Clarence Valley Council, in the Northern Rivers region of NSW, has reportedly terminated the employment of General Manager Laura Black. The Daily Examiner and the ABC are reporting that the council held a closed session on Wednesday, at which it also appointed Adam Cameron as Acting General Manager.

The decision came after a three-hour confidential session at an extraordinary meeting — the council’s third in under a week — and followed a separate mayoral meeting at which Cr Christie Yager was elected Deputy Mayor, five votes to four over Cr Debrah Novak.

Confidential papers were reportedly uploaded to the Council’s website, revealing a breakdown in the relationship of Ms Black and a majority of the councillors.

Before councillors moved into the closed session, Cr Yager asked that deliberations be “undertaken with care, respect and dignity”.

The termination follows a fortnight of governance disruption at the council. A tied third-round mayoral vote between Cr Peter Johnstone and incumbent Cr Ray Smith was initially resolved by a wrongly declared result, after Ms Black advised councillors that the name drawn would be eliminated rather than elected.

Council later withdrew the declaration and said it was seeking urgent advice from the Office of Local Government on remedial action. The mayoralty remains vacant.

Council has not yet publicly released further detail on the reasons for Ms Black’s termination, nor has it provided an update on next steps for resolve the mayoral issue.