New Zealand’s youngest ever mayor is being called on to resign by the majority of his council.<\/p>\n
Ben Bell won Gore’s mayoral chains with a razor-thin margin at October’s local elections.<\/p>\n
Since then, Gore District Council has been beset by controversies and discord.<\/p>\n
They included a spat over Bell’s wish to appoint his own executive assistant, expenses related to his trip to mayoral training in Wellington, a council retreat which was boycotted by some councillors, the mayor’s plan for committee structure and membership, and the attempted requisition and ultimate resignation of his first-choice for deputy mayor.<\/p>\n
RNZ revealed in March that Bell and\u00a0council chief executive Stephen Parry<\/a>\u00a0were no longer speaking.<\/p>\n At a meeting last month, councillor Richard McPhail was appointed as an intermediary for the two men.<\/p>\n Now McPhail,\u00a0deputy mayor Keith Hovell<\/a>, and five of the other eight councillors are calling for Bell to go.<\/p>\n On Wednesday, Hovell and McPhail met with Bell to ask him to resign.<\/p>\n – Listen to\u00a0The Detail’s<\/i>\u00a0episode on the ructions at the Gore District Council<\/b>\u00a0here<\/a><\/p>\n Bell’s actions in recent weeks had led to the difficult decision to request his resignation, Hovell said.<\/p>\n The majority of councillors had lost confidence in the mayor and lost trust in him acting in the best interests of the community and council as a whole, Hovell said.<\/p>\n