A petition calling for the resignation of Gore District Council's chief executive Stephen Parry has been thrown out.
At a council meeting this afternoon, Mayor Ben Bell presented the petition, which had 4858 signatures calling for the head of Mr Parry.
Mr Parry and Mr Bell have had a fraught relationship since Mr Bell was elected mayor in October last year. They had stopped talking and an intermediary was appointed to work between them.
Under council standing orders, Mr Bell was unable to speak to the petition as he presented it to council.
The hard-working staff had been subject to much abuse in the past few weeks, yet still turned up to work every day and did their jobs, Cr McPhail said.
Cr Glenys Dickson said staff needed support from the council and the petition broke rules around being able to be accepted. Her name was on the petition but she did not sign it.
The council did not accept the petition.
Mr Bell was the lone voice to not support the council motion.
Last year, the Southland town elected New Zealand's youngest ever mayor, when Mr Bell, then aged 23, won the mayoralty by just eight votes.
Mr Bell was set to face a vote of no confidence from councillors last month, but they backed out of it after a strong public backlash and national media scrutiny.
Of those who signed the petition calling for Mr Parry's resignation, at least 9% were from Gore, 12% were from Southland, 46% from the rest of New Zealand and 29% did not state a location, a report by council staff said.
