Nelson councillors fear ‘ambushing’ Tasman on amalgamation question

Councillor concerns forced Nelson Mayor Nick Smith to pause and “have a cup of tea” after he attempted to reignite the conversation about merging the city with its southern neighbour.

Nick had asked his council on Thursday to approve adding a Nelson Tasman Chamber of Commerce report to next week’s joint meeting of the region’s two councils.

The report, authored by former Tasman council chief executive Janine Dowding, stated that the Nelson and Tasman councils needed to genuinely examine further shared services and amalgamation and added that “any reluctance to do so is not in the best interests of the region”.

Nick, a vocal advocate for amalgamation, aimed to further that discussion and have a closer look at amalgamation, given the financial pressure on the councils and their ratepayers.

“I have been quite surprised… about the degree to which I see inefficiencies and additional cost as a consequence of our region having those two councils.”

Nelson Tasman voted on amalgamation in 2012 where it was supported by Nelson voters but was decisively rejected by Tasman residents.

Acknowledging the past failed referendum, deputy mayor Rohan O’Neill-Stevens said adding the report to the joint committee’s agenda wasn’t deciding to amalgamate, but instead beginning the conversation on how Nelson and Tasman could better work together.

“‘Do you support amalgamation?’ is yesterday’s question,” they said.

“With so much reform going on, we need to have a broader discussion around actually what works best for communities.”

Many councillors expressed an interest in having that discussion but, despite Nick saying he had previously alerted Tasman Mayor Tim King to his proposal, they were also concerned about Tasman’s absence from their discussion.

Councillor Rachel Sanson thought Nelson would be “ambushing” Tasman councillors after those she approached about the issue on Tuesday said they were unaware of the proposal.

Councillor Campbell Rollo also expressed concern that Nick only contacted Tasman councillors about the issue at 10:36pm the night before he presented his proposal.

Councillor Mel Courtney thought the discussion was being advanced too quickly, and that more input was needed from both council staff and Tasman’s elected members.

Councillor Pete Rainey said he understood the reasoning behind Nick’s desire to drive the conversation forward but urged him to take pause and “have a cup of tea”.

“We need to bring everybody in the region together before we go down this path.”
Councillors Trudie Brand and Matthew Benge were concerned about the financial costs of merging in the short-term and urged a focus on Nelson’s current issues.
But councillors Kahu Paki Paki and Matty Anderson supported Nick’s proposal, both expressing a desire to get the conversation started.

Despite their support, the writing was on the wall and Nick suggested letting his proposal lie on the table, leaving the issue in the hands of councillor Aaron Stallard – the only elected member yet to debate on the proposal.

Aaron, who had earlier mused about Nick’s potential political ambitions to be mayor of a combined district, agreed to move letting the topic lie on the table, which Nick seconded.

After the 80 minutes of discussing amalgamation, eight of Nelson’s 13 elected members voted to put the issue aside for now in the hopes of organising an open joint workshop with Tasman councillors to discuss the topic together on a more equal footing.