Restraining order over GDC boss claimed

Wednesday, 24 October 2007

A Gore District Council senior manager who resigned this year claims he has been forced to take out a restraining order after his old boss, council chief executive Steve Parry, turned up unannounced at his home in London.

'How far does one have to go to escape workplace bullying,' Mr Walker asks in the e-mail.

'I left the Gore District Council and moved to London for this reason, to get away from the bullying tactics of the Gore District Council management,' he says.

'I am now forced to obtain a restraining order against Mr Parry for threatening behaviour.'

Mr Parry yesterday denied he had harassed or threatened Mr Walker.

However, he was not prepared to let Mr Walker's statements about such things as why he left the council and its financial management go unchallenged, he said.

Mr Parry, who is president of the New Zealand Society of Local Government Managers, had been in Cardiff for an international conference for local government managers.

He visited Mr Walker the day before returning to New Zealand.

Mr Parry said he had not contacted Mr Walker before turning up at his home because he believed Mr Walker would have tried to avoid a meeting.

The purpose of the visit was to tell Mr Walker the council intended to lodge a complaint against him with the Institute of Chartered Accountants because his conduct since resigning in January appeared to have breached the institute's code of ethics, Mr Parry said.

As a way of avoiding the formal complaint, he had invited Mr Walker to retract what he believes are 'clear untruths' Mr Walker made in an affidavit in June.

The affidavit and other correspondence from Mr Walker, which referred to alleged financial mismanagement and employment harassment, had been widely circulated in Gore and sent to the Office of the Auditor-General, Mr Parry said.

Some of the issues raised by Mr Walker had been investigated by the Auditor-General and dismissed, he said.

These attacks were not only about damaging the council's credibility but also about destroying his reputation, Mr Parry said.

'If he thinks he can fire bullets from London and I am going to take it, he can think again.'