Gore Railway Station – Buy 

Let’s take a moment to summarise the current situation at the Gore District Council shall we. In October 2022, Ben Bell became mayor of Gore when he defeated incumbent Tracy Hicks by 8 votes. When that happened, he became the youngest mayor in New Zealand at 23 years of age and ended Hick’s six terms as mayor of the town. 

Following his election win, the relationship between Bell and chief executive Stephen Parry broke down to the point where they no longer talk. Then, the city council brought forward a motion of no confidence in the mayor. However, at the time of the council meeting, no one would move the motion against the mayor and thus the motion of no confidence was not passed. A clear case of the wheels of local body politics working smoothly as always.