Rachel Reese - Good for Our City, Our People, Our Economy

Deputy Mayor, Rachel Reese is committed to keeping Nelson family-friendly.  “Nelson has an extraordinary environment, an economy with potential, and a community with spirit. The next three years will require strong informed leadership to make decisions on transport, a conference centre, rates affordability and working as one region.”

Rachel has a decade of experience working with councils in her professional career in environmental management and dispute resolution, and is an accredited commissioner and qualified mediator and arbitrator.

As Deputy Mayor, Rachel’s responsibilities have involved all aspects of council operations including chairing committees, being Acting Mayor and working closely with TDC in the joint councils’ shareholders committee.

Rachel is well-known as a positive can-do person. “My goal is to ensure the whole council team works for you, listens to you and is prepared to make sound decisions.  Nelson has a real opportunity to prosper.  Your vote can make it happen.”

 www.rachelreese.co.nz

Top 5 Issues

1. Looking after our People:
   
   I believe in the strength of this community. Working together we will build a bright future that secures Nelson as a city of opportunity.
   To do this we:
   • ensure a safe and accessible city and protect family lifestyles
   • provide year-round economic activity that helps family budgets
   • support positive partnerships
   • nurture our vibrant volunteer community
   • acknowledge the diverse groups of individuals that make up the richness of Nelson
   
   “We need to celebrate the positive people who live here – from our traditional kiwi lifestylers, to our newcomers and our tangata whenua.”
   
2. Looking after our Economy:
   
   I know the key to great lifestyles and a prosperous region is a thriving and sustainable economy. We must have a can-do attitude that says you don’t need to be big to be the best, you don’t need a huge budget to get a huge result. We need smart people in the right place, working together to add value to our region. Yes, we need to protect our Nelson identity, but we also need to build on it too.
   
   To do this we focus on:
   • job creation and added value
   • export growth from key sectors
   • year-round activity like a conference centre bringing winter jobs
   • sector growth in science and technology, marine engineering & iwi based development
   • the expansion of cycle trails to extend tourist activity
   • the support of small business professionals, working artists and craftspeople
   
3. Looking after our City:
   
   I love the fact that Nelson is blessed with a wide variety of people, cultures and neighbourhoods, which blend to make a great city. We need to safeguard the environment and lifestyle that make this a fantastic place to live by enhancing and supporting our natural environment and providing opportunities for Nelsonians.
   
   To do this we value, preserve, develop and foster:
   • our city design and green spaces
   • Rocks Road, a Nelson icon, and Tahunanui, a much loved destination
   • efficient and effective transport options
   • water security and supply
   • neighbourhood identity
   • a conference centre adding winter jobs
   • a successful performing arts centre
   • our vibrant arts scene and heritage groups
   • the Brook Waimarama Sanctuary
   • civic and sporting community facilities
   
4. Affordable and Efficient Council:
   
   Everyone deserves an effective, efficient council that actively engages with its community to produce a workable budget within a carefully considered rating level. I thereby support initiatives that improve quality decision-making, transparency and accountability with public money.
   
   Rates must be fair and reasonable in the here and now, while being at a level that sustains the long-term prosperity of ‘Our City’. We must not compromise key long-term infrastructure for short-term one-off gains that burden future generations.
   
   This will involve council setting appropriate priorities, cooperating with Tasman on regional projects, ensuring Nelson is ready to respond to climate change, reviewing council owned companies and assets, being ready to respond effectively in an emergency, and involving the community in decision making.
5. Effective Leadership:
   
   Nelsonians are asking for leadership that is commited, transparent, honest and has the integrity to make the difficult decisions. They want an accountable Mayor who understands how to work together as one region - and I really mean it!
   

Personal Profile

Getting to know Rachel

Ask Rachel's campaign chairman Bill Dahlberg why he's giving his valuable time to ensure she's elected the next mayor of Nelson and he'll tell you it's because she's the best candidate.

As he told The Nelson Mail in March 2010 when she announced her candidacy, "The best thing I have to work with here is that there is no faking how good Rachel Reese is."

He described her as astute and someone who knows what's going on around town and what makes Nelson and Tasman tick. "She is also a mother and knows the basic stuff that makes a community tick."

"Nelson is lucky to have people like her wanting to step up."

His admiration of Rachel follows comments in a 2007 Wild Tomato story before the last election in which she was described as "savvy, hard-working, straight-talking, a family person, a proud New Zealander with a high degree of integrity and a sense of humour.” 

There has been a lot of action by the Nelson City Council since that election, some of it quite controversial, as councillors have tried to initiate change.  But some things never change, including Rachel’s values and her drive to get the job done, something her Mum, who keeps the extended family up to date with newspaper clippings about her, is deeply proud of.

Rachel keeps in close contact with her mother, Jean, particularly as her father passed away in July last year after a valiant fight with cancer.  Her father, Jim, packed a huge amount into his life, had opinions on a lot of things and didn’t suffer fools.  

“There were a few basic values that Dad drilled into us all," Rachel recalls.

• Don’t say you understand if you don’t.  Ask for help.
• Have an opinion, think for yourself, ask questions, look under the bonnet.
• Step up and lend a hand  - put your shoulder to the wheel  - and don’t be scared to get your hands dirty.  If there’s a big job to do, break it into small steps and just get on with it.

Rachel has had nearly three years in the hot seat as the deputy mayor and, for extended periods, acting mayor of Nelson.  Three good years and enough time to be ready to take on the next step – becoming our Nelson mayor.

Rachel in Council

Rachel was appointed as deputy mayor three years ago because she had the skills to do the job.  She has worked hard at gaining the experience  and has been acting mayor on numerous occasions, including an extended period last spring when the mayor was overseas.  A measure of success was that when she stepped up as mayor the changeover was seamless.

Rachel has an excellent working relationship with our neighbouring mayors Richard Kempthorne (Tasman) and Alistair Sowman (Marlborough).  "It is important that we work well as Top of the South (Te Tau Ihu)," she says.

During this term of council, Rachel has been Nelson’s representative at the New Zealand level of local government where Nelson sits with regional councils, along with Tasman and Marlborough.  These meetings allow direct access to Government Ministers and up to date advice on critical changes in the local government environment.

As well as being deputy mayor, Rachel holds the environment portfolio and is chair of the plan change committee, chair of the plan change steering group, and chair of the Nelson Biodiversity Forum.

She is also a member of the audit, risk and finance committee, remuneration review committee (which employs and performance reviews the chief executive), resource management act procedures committee (which decides on plan appeals and consent complaints), NCC/TDC joint shareholders committee, civil defence emergency management group, joint NCC/TDC Waimea Estuary steering group, Nelson Tasman regional pest management committee and, as resource consent commissioner, she is a member of the hearings panel.

In her role as deputy mayor, Rachel has been out and about meeting and working with people from all parts of the Nelson community, from church leaders, police, people with disability issues and their support workers, our young people, our active and not so active retirees, our multi-cultural community and, very importantly, our iwi of Te Tau Ihu.

“When I look back through my diary over the last three years I’ve had the pleasure of talking with so many people about their needs, problems and projects.  It has given me a true insight into ‘who’ Nelson is.  I genuinely believe that you have to know your community to be able to serve it.”

Rachel as Nelson’s Mayor

“Over the last three years, I have been working very hard as deputy mayor to ensure that I have a full understanding of all aspects of the council operation.  I understand and can do the job and what’s more, I really enjoy it.

With strong informed leadership over the next three years, Nelson has a real opportunity to prosper.  As mayor I can make that happen.  I really believe in this place and the people who live here and I want to make sure the whole Council table is working for you.

I love Nelson – what a great city to be the mayor of.”