Rachel Reese has won the Nelson mayoral race

Saturday, 12 October 2019

Rachel Reese has been re-elected as Mayor of Nelson City

The people have spoken, and Rachel Reese has risen to the top spot on the city council for her third term as Mayor.

Rachel Reese has been provisionally re-elected after a nail-biting election.

Reese has 5020 votes, followed by Mel Courtney on 3694, then Bill Dahlberg 3385 and Tim Skinner on 3284.

The seven-horse race did dilute Reese's win: in the last election Reese had 11,364 votes.

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Reese said it had been a 'huge privilege' to serve as Nelson's mayor for the past six years, and she was looking forward to her third term.

'We've achieved a lot … but there's more to do.'

She said she was feeling 'stuffed' after the long campaign, but said she had enjoyed the 'positive' campaign.

'The candidates have been great, I enjoyed all the opportunities to get to know them.

'This is going to be a great council.'

She said she was pleased that the results showed Nelson was 'prepared to back diversity', and said it was a first for Nelson that there were more women around the council table than men.

She was celebrating her win at the Boat Shed cafe with her family on Saturday afternoon.

Courtney told Stuff he thought there was an appetite for change; 'but apparently I was wrong.'

Nelson mayoral candidate Rachel Reese outlines her approach to the role and issues facing the city.

'You accept in a democracy when the people tell you things.'

He said the chief executive Pat Dougherty had let him know early on that he was not Mayor, but he was on council.

'I'll still be there, and that's the main thing.'

Mel Courtney was the second highest Nelson candidate.

He enjoyed the campaign and was happy with everything he had done.

'The results, no. Not happy with that.'

Bill Dahlberg said he was 'really pleased' to have had three years on the council, and wished all newcomers well.

Dahlberg said he was 'really pleased I had three years to be on the council'.

'I see for myself some missed opportunities for the city. All you can do is move on and wish the oncoming people well.'

He said on Saturday afternoon while there were more than 1000 votes to be counted, it would not affect the results.

Skinner said the four strong candidates for Mayor had been pretty close and he extended his congratulations to Mayor Reese.

'But in one sense I was disappointed, you know when you've put your heart into it, but on the other side I'm very happy as a returning councillor being the highest polling of the returning councillors,' he said.

'If there's anything I can take from that it's the work I've done over the last six years the public have appreciated that and polled me highly on that.'

Newcomer Rachel Sanson is the highest polling council candidate on 8,840 votes, followed by Skinner on 8,420.

Skinner congratulated the other five new councillors on their election to the council - Rohan O'Neill-Stevens, the youngest candidate at just 19, Judene Edgar, Yvonne Bowater, Trudie Brand and Pete Rainey.

Councillors Mike Rutledge and Ian Barker did not get re-elected to the council, and Dahlberg will also not be at the council table this term, given he was only running for Mayor.

Many Nelsonians left their civic duty of voting until the last day. Voters in Nelson made the most of the last half an hour, until polls closed at midday on Saturday.

Matt Lawrey, Brian McGurk, Mel Courtney, Gaile Noonan and Kate Fulton are the returning councillors that make up the table of 12 elected councillors.

The city council headquarters were a hive of activity with last-minute voters on Saturday getting their papers in before deadline.

Tim Skinner said he was disappointed to lose the mayoralty, but was pleased to see the strong support returning him to the council.

Voting closed at noon on Saturday. Before Saturday's votes, about 45 per cent of votes had been submitted, still trailing behind the 47 per cent turn-out at the same time during the last election.

First-time voter Josh Blair said he waited until Saturday just because he knew he would be in town, but said choosing who to vote for was 'easy as'.

'It was helpful having the pamphlets with information on them [the candidates].

'I just wanted to have my say. It's the first time I've been able to vote.'

Blair's easy time was not one shared by all Saturday voters. Sarah Mounsey said she had a tough time deciding, and left enrolling late having just moved to Nelson about a year ago.