Nelson's new deputy mayor and revamped committee structure proposed

Tuesday, 22 October 2019

Tasman's loss is Nelson's gain as former Tasman councillor Judene Edgar is in line to become Nelson's new deputy mayor.

Edgar, a Tasman district councillor for nine years from 2007, said it was an 'honour' to be asked to take the Nelson role which will be confirmed at the end of the month.

'We have a wonderful group of elected members, and I am looking forward to working alongside them all as we tackle some of the many challenges and opportunities that local government is facing,' she said.

Edgar, who did not seek re-election in Tasman in 2016, was one of the six new Nelson councillors elected this month. She was the seventh highest polling candidate for the 12-person council with 8155 votes.

The new triennium will also see a new structure for the council. Rather than the previous method, where only some councillors were members of each committee, the new council will have committees of the whole.

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Mayor Rachel Reese says the council is shaping up to be 'very cohesive and engaged'.

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Under this structure, all councillors will be members of all committees.

Reese said this structure would 'produce the best possible results for our smart little city'.

'I want to thank all the councillors for their open and honest discussions over the last few days. The key roles have been spread among both new and re-elected councillors. This is shaping up to be a very cohesive and engaged council.'

The proposed committee chairs and deputies are Brian McGurk and Rohan O'Neill-Stevens for infrastructure, Rachel Sanson and Gaile Noonan for governance and finance, Kate Fulton and Brian McGurk for environment, Matt Lawrey and Yvonne Bowater for community services, Tim Skinner and Trudie Brand for sport and recreation, and for the regional transport committee Brian McGurk as chair and Judene Edgar as deputy and Rachel Reese and Rohan O'Neill-Stevens as members.

As well as the committees, there is a city centre revitalisation group chaired by Pete Rainey with Mel Courtney. This group is not a formal committee of the whole, but is meant to give governance input on major revitalisation projects like the Elma Turner library development.

The committee structure and roles, including the deputy mayor, are to be confirmed at the first council meeting, on October 31.

* A previous story had Rohan O'Neill-Stevens as the deputy of the Regional Transport Committee. He is a member along with Rachel Reese. This was due to incomplete information supplied by the council.