The mayor and chief executive have declined requests for interviews after the meeting.