The Mataura Licensing Trust has its office in Gore and services an extended area within Southland. Photo: Supplied / LDR / Wikicommons
The president of a southern licensing trust said he will not accept his deputy's apology following a fiery meeting this week.
Gore-based Mataura Licensing Trust operates a range of alcohol-related businesses in Southland with a mandate for redistributing profits within the community.
On Thursday, tempers flared at one of its meetings after president Horace McAuley accused deputy Vince Aynsley of bullying in his president's report.
The situation centred on an incident at the New Zealand Licensing Trusts Association conference in Invercargill on 19 July, where McAuley alleged Aynsley asked him how he would feel when he was no longer president next term.
The Otago Daily Times was at Thursday's meeting and said Aynsley could not recall the exchange but would apologise for whatever he hypothetically said.
An argument then began between president McAuley and board member Jeannine Cunningham over an employment issue - but not before she alleged the president had blown up at a previous meeting and was guilty of bullying himself.
Cunningham claimed she was approached by multiple people at the Invercargill conference asking: "when are you getting rid of Horace?"
Despite the in-fighting, McAuley shut down any suggestion that the licensing trust was dysfunctional.
"Never in your life. Never, ever, ever," McAuley told Local Democracy Reporting.
Mataura Licensing Trust president Horace McAuley, left, deputy president Vince Aynsley, and board member Jeannine Cunningham. Photo: Supplied / Local Democracy Reporting
The issues had not dissuaded him from wanting to stay on at the trust, and he noted he had been elected president unopposed since 2010.
"We're a busy trust, and as their president, I have an awful lot to do. And so I'm not focusing on this," he said.
"To be fair to both myself and the Mataura Licensing Trust, it's a distraction, and the person responsible for the distraction is the person who should answer the questions.
"That's Vince Aynsley."
McAuley said he "received" Aynsley's apology, which was different to "accepting" it.
Aynsley did not wish to comment on the situation but said he had asked McAuley how he would feel "hypothetically" if he wasn't president next year.
"I'm in no rush to talk or bring down Horace or say anything in public at this stage."
The president's dig at his deputy was not the only criticism Aynsley faced at the meeting.
Another member, Bryan Burgess, claimed Aynsley underhandedly took his deputy role three years ago, which Aynsley accepted.
Licensing trust elections run at the same time as local body elections, with the president selected by members.
The next election is set for 11 October.
Mataura Licensing Trust controls a total of 12 liquor outlets, bars, restaurants and accommodation providers from Tapanui in the north to Tokonui in the south.
LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
