Nelson Weekly Locally Owned and Operated
Nelson to get a new mayor SARA HOLLYMAN Nelson will have a new mayor come October as Rachel Reese announces she will not seek reelection and her deputy, Judene Edgar, confirms she will not seek it either. However, it will be a contested bid with an ex-councillor throwing his hat in the ring alongside Nelson’s youngest councillor, Rohan O’Neill-Stevens, who announced his intention to run for the mayoralty last month. Rachel Reese announced on Monday that she will not stand for mayor in the upcoming local body elections. Her deputy mayor, Judene Edgar, says she has also ruled out standing for the top job after one term as deputy mayor, following three terms as a Tasman District councillor. But ex-Nelson City councillor Kerry Neal says he will, more than 30 years after he last sat on council. Kerry, speaking exclusively to the Nelson Weekly, says his campaign for the mayoralty will be a “three-pronged attack” on the performance of the current
mayor and councillors. He says this coming election will likely be the “last opportunity to return local government to local people” after what he describes as a council that is close to being controlled by “bureaucrats, political party operatives and paid appointees”. Kerry says he wants to encourage fair-minded, experienced, practical people to put their names forward for council. “Get involved and fight to defend the right to have your say on who should run your community.” Rachel, who has spent three terms as the city’s mayor – a nine-year stint at the head of the Nelson City Council – says her 15 years as an elected member has “raced by” with plenty of variety, excitement, and challenges to be met. “When I came into the role there was quite a lot to catch up on, there was a lot of infrastructure to be upgraded and we’ve worked really hard to do that.” She says although the ‘to-do list’ is never finished, it’s the right time for her to end her role as
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LOCALLY OWNED AND OPERATED
Wednesday 1 June 2022
Stoke man Richard “Skip” Berry with his model bus collection, which he has been growing since 1979. Photo: Evan Barnes.
Stoke man buzzing for buses KATE RUSSELL Richard “Skip” Berry has always loved buses. In fact, he is so fascinated with them that he has more than 500 of them in his Nelson garage - his own personal bus museum.
“Ever since I was a kid, I’ve loved buses. There’s just something about them. I like double-deckers, I like the shape of them.” Over the past 40 years, model buses, signs, uniforms, and even London bus replica transfers have found their way into a now
very jam-packed room in Richard’s garage. “I’ll always find the space to add more though,” he says. The enthusiast for all things busrelated started collecting models
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