# Nelson City Council

Nelson City Council is the unitary local authority for Nelson in New Zealand.

## History

Local governance of Nelson began with Nelson Province in 1853, which covered the entire upper South Island. The town of Nelson was managed by the Nelson Board of Works, constituted by the provincial council under the Nelson Improvement Act 1856. Nelson became a borough and the board of works became Nelson City Council on 30 March 1874.
In the 1989 local government reforms, Nelson City Council was constituted a territorial authority within the Nelson-Marlborough Region. Under the Local Government Amendment Act 1992, the Nelson-Marlborough Regional Council was disestablished on 1 July 1992 and its functions taken over by Nelson City Council, Marlborough District Council and Tasman District Council, which all became unitary authorities. Nelson became constituted as "'The Nelson Region', which shall comprise the area of Nelson City".
On 12 October 2013, Rachel Reese was elected as Nelson's first woman mayor after receiving 1,500 votes more than incumbent mayor Aldo Miccio.

## Scope

Nelson City Council's area covers the entire local government region of Nelson of 424 km$^2$. Its population was 53,082 in 2018. It borders the Tasman and Marlborough Districts.

## Elections

As a unitary authority, the Nelson City Council has the combined responsibilities and functions of both a territorial (local) and regional council. This is different from most other local authorities in New Zealand. More often, a regional council is a separate organisation with several territorial authorities (city or district councils) within its borders. Other unitary authorities are the Auckland Council, Gisborne District Council, Marlborough District Council, Tasman District Council and the Chatham Islands Council.
The mayor of Nelson and 12 councillors are elected every three years. The elections are held under the first-past-the-post electoral system, as part of nationwide local elections. They are conducted by post over a three-week period to make it as convenient as possible for people to vote.
The other option permitted under the Local Electoral Act 2001, but not currently used in Nelson, is the single transferable vote system. Multiple-member districts are used. Electors vote by ranking candidates in order of preference by placing a number beside candidates' names. The elector can mark a preference for one or up to the total number of candidates on the paper. The number of votes required for a candidate to be elected, the quota, depends on the number of positions to be filled and the number of valid votes. (Election of mayor may be held using the Instant-runoff vote method.)
Under the Local Electoral Act 2002, the Nelson City Council can resolve to change the electoral system to be used for the next two elections, and it must review this decision every six years. A referendum was held in 2003 to decide which electoral system would be used for the 2004 and 2007 Nelson City Council elections, with the outcome that the first-past-the-post system was retained. The 2008 review retained that system for the 2010 and 2013 elections.

## Current councillors

The current mayor of Nelson is Nick Smith.
Nelson City councillors for the 2022–2025 term are:
* Matty Anderson
* Matthew Benge
* Trudie Brand
* Mel Courtney
* James Hodgson
* Rohan O'Neill-Stevens
* Kahu Paki Paki
* Pete Rainey
* Campbell Rollo
* Rachel Sanson
* Tim Skinner
* Aaron Stallard

## Work

Environmental programmes undertaken by the council include Nelson Nature and Project Maitai. In 2019, the Council declared climate change an emergency situation.