At yesterday’s meeting, the council voted to appeal the regional council’s representation review to the Local Government Commission for consideration.
This is in response to the regional council opting to reduce the number of Dunedin representatives from six to five and increase the number of Dunstan ward representatives from three to four.
The Molyneux constituency and the Moeraki constituency would retain two seats and one seat respectively.
Briefing papers about the city council’s appeal said the change would be problematic for those residing in the Taieri and Mosgiel area.
"In its report on the final proposal, the regional council acknowledged there are communities of interest in common with Dunedin for Mosgiel-Taieri.
"However, it argued that it also includes rural interests with sheep and beef farming and other rural activities which align Mosgiel with Balclutha.
"The city council does not accept that reason."
To retain six councillors in the Dunedin constituency, the appeal proposed the Mosgiel-Taieri and Strath Taieri areas be transferred from the Molyneux constituency to the Dunedin constituency.
"This proposal is supported by the fact the community of interest for both is Dunedin, which provides core services to these areas ... There are also strong employment and educational linkages with Dunedin."
The appeal noted that since the local government reorganisation in 1989, the Mosgiel-Taieri and Strath-Taieri areas had been part of the Dunedin City Council territorial authority.
"By transferring these from the Molyneux constituency to the Dunedin constituency, the boundaries for both the city council area and the regional council constituency would be the same."
The regional council has argued in favour of increasing the number of Dunstan representatives by pointing to population increases in the Queenstown area, in particular.
However, the city council believes any increase for Dunstan should not be at the expense of Dunedin — arguing the number of regional councillors instead be increased from 12 to 13.
Cr Carmen Houlahan said there was a need for a "strong voice" and "fair representation" of Dunedin at the regional council.
"To take Mosgiel out of the area of Dunedin ... is inappropriate. The [regional council] has not listened to us, and we're not happy about it."
Cr Sophie Barker said everyone in Mosgiel would consider themselves part of Dunedin, so to move them away from the constituency would be "ridiculous".
"They belong to a clearly defined area ... these changes make no logical sense."
Deputy mayor Cherry Lucas agreed, saying as a Mosgiel-Taieri ward resident she had "no close affinity" to Balclutha.
Cr Steve Walker said he would have liked to have heard from the regional councillors about why they chose the option of decreasing the number of Dunedin representatives.
"There was a lack of communication there."
Cr Christine Garey said the appeal was worth it, because the appeals process was "fair and thorough" and independent of the regional council.
"We need to do the best for our community."
