In her letter of resignation, the 18-year-old alleged that Cr Skelt, the manager of Stadium Southland, had sexually harassed her while she was working at the venue.
When she was asked to go in for an interview, she said he told her to ‘‘look nice’’, and after she started working there a series of conversations left her feeling increasingly uncomfortable.
‘‘He then brought up the conversation of jelly wrestling and proceeded to say comments such as: ‘You’d be keen to do that naked’ and that it was ‘by nomination’.
‘‘In the same conversation, he made comments about me being a ‘bikini and beach-type of girl’.’’
The letter says on another occasion, Cr Skelt made her sit in his chair while he knelt down beside her and showed her a confidential presentation about the Southland Museum.
‘‘When on the topic about the tuataras, he began to talk about them reproducing which made me feel very uncomfortable.’’
Another time, while serving a customer, she said Cr Skelt reintroduced the topic of jelly wrestling and told the customers she was ‘‘very good at it’’.
Invercargill Mayor Nobby Clark was informed of the incidents in the resignation letter in February this year, and worked to resolve the complaint by issuing a warning to Cr Skelt and directing him to get psychological counselling.
He also offered the teenager a lump sum of $3000 to cover lost income, counselling for the trauma, and the option of working somewhere else at the stadium or at community organisation ILT.
The offers were made on a "confidential basis", "so neither party is at reputational risk or harm’’.
The teen accepted the lump sum and counselling, but declined the option of another job.
On April 17, it was publicly announced that Cr Skelt would be retiring from his stadium job on medical grounds and for personal reasons.
After Cr Skelt's resignation, Mr Clark declined to make any comment.
As recently as Monday last week, Mr Clark told the Otago Daily Times he would not talk about Cr Skelt and from what he understood, Cr Skelt continued to be a councillor.
Asked why Cr Skelt was not present at a recent council meeting, Mr Clark said the councillor had issued an apology due to a family member undergoing surgery.
In a letter to Mr Clark, a parent of the teenager said they hoped he would learn from the incident and put measures in place to prevent it ever happening again.
‘‘Quite frankly, it was very obvious at the meeting that both yourself and [redacted] were more worried about looking after Nigel and the stadium’s reputation than in actually worrying about what damage this incident has already done to a young girl, and the potential for it to happen again to another young girl.’’
Attempts to contact Cr Skelt have not been successful.
An external independent review of how the matter was handled by the stadium board is now taking place.
