Gore mayor Ben Bell denies allegations by councillors, says it’s ‘heartbreaking’

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Gore mayor Ben Bell was asked to resign by seven of the 10 Gore councillors on Thursday.

Kavinda Herath/Stuff

Gore mayor Ben Bell was asked to resign by seven of the 10 Gore councillors on Thursday.

Gore mayor Ben Bell has denied allegations made by other councillors who say his actions are affecting their mental health.

Bell told TVNZ’s current affairs show Sunday it was “heart-breaking” to hear councillors felt that way.

Seven of the 10 Gore councillors asked Bell to resign earlier this week, just hours before the country’s youngest mayor turned 24.

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.

READ MORE:
* New Zealand’s youngest mayor celebrates birthday amid calls to resign
* Councillors ask Ben Bell to resign as Gore mayor
* Bell votes to support Parry in day to day running of Gore’s council

In a statement, deputy mayor Keith 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 him acting in the best interests of the community and council as a whole.

It said Bell declined the request.

Speaking on Sunday, Bell said comments made by councillors, just after a week of being sworn in, saying he lacked communication and wasn’t taking staff advice and ultimately affecting their mental health, was “pretty heart-breaking”.

“It was a pretty rough email to hear … ultimately I had no idea where it was coming from,” he said.

He strongly denied accusations from his colleagues as having “presidential powers”.

“I don’t know how to fix something that I strongly disagree with,” Bell said.

Bell called allegations made by his councillors “pretty heartbreaking”.

Robyn Edie/Stuff

Bell called allegations made by his councillors “pretty heartbreaking”.

Former mayor Tracy Hicks, who worked closely with Parry, said the chief executive was “professional capable, competent” and respected by his peers.

Hicks would not call Bell’s mayoralty a revenge campaign, but believed “there’s a connection” between Bell’s mother, Rebecca Tayler, and her exit from the council which ended in a costly legal dispute.

Meanwhile, newly elected councillor Robert McKenzie, who was an “outspoken outlier”, was the only councillor to passionately support the mayor.

“I’ve seen him yelled at, I’ve seen him abused, in that building, and I was totally disgusted with that. I believe he’s not been shown the respect he deserves as mayor,” McKenzie told Sunday.

The council’s former chief financial officer, Doug Walker, who was one of four ex-staff who lodged a complaint with the Department of Labour, said he was “gobsmacked” by what he was seeing, “but not surprised”.

Speaking from the United Kingdom, Walker, who said he was “traumatised” by his treatment by Parry, described him as “one of the most intimidating people I’ve come across”.

Seeing the drama unfold in the council brought back “horrendous memories”, he said.

“Ben’s barely been mayor for five minutes, it just tears my heart out, it really does.”

After Bell declined the request to resign as mayor on Thursday, the council called for an extraordinary meeting to be held on Tuesday.

The requisition requests the council consider three resolutions – to ask the Government to intervene, to pass a vote of no confidence in the mayor, or to remove the mayor from all committees, sub-committees and joint committees.

Bell hoped by speaking to media, it would help people “understand the story” and let the council “get on with it”.

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