The power struggle between the Southland town’s new mayor, fellow councillors and chief executive takes a surreal turn
An apology made by the Gore mayor and councillors to their chief executive has all the hallmarks of a legal settlement and is unusual for being so public, according to an employment law specialist.
In a statement released by Gore District Council on Wednesday, Mayor Ben Bell and councillors acknowledged and apologised for hurt caused to CEO Stephen Parry and for a breach of privacy that occurred earlier in the year.
Parry has accepted their apology.
In the surprise statement, Bell and the councillors said they had “unreserved confidence in Mr Parry and his capability”.
But Duncan Cotterill senior associate Jeremy Ansell says the apology would make it difficult for the elected members if they had concerns about the chief executive’s performance in the future.
“It’s going to be difficult if there are issues going forward because there is now an apology on the record saying the mayor and the council voice their unreserved confidence in Mr Parry and his capabilities.
“So what are they going to do if there is some issue in the next few weeks or months?
“They can’t really now say they don’t have confidence in him to lead the organisation because they have issued a public statement saying they do.”
Newsroom understands mediation took place between Parry, Bell and councillors on Tuesday.
But the council is not talking and a spokeswoman reiterated to Newsroom on Thursday that it will not be making any further comment about working relationships within the local authority.
Ansell says the council statement “definitely” has had legal input and is likely to have been finalised at a confidential meeting between the parties where they reached some form of settlement.
“Often you can attach the actual apology to the settlement agreement itself so someone would have drafted this and they would have agreed on the wording,” says Ansell.
He says it’s unusual that an apology is made public and in this instance it could be because many of the council issues are already in the open.
“It is rare but given this matter has been running on for some time and there has been a lot of coverage of the issues a lot of it is already in the public domain so I guess it is somewhat appropriate in that sense,” he says.
The council statement points the finger at the media for causing significant disruption, distress and hurt to the chief executive, staff and councillors.
Months of headlines
The council has been in the headlines since Bell ousted long-standing mayor Tracy Hicks by eight votes in the October local-body elections.
Earlier this year it was revealed Bell and Parry were no longer on speaking terms, requiring them to have a go-between.
Meanwhile the resignation in April of seasoned councillor Bret Highsted, who reportedly had a difficult relationship with Bell, sparked a by-election that will take place in July.
What followed has been a failed vote of no-confidence in the mayor and a public petition calling for Parry’s resignation that was rejected by all elected members except Bell.
The council statement says elected members “sincerely regret” a breach of Parry’s privacy earlier this year, which related to a public-excluded meeting on March 28 where the chief executive’s legal fees were discussed.
According to Ansell, fallout from the leak may have been a lever used by Parry to extract the public apology.
“There would need to be something to justify the council agreeing to make the apology public.”
Local government specialist Andy Asquith, a former director of Massey University’s public management group and now a research fellow at Curtin University in Perth, says he’s “gobsmacked” by the apology.
“You’ve got a council apologising to its chief executive and I’ve never seen that before.
“Public administration 101 is that the chief executive works for the council, is beholden to the council.”
But Asquith says at Gore the reverse seems to be the case.
The statement says elected members and Parry have agreed to put any differences behind them and work collaboratively.
Given the bad blood of the past half year, Asquith says that’s a striking declaration.
“For them to suddenly decide that they are going to play nicely together is very odd and strange.
“If you look at the whole set-up in Gore, for want of a better word, it stinks.
“The thing you don’t do before an election if you are the mayor and council is give your chief executive a new contract … because what you are doing is saddling whoever wins the election with your choice and that is bad.”
The former council extended Parry’s contract by the maximum-allowable two years more than six months before it was due to expire at a behind-closed-doors meeting on October 6.
Review
Will it remain happy families?
In a bid to restore confidence in the local body, Gore councillors have agreed to an independent review at an estimated cost of $130,000.
But they are yet to decide on the terms of reference.
“There could be more that comes out of this depending on what that review uncovers,” Ansell says.
“It seems it could be quite broad dealing with culture issues and also those between the chief executive and the mayor.”
If the findings are adverse to Parry, the CEO could potentially face employment consequences, Ansell says.
Made with the support of the Public Interest Journalism Fund
