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Robyn Edie/Stuff
Gore Mayor Ben Bell, 23, has been asked to resign from his position.
Seven of the 12 Gore councillors have asked Gore District Mayor Ben Bell to resign.
A statement released by the council on Thursday says deputy mayor Keith Hovell and intermediary Cr Richard McPhail met with Bell on Wednesday and asked him to resign.
Councillors Stewart MacDonell, Neville Phillips, Glenys Dickson, Paul McPhail and Bronwyn Reid supported the resignation request.
In the statement, Hovell said the actions of the mayor in recent weeks had led to the difficult decision to request his resignation.
The reasons for the request were that the majority of councillors had lost confidence in the mayor and had lost trust in the mayor acting in the best interests of the community and council as a whole.
It says Bell declined the request.
Bell’s cellphone went to answer phone on Thursday evening.
Kavinda Herath/Stuff
Gore district mayor Ben Bell and district councillors.
“In light of the mayor declining the request to resign, a requisition has been given to the chief executive calling for an extraordinary meeting, to be held next Tuesday before the council’s scheduled meeting,” Hovell said.
The requisition requests the council consider three resolutions.
The first is 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.
Hovell said councillors’ desired outcome was to preserve the democratic representation, with some support by the Crown.
“We are eager to continue to represent the interests of the wider community and the people we serve.”
The other resolutions are: That the council passes a vote of no confidence in the mayor, and the council removes the mayor from all committees, sub-committees and joint committees.
At the age of 23, Bell became the country’s youngest mayor, but it’s been a bumpy ride. Reflecting on his first six months in office last month, Bell described it as “turbulent”.
The Gore District Council had to move into damage control mode after confidential information was leaked from an in-committee meeting and the working relationship between Bell and council chief executive Stephen Parry broke down.
At a full council meeting last month the council voted to seek an independent review of governance issues and to appoint an intermediary to work between Parry and Bell.
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