I am recommending to Council tomorrow liaison roles for Councillors with particular geographic areas, community and business groups to strengthen the important representation roles we play for our community.
Nelson is not a large city but the job as a Councillor of staying in touch with 53,000 people, 6000 businesses and 500 community organisations is daunting. The risk with it not being co-ordinated is that some areas are neglected and others over-represented.
I trialled the idea last term with two areas that felt underrepresented by appointing Councillor Campbell Rollo to Tāhunanui and Councillor Aaron Stallard to Nelson North. I also appointed Councillor Matty Anderson to a Pacific and Ethnic Communities role.
In 2023, I extended the concept, appointing Councillor James Hodgson to the Atawhai liaison role. All four did a great job, successfully contributing to resolving issues such as the contaminated wood waste at Tāhunanui Beach, appropriate speed limits at Cable Bay and Atawhai and the new Chin Gardens in QEII Reserve.
My proposal is to appoint liaison Councillors to eight geographic areas – Cr Lisa Austin in Nelson North, Cr James Hodgson in Atawhai/The Wood, Cr Aaron Stallard in Nelson East, Cr Matty Anderson in Nelson South, Cr Mel Courtney to the Port Hills, Cr Campbell Rollo to Tāhunanui, Cr Trudie Brand in Stoke and Cr Sarah Kerby in Nayland-Monaco. The exact areas and boundaries will be on the Council website.
I am also proposing community sector liaison roles with Cr Matty Anderson assigned our Pacific and Ethnic communities and social services, Cr Aaron Stallard our environmental groups and Councillors Campbell Rollo & Sarah Kerby to sports.
My proposals for business liaison roles are Cr Mel Courtney for the retail and commerce sectors, Cr Kahu Paki Paki for the building-construction sector and Cr Nigel Skeggs with the marine, manufacturing and tourism sectors.
These are not exclusive, and the public can contact any Councillor on any issue. The public should use our customer service team and Antenno app for operational issues. These liaison roles are about input into governance matters.
My ambition with allocating these liaison roles is to improve how we connect Council with our community and ensure we represent the city well.
