Nelson City Council
Te Kaunihera o Whakatū
Held in the Council Chamber, Floor 2A, Civic House, 110 Trafalgar Street, Nelson on Thursday 25 May 2023, commencing at 9.03a.m.
Present: His Worship the Mayor N Smith (Chairperson), Councillors M Anderson, M Benge, T Brand, M Courtney, J Hodgson, K Paki Paki, P Rainey, C Rollo, R Sanson, T Skinner and A Stallard
In Attendance: Chief Executive (N Philpott), Group Manager Infrastructure (A Louverdis), Acting Group Manager Environmental Management (D Bush-King), Group Manager Community Services (A White), Group Manager Corporate Services (N Harrison), Group Manager Strategy and Communications (N McDonald) Team Leader Governance (R Byrne) and Senior Governance Adviser (H Wagener)
Apologies : Councillor R O'Neill-Stevens
Karakia and Mihi Timatanga
1. Apologies
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1. Receives and accepts the apologies from Councillor R O'Neill-Stevens for absence on Council business. |
2. Confirmation of Order of Business
His Worship the Mayor Hon Dr Smith advised that that the order of business would be adjusted to allow Item 6 - Deliberations on the Schedule of Fees and Charges 2023/24 to be considered first.
Attendance: Councillor T Skinner joined the meeting at 9.05 a.m.
3. Interests
There were no updates to the Interests Register, and no interests with items on the agenda were declared.
There was no public forum.
5. Confirmation of Minutes - 11 May 2023
Document number R27713, agenda pages 5 - 21 refer.
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1. Confirms the minutes of the meeting of the Council, held on 11 May 2023, as a true and correct record. |
6. Deliberations on the Schedule of Fees and Charges 2023/24
Document number R27671, agenda pages 65 - 91 refer.
Acting Group Manager Environmental Management, Dennis Bush-King, Group Manager Community Services, Andrew White, and Policy Adviser, Ailish Neyland took the report as read. Officers amended recommendation 2 for clarification.
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1. Receives the report Deliberations on the Schedule of Fees and Charges 2023/24 (R27671) and its attachments (1598046314-107); and 2. Approves amending the proposed Schedule of Fees and Charges 2023/24 in response to submissions, to increase the Annual Pile Mooring fee by 7.2% instead of 10%. 3. Confirms the approach to adopting the changes to the Schedule of Fees and Charges for 2023/24, as contained in Attachment 1 (1598046314-107). |
7. Deliberations on the Annual Plan 2023/24 submissions
Document number R27506, agenda pages 5 - 64 refer.
His Worship the Mayor requested that any proposal to increase allocated budget should indicate the source of the additional funding or quantify the effect on the proposed rates.
Group Manager Strategy and Communications, Nicky McDonald and Group Manager Corporate Services, Nikki Harrison took the report as read and answered questions. Ms. Harrison advised that since notification of the Annual Plan proposal, staff have found further savings of approximately $247,000 that would allow an increase of 7.2% of grants to the Community Investment Fund and organisations supporting the most vulnerable members of the community and the 3.5% inflation adjustment to grants to other community organisations, facilities, Council Controlled Organisations and Council Organisations.
In response to questions, Acting Manager Environmental Planning, Dennis Bush-King, provided advice on the potential effect of the removal of funding for an urban design panel. His Worship the Mayor requested that it be noted that Council staff would still have the option to request funding from the Council and seek urban design advice in situations where that was desirable.
The meeting adjourned from 10.03a.m. until 10.13a.m.
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Exclusion of the Public |
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Resolved CL/2023/097 |
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That the Council 1. Excludes the public from the following parts of the proceedings of this meeting. 2. The general subject of each matter to be considered while the public is excluded, the reason for passing this resolution in relation to each matter and the specific grounds under section 48(1) of the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987 for the passing of this resolution are as follows: |
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Stallard/Sanson Carried |
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Item |
General subject of each matter to be considered |
Reason for passing this resolution in relation to each matter |
Particular interests protected (where applicable) |
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1 |
Deliberations on the Annual Plan 2023/24 submissions |
Section 48(1)(a) The public conduct of this matter would be likely to result in disclosure of information for which good reason exists under section 7. |
The withholding of the information is necessary: · Section 7(2)(g) To maintain legal professional privilege. · Section 7(2)(j) To prevent the disclosure or use of official information for improper gain or improper advantage |
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The meeting went into confidential session at 10.12a.m and resumed in public session at 10.30 a.m.
Three changes to the officers recommendations were proposed during deliberations.
Recommendation 6:
Following the submission at the hearings by the Nelson Festivals Trust about the requirement to use some of its reserves as part of core funding for the 2023 festival, and the concerns and the lack of clarity about how the current situation arose, it had been recommended that the issue be investigated. An amendment to the recommendation to clarify was proposed.
Councillor Courtney proposed an amended motion, seconded by Councillor Sanson.
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Recommendation |
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6. Delegates to the Deputy Mayor, Councillor Courtney and Councillor Brand with the support of Group Manager Community Services, and in consultation with the Nelson Festivals Trust, a review of the circumstances that led to the growth in its reserves for the 2020-2022 period of Covid-19 impacts and whether it is appropriate for a portion of these resources to be offset against Council’s funding for this year’s festival, with the findings of this work to be reported back to Council by 6 July 2023; and |
Recommendation 7:
Following the submission at the hearing by Kotahitanga mō te Taiao Alliance and advice that the alliance had also requested the same level of increase in funding from Marlborough and Tasman District Councils, staff recommended an increase of funding from $20,000 to $40,000, conditional on Tasman and Marlborough District Councils also increasing their support to $40,000.
During the deliberations, concern was expressed that unilateral approval of an increase in funding by Nelson City Council, without commensurate additional funding being made available by the two other local authorities, would create a precedent. However, it was also seen as an opportunity for the Council to set an example, to provide regional leadership and to urge the other councils to match the contribution.
Councillor Sanson proposed an amended motion, seconded by Councillor Stallard.
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Recommendation |
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7. Approves amending the proposed Annual Plan 2023/24 in response to submissions, to provide an increase of funding in 2023/24 to Kotahitanga mō te Taiao Alliance from $20,000 to $40,000, and notes His Worship the Mayor will write to Tasman and Marlborough District Councils urging them to resolve likewise, in the interests of improved regional resilience, environmental and biodiversity outcomes; and |
Additional recommendation 12:
His Worship the Mayor Hon Dr Smith proposed a motion, seconded by Councillor Rollo.
In response to submissions to provide support to the Tāhunanui Surf Lifesaving and Sports Facility, an addition to the recommendations was proposed to investigate the potential to co-locate LandSAR at the council facilities. Councillor K Paki Paki requested that it be noted that he was not in favour of the recommendation as it was premature to make a commitment to any organisation.
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Recommendation |
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12. Notes that the investigation into opportunities for a surf lifesaving and sports facility/facilities at Tāhunanui Beach Reserve will consider the potential co-location of LandSAR within the development. |
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His Worship the Mayor/Rollo Carried |
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The meeting adjourned from 11.12a.m. until 11.22a.m.
Following debate, the recommendations were taken in parts.
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1. Receives the report Deliberations on the Annual Plan 2023/24 submissions (R27506) and its attachments (839498445-14453 and 332184083-4780). |
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2. Notes that additional savings of $247,000 have been identified by Council officers in the period since the Consultation Document was released, enabling funding of the recommended decisions 3, 4 and 7 below. |
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3. Approves amending the proposed Annual Plan 2023/24 in response to submissions, to provide a 7.2% inflation adjustment to the Community Investment Fund and organisations identified as supporting Nelson’s communities of greatest need, at an approximate cost of $44,000. |
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4. Approves amending the proposed Annual Plan 2023/24 in response to submissions, to provide a 3.5% inflation adjustment to grants to other community organisations, facilities and Council Controlled Organisations and Council Organisations, at an approximate cost of $183,000. |
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5. Requests Council officers, in consultation with the Chief Executive and the Board of the Nelson Regional Development Agency, to prepare a report taking account of the financial challenges facing that agency due to the government COVID-19 support ending in June 2023 and a disparity of funding between Nelson City Council and Tasman District Council and considering how the agency can be refocussed and financed into the future. |
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6. Delegates to the Deputy Mayor, Councillor Courtney and Councillor Brand with the support of Group Manager Community Services, and in consultation with the Nelson Festivals Trust, a review of the circumstances that led to the growth in its reserves for the 2020-2022 period of Covid-19 impacts and whether it is appropriate for a portion of these resources to be offset for funding this year’s festival, with the findings of this work to be reported back to Council. |
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7. Approves amending the proposed Annual Plan 2023/24 in response to submissions, to provide an increase of funding in 2023/24 to Kotahitanga mō te Taiao Alliance from $20,000 to $40,000, and notes His Worship the Mayor will write to Tasman and Marlborough District Councils urging them to resolve likewise, in the interests of improved regional resilience, environmental and biodiversity outcomes. |
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8. Approves the approach to Annual Plan 2023/24 submission responses included in the spreadsheet in Attachment 1 (839498445-14453). |
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9. Approves the changes to the proposed Annual 2023/24 resulting from Council decisions, corrections and timing changes as outlined at sections 5.43 to 5.46 of this report R27506. |
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10. Approves the budget carry forwards as set out in Attachment 2 (332184083-4780). |
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Resolved CL/2023/108 |
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11. Confirms its intent to have an overall average rates increase of 7.2% in 2023/24. |
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12. Notes that the investigation into opportunities for a surf lifesaving and sports facility/facilities at Tāhunanui Beach Reserve will consider the potential co-location of LandSAR within the development. |
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There being no further business the meeting ended at 12.22 p.m.
Confirmed as a correct record of proceedings by resolution on 8 June 2023
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1. Confirms the minutes of the meeting of the Council, held on 25 May 2023, as a true and correct record. |