Chief executive Stephen Parry is no longer on speaking terms with new mayor Ben Bell (pictured). Photo: Supplied / Facebook
One of the men at the centre of the stand-off at Gore District Council was given a two-year contract extension just two days before the new council was elected.
Chief executive Stephen Parry is no longer on speaking terms with new mayor Ben Bell and both are now in place until 2025, when the next elections will be held.
During a behind-closed-doors session of an extraordinary meeting of the council on 6 October, the previous term's councillors granted the maximum two-year extension to Parry's contract.
Multiple sources told RNZ his contract as chief executive was due to expire in September this year.
However, he will now be in place until shortly before the next elections.
The decision was not publicly announced and came less than 48 hours before polls closed in the election which saw five new faces elected onto the council and six-term incumbent Mayor Tracy Hicks ousted.
Hicks today defended the decision to extend Parry's contract.
"As someone that's been around local government for a long time, I'm aware of the complexities that are coming at councils headlong at the moment and having some stability there, in my view, is very important," Hicks said.
"To be fair, where would we be now if we didn't have that stability."
In contrast, the neighbouring Invercargill City Council did not take such a decision in the previous term.
New Mayor Nobby Clark and the five new faces around his council table decided to appoint a new chief executive early in the term.
Hicks said allowing the new council to decide whether to extend or end the contract before September this year would have been "entirely appropriate as well", however, the last council decided against it and he believed that was the right decision.
"They're [Invercargill and Gore] different councils, different challenges, different personalities. So I'm pretty comfortable with where we ended up," he said.
Not publicly announcing the extension to Parry's contract afterwards was an oversight due to proximity to the election, Hicks said.
"I guess I wasn't involved after that for much longer, so that public announcement didn't occur and, look, that's as it is. But I stand by the decision the council made."
In response to questions from RNZ, the council provided a statement: "The performance appraisal of the Gore District Council's chief executive is undertaken each year between August and October," it said.
"During an election year, the appraisal is completed before the election as it is appropriate for those councillors involved with the appraisal being the ones to sign it off.
"This was the case in 2019 and 2022.
"In 2022 the council decided to extend the chief executive's contract by two years to ensure leadership continuity during a time of significant reforms in the sector, such as 3 Waters.
"Other reasons were to give the relatively new second-tier management structure time to bed down, and complex issues such as a review of the council's rating structure."
Parry had been the council's chief executive since 2001.
Gore Mayor Ben Bell said a number of votes were taken on key decisions during the 6 October meeting, which he found disappointing.
But he did not wish to discuss what occurred in-committee at a meeting before he was on the council.
"As for the decisions that may or may not have been made in that council meeting, I've always made it very clear that I'm willing to work with anyone," Bell told RNZ.
"I said that when there was the re-appointment of my deputy that I'm happy to work with anyone. That same thing applies to staff and the chief executive. It's my duty as a professional to work with - and to continue to try to work with - the chief executive in my role as mayor."
So what then of the breakdown in his relationship with Parry?
"Relationships are a two-way street - absolutely. But I'm actively trying to work on it."
Bell would not be drawn on what he was doing to actively work on it.
But he remained confident he could work with Parry for the next two-and-a-half years if the chief executive wanted to work with him.
The council was still trying to work their way through its issues, he said.
But Bell was confident it would continue to provide the services expected of it by residents and ratepayers.
"It's still business as usual. Yep, there's some stuff that we have to work through but the council is still working."