The mayor of Appleby and another high profile councillor have both tendered letters of resignation, a meeting of the town council heard last night.
Gareth Hayes became Appleby’s mayor in June, 2020, with Jim Chalmers – who has also resigned – being made deputy mayor at the same time.
Mr Hayes was the first Appleby mayor to be elected virtually in a meeting held using online video conferencing technology due to safety measures amid the COVID-19 pandemic and now also becomes perhaps the first in the council’s history to resign while still in office.
Appleby’s present deputy mayor, Martin Stephenson, who chaired the meeting in the town’s historic Moot Hall, said: “I have the bad news to say that we have received the resignation of Gareth Hayes, the mayor.
“He has sent us a letter saying that he no longer feels he has the energy to pursue the town council’s agenda,” said Mr Stephenson.
Mr Hayes was in office for 2 1/2 years, which included the whole of the COVID pandemic, but had been on the council for about eights years and had done sterling service for the town and had put a lot of energy in, said Mr Stephenson.
Mr Stephenson added: “There have been a number of contentious issues and he feels that it is impacting on health so he has decided to stand down which is very bad news.
“A resignation of an elected mayor has probably hardly ever happened in Appleby. I don’t know when or if it has happened before,” said Mr Stephenson.
In addition, he reported that the council had also had a letter of resignation from Jim Chalmers.
“Jim has served the council extremely well over at least 10 years and he was involved with the finances. “He also has had a lot of pressures from various groups in relation to various issues in the town and feels it is no longer something he wishes to engage himself with,” said Mr Stephenson.
He added: “With these two councillors (leaving) we have lost a lot of experience. A lot of work that they have done will be difficult to replace and the town has lost two good public servants.
“We will be a sending a letter to each of those councillors to express our sadness at their departure, but also thanks for the service they have given to the town over the years they have served on the council.”
