Current councillor Bill Dahlberg is putting his name forward for the Nelson city mayoralty.
Bill says he made the decision after seeing what other candidates were on the cards and becoming concerned about the future leadership of the city.
Mike Ward and Mel Courtney have announced they are running, however, current mayor Rachel Reese has not said if she will stand again.
“I think the city deserves strong leadership,” Bill says. “So I’m going for the mayor’s role and I’m serious about that and helping to build a council team that will be working with our communities.”
Bill says he will only run for the mayoralty and not council. Despite helping Rachel get elected as part of her past campaign team, he says that if she was interested in the role, she should have announced it by now.
“I think we are losing our way. Rachel has done lots of positive stuff, but I need to make a commitment.”
Bill, who has helped run myriad organisations across Nelson and nationally, says part of the frustration with council is that it is a “marathon not a sprint.”
“It’s about organisation, structure and working as a team. You need to make decisions and get people working around the table in a timely manner.”
He says that the city had a “golden opportunity” to be served by a high performing council with the help of the current chief executive Pat Dougherty.
“You need to build teamwork with councillors, chairs and the chief executive and general managers. They all need to be on the same page. They need to be relying on each other and that’s what I’m really good at – team building.”
Bill says if the voters think he is good enough then he is up for the challenge.
“It’s a big challenge, it’s exciting.”
