The new Mayor of Ripon says she is optimistic the city council can move forward and be more “open and accessible” in the future following a period of turbulence.
Councillor Barbara Brodigan was speaking after being elected by members of Ripon City Council at a meeting on Monday.
The vote took place following the resignation of the authority’s previous mayor, Councillor Jackie Crozier, and deputy mayor, Councillor Gary Camplejohn.
The leader and deputy leader on the council, Councillor Andrew Williams, and Peter Horton, respectively, also recently stood down after a group of seven other councillors proposed the removal of the leader and deputy roles.
The Local Democracy Reporting Service understands the episode is linked to the departure of three members of staff.
A meeting on Friday will discuss a motion to dissolve the council’s staffing committee, which included councillors Williams, Horton and Crozier, and replace it with a new human resources committee.
Cllr Brodigan, who is also a Liberal Democrat councillor on North Yorkshire Council, said the new committee would hold its first meeting next week.
“They will start the process of trying to close what’s been happening, resolve it, move forward and recruit new staff.
“We recognise it will take time, but we are optimistic that we can move forward.
“The seven councillors who have been working together on this are really excited about this change in direction.”
Heated exchanges have taken place at the last two council meetings between councillors and members of the public.
Cllr Brodigan added:
“We can understand why feelings are really high because people have said they don’t know what’s been going on.
“Sometimes there is some information that we can’t divulge. But we need to reassure people that we are not being underhand, that we recognise we have got a problem on Ripon City Council and we just need to work together to sort it out.
“We would welcome the support from residents in doing that because we’ve all got the best interests of Ripon at heart.”
The councillor admitted the events of recent weeks had been “a bit of a saga”.
She added:
“We’ve still got a few things to sort out because we’re trying to restructure, for the want of a better word, and sort out who’s doing what on the council going forward.
“I did say when I was voted in that we want to be more open and accessible because lots of people have accused the councillors, who have been trying to change things, of working behind closed doors and plotting.”
In future, Cllr Brodigan said the council would hold weekly events in the mayor’s parlour at the Town Hall, known as Town Talk sessions, where members of the public could speak to councillors about the work of the authority and ask questions they had.
Ripon City Council roadshows are also planned, where councillors would speak to community groups to explain more about the authority.
A new deputy mayor will also be elected at Friday’s meeting.
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