Stuff Digital Edition

All council seats to be contested at local elections

Skara Bohny and Cherie Sivignon

A flood of last-minute nominations has guaranteed that all seats will be contested in the October elections for the Nelson City and Tasman District councils.

Nominations closed at noon yesterday.

Nelson is guaranteed a new mayor, with incumbent Rachel Reese not standing for re-election. The Nelson mayoral candidates are incumbent councillors Matt Lawrey, Rohan O’Neill-Stevens and Tim Skinner (running with the support of Nelson Citizens Alliance), as well as former Nelson MP Nick Smith, Kerry Neal, John Wakelin, and Money Free Party New Zealand founder Richard Osmaston.

Osmaston is also standing for the mayoralty in Tasman (where he is also standing for the LakesMurchison ward), and in five other districts.

The other mayoral candidates in Tasman are incumbent Tim King, Maxwell Clark, who has previously stood for mayor, Richmond businessman Mike Harvey, and musician Aly Cook for the Outdoors and Freedom Party.

The Nelson City Council will have a major shake-up this election, with six of the current 12 councillors not standing for re-election. It is also the first election to use both Single Transferrable Vote and the ward system.

The three vacancies available ‘‘at large’’ will be contested by 11 hopefuls, including incumbents Skinner, O’Neill-Stevens, and Rachel Sanson. Two Nelson Citizens Alliance (NCA) candidates are standing at large, Zoe Byrne and Mani Rai. Cindy Batt, Margot Haley, Marie Lindaya, Brent Pahl, Mike Ward and Nelson Hospitality Association president Ian Williams are standing independently.

Nine are standing for the Central Ward, which has four vacancies. Peter Win, James Hodgson, Cleo Cowdrey and Murray Cameron are standing for the NCA. Former Green Party candidate and Save the Maitai spokesman Aaron Stallard, current councillor Pete Rainey, Dai Mitchell, Sean Davis and Matty Anderson are standing as independents.

The most hotly contested ward in Nelson will be Stoke-Tāhunanui, with 13 candidates vying for four vacancies. Incumbent councillors Trudie Brand and Mel Courtney are standing there, along with former councillor Ian Barker. Independent candidates are Archdeacon Harvey Ruru, Campbell Rollo, Valmai Palatchie, Sarah Minchington, Mike Gane, Lyndell Dodunski, Rhys Bromell and Matthew Benge. Two candidates, Allan Hoult and Harry Pearson, are standing with the support of the NCA.

Two people have put their names forward for the single vacancy in the Whakatū Māori ward: Bernie Goldsmith and Kahu Paki Paki.

In Tasman District, candidates outnumber vacancies in all five wards.

The Golden Bay ward has two vacancies and five candidates – incumbent elected members Chris Hill and Celia Butler, along with Quinn Lake, Phil Smith, and James Wolfen-Duvall.

Four people are vying for the sole Lakes-Murchison ward vacancy – incumbent ward councillor Stuart Bryant, incumbent MoutereWaimea ward councillor Dean McNamara, Sharon Rogers, and Richard Osmaston.

Raising their hands for the three vacancies in the Moutere-Waimea ward are incumbent ward councillor Christeen Mackenzie, Mike Kininmonth, Dan Robinson, Daniel Shallcross, Jono Trolove and Kelvin Woodley.

Chasing the four vacancies in the Richmond ward are incumbent ward councillors Mark Greening and Kit Maling along with former mayoral candidate Maxwell Clark, Glen Daikee, Jo Ellis, Ray Griffith, Rachel Stevenson, Adele Terrill, Joni Tomsett and Tim Tyler.

In the Motueka ward, eight people have been nominated for three vacancies – incumbent ward councillors Barry Dowler and Trindi Walker, along with Richard Brown, Terina Graham, Nick Hughes, Barbara Lewando and Ian Palmer, and 2019 mayoral candidate and incumbent Motueka Community Board chair Brent Maru.

Maru, Hughes, Graham and Lewando are also in the running for one of four vacancies on the Motueka Community Board. They are up against incumbent board member David Armstrong, Dana Carter, Tania Corbett, Claire Hutt, Ellie Kamphuis, Margaret McCallum, Charmaine Petereit and Maureen Urwin.

With four candidates nominated for the Golden Bay Community Board – matching the number of vacancies – it looks as though an election won’t be needed. This means incumbent chair Abbie Langford and incumbent member Grant Knowles along with Henry Dixon and Robert Hewison are likely to be declared elected unopposed on October 8.

News

en-nz

2022-08-13T07:00:00.0000000Z

2022-08-13T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://fairfaxmedia.pressreader.com/article/281595244311176

Stuff Limited