But instead of waiting until 5pm on Tuesday, Crown used Tuesday\u2019s council meeting to reveal the stand-off.<\/p>\n
She told her fellow councillors she had been given no warning of McGrath\u2019s intentions and felt \u201cblindsided\u201d. <\/p>\n
McGrath appointed Crown as his deputy when elected in October and has the power to remove her as a result.<\/p>\n
She would remain as a councillor.<\/p>\n
\u201cI will not be coerced or bullied into staying silent,\u201d Crown told the meeting of McGrath\u2019s actions.<\/p>\n
She said the reasons given to her by the mayor for why she should resign were punctuated by two bullet points and a paragraph that summarised claims of a relationship breakdown.<\/p>\n
Crown said it was the first time he had raised any concerns with her regarding the trust and confidence he had in her, her behaviour and performance in the role of deputy.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy interpretation of the next part of the script, where Mayor Richard confirmed that I would retain all other senior roles and appointments, is that it is an acknowledgement of my professional leadership, capability, work ethic, and commitment to being an effective elected member.\u201d<\/p>\n
Crown said the \u201cabrupt\u201d nature of the mayor\u2019s actions was about \u201ccontrol and coercion\u201d and to demonstrate there was \u201cunfettered power\u201d attached to the role of mayor. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe are living in a time when the ramifications of blind allegiance to leadership are causing unrest and upheaval for individuals, families, and political systems across the world.\u201d<\/p>\n
Crown said to protect future elected members, the council and ratepayers, she would be seeking a judicial review on the decision-making process triggered by the mayor\u2019s actions and had requested what costs and resources it would incur for the ratepayers. <\/p>\n
She described McGrath\u2019s decision-making as \u201cad-hoc\u201d, \u201creckless\u201d and \u201cchaotic\u201d and put forward a motion to fellow councillors to get McGrath training in communication and leadership skills.<\/p>\n
Napier City Council CEO Louise Miller said officers would take Crown\u2019s motion as an action, and bring it back to council through \u201cproper process\u201d.<\/p>\n
The meeting was then concluded after a karakia.<\/p>\n
After the meeting, McGrath said he had decided to stand Crown down from her role as deputy mayor.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have observed conduct and actions that, in my view, have not met the standard of collective leadership expected of that position. <\/p>\n
\u201cAs mayor, it is my responsibility to ensure the leadership team operates with respect and integrity.\u201d <\/p>\n
McGrath said he was elected with a clear agenda for change.<\/p>\n
\u201cI remain firmly committed to delivering on it for Napier. My priority is to protect the reputation and integrity of Napier City Council and I\u2019m committed to ensuring we continue to work constructively as a team so this does not impact the delivery of the services our community relies on.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile I had hoped this matter could be resolved amicably, today\u2019s events have shown that councillor Crown has chosen not to take that approach.\u201d <\/p>\n
McGrath said he would announce the appointment of a new Deputy Mayor in the coming days. <\/p>\n
Full script: McGrath\u2019s resignation request to Crown<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve asked to meet with you today to formally request your resignation as deputy mayor.<\/p>\n
If you choose not to resign, I will be removing you from the deputy mayor role. That decision is made and final.<\/p>\n
The reason for this is that I no longer have the level of trust and confidence I need in my deputy. <\/p>\n
The relationship has reached a point where I do not feel I have someone at my side I can rely on completely. <\/p>\n
I need a deputy mayor I trust implicitly and who fully supports me in the leading the city.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, I do not believe we are in that position.<\/p>\n
If you would like examples of where I feel trust has been compromised, I can provide two.<\/p>\n
\u2013 Public commentary in the media that has undermined unified leadership<\/p>\n
\u2013 Undermining behaviour within council-only forums<\/p>\n
The decision relates to the deputy mayor position only.<\/p>\n
Your other roles and responsibilities will remain unchanged, provided you wish to continue with them.<\/p>\n
As mentioned, I will give you the opportunity to decide how you would like to step down from the deputy mayor role, including the option to resign. I will need your decision by 5pm today.<\/p>\n
If you choose to resign, I\u2019m prepared to work with you on a joint media statement so this can be handled professionally and with dignity.<\/p>\n
If you choose not to resign, I will issue a statement at 5pm today confirming the change.<\/p>\n
You remain an elected member and I respect the mandate you hold.<\/p>\n
I expect that we will continue to work professionally together in the best interests of Napier.<\/p>\n
LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"But instead of waiting until 5pm on Tuesday, Crown used Tuesday\u2019s council meeting to reveal the stand-off. She…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":299072,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[164481,74,1559,104738,10808,58600,33092,6097,27705,1043,10934,56454,3607,111,43,139,69,20561,34600,110108,3056,15160,8909,23742,17218,8812,42913,6923],"class_list":{"0":"post-299071","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-zealand","8":"tag-adhoc","9":"tag-after","10":"tag-called","11":"tag-chaotic","12":"tag-crown","13":"tag-decisionmaking","14":"tag-deputy","15":"tag-down","16":"tag-instead","17":"tag-leadership","18":"tag-mayor","19":"tag-mcgrath","20":"tag-napier","21":"tag-new-zealand","22":"tag-news","23":"tag-newzealand","24":"tag-nz","25":"tag-reckless","26":"tag-refused","27":"tag-requested","28":"tag-resign","29":"tag-richard","30":"tag-sally","31":"tag-stands","32":"tag-stood","33":"tag-training","34":"tag-undergo","35":"tag-what"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/299071","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=299071"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/299071\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/299072"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=299071"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=299071"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=299071"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}