A senior councillor is the latest person to hand in their resignation at troubled Ripon City Council.
Councillor Jo Bate has stepped down as a councillor for the Ure Bank ward in a move which is set to trigger a by-election.
Her departure comes after she was criticised in a statement by fellow councillors who claimed they were not to blame for the departure of three of the authority’s four staff.
Former mayor Jackie Crozier and former leader and deputy leader, Andrew Williams and Peter Horton, who all stood down from their positions last month but will remain councillors, said any suggestion their actions had led to staff handing in their notices was “baseless”.
The three councillors said in a joint statement that two of the staff left after a discussion and unanimous vote about terms and conditions by members of the staffing committee.
They went on to criticise Cllr Bate, in her position as chair of the staffing committee, for not convening further meetings of the committee to find replacement staff.
The three councillors added in a statement:
“Two months after resignations had been received under the chairmanship of Cllr Bate no meeting has been held to fill those vacant posts. We believe she has much to answer."
The Local Democracy Reporting Service has been unable to contact Cllr Bate, but new Ripon mayor, Councillor Barbara Brodigan, confirmed the councillor’s resignation.
In response to the statement by councillors Crozier, Williams and Horton, she added:
“Their version of events is totally different to those of Cllr Bate and the former chief officer.”
In a further development, a group of residents has requested a parish meeting be held in Ripon, with the aim of conducting a no-confidence poll in the mayor.
Cllr Brodigan said no date had been set for the parish meeting, but the appointment of a temporary chief officer to the council this week would mean council business could resume.
The mayor said the authority was “moving forward” despite the turbulence and was hoping to hold ‘Town Talk’ sessions shortly to give local residents the chance to talk to councillors.
She added:
“We’re already working on the Town Talk sessions and we’ve got a lot of supporters excited to meet up with councillors and talk freely.”
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