Mayor of Palmerston North

The Mayor of Palmerston North is the head of the municipal government of Palmerston North, New Zealand, and presides over the Palmerston North City Council. The current mayor is Grant Smith, who became mayor in a February 2015 by-election. This resulted from the resignation of Jono Naylor in October 2014 after his election to the House of Representatives. Since the 2013 election, Palmerston North is one of the few councils that uses the single transferable vote electoral system for the election of mayor.

Mayor Grant Smith in July 2015

Voting system

Council elections were annually at first, and biennial since 1914.[1] The mayor is directly elected using a single transferable vote electoral system, starting with the 2013 election, and with a first past the post system earlier.[2][3]

History

The Borough Council was established on 12 July 1877. At the time, Palmerston North was an isolated village in the midst of a native forest that covered inland Manawatu. The population was approximately 800 people. The first elections on 9 August 1877 returned a council with nine members, including George Snelson as the first mayor. Snelson is regarded as the founding father of Palmerston North.[4]

On 1 August 1930, Palmerston North was officially gazetted as a city, the 7th settlement in New Zealand to have reached the then-threshold of 20,000 inhabitants. With that, the Borough Council became a city council.[5]

Jono Naylor was first elected mayor in 2007,[6] and resigned that position after being elected to the House of Representatives in the 2014 election as a list MP for the National Party.[7] Grant Smith was elected in his place in 2015,[8] with the previous deputy mayor Jim Jefferies having been acting mayor in the intervening period.[9]

There have been 29 holders of the position. The longest-serving was Gus Mansford, who held the post for 16 years. Jill White was the first female mayor in 1998, since followed by Heather Tanguay in 2004.[10][11]

Three mayors have held non-consecutive terms:

Five mayors also served as members of Parliament:[13]

Of those, Nash and Tennent have fulfilled the role of mayor and member of parliament concurrently:

  • Nash for five years (1918–1923)
  • Tennent for two years (1957–1959)

List of mayors of Palmerston North
6th Mayor, Solomon Abrahams with his wife in c. 1910
15th Mayor, Jimmy Nash, in 1928

The following persons have served as mayor of Palmerston North:[1][4][5][10][11][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22]

Name Term
1 George Snelson 1877–1879
2 James Linton[12] 1879–1882
3 Frits Jenssen[23] 1882–1883
George Snelson, 2nd time 1883–1884
James Linton, 2nd time 1884–1885
4 Alexander Ferguson[24][25] 1885–1886
5 Ludolph Georg West[26] 1886–1887
6 Solomon Abrahams[27] 1887–1889
George Snelson, 3rd time 1889–1892
7 Robert Edwards[28] 1892–1893
8 William Park[29] 1893–1895
9 William Thomas Wood 1895–1899
10 Henry Haydon 1899–1901
George Snelson, 4th time 1901 – 31 October 1901
William Thomas Wood, 2nd time 1901–1903
11 Charles Dunk 1903–1904
12 Edward Orr Hurley 1904–1905
13 Maurice Cohen 1905–1907
14 Richard Essex 1907–1908
15 Jimmy Nash 1908–1923
16 Frederick Joseph Nathan 1923–1927
17 Archibald James Graham 1927–1931
18 Gus Mansford 1931–1947
19 Geoffrey Tremaine 1947–1956
20 Blair Tennent 1956–1959
21 Gilbert Rennie 1959–1969
22 Desmond Barry Black 1969–1971
23 Brian Elwood 1971–1985
24 Paul Rieger 1985–1998
25 Jill White 1998–2001
26 Mark Bell-Booth 2001–2004
27 Heather Tanguay 2004–2007
28 Jono Naylor 2007–2014
29 Grant Smith 2015–present

List of Deputy Mayors of Palmerston North
Name Term Mayor
Alison Wall 2001–2004 Bell-Booth
John Hornblow 2004–2010 Tanguay
Naylor
Jim Jefferies 2010–2015
Duncan McCann 2015–2016 Smith
Tangi Utikere 2016–2020
Aleisha Rutherford 2020–present

References
  1. "1910s". Palmerston North City Council. Archived from the original on 9 January 2010. Retrieved 23 February 2010.
  2. "Single Transferable Voting (STV)". Palmerston North City Council. 4 February 2014.
  3. "STV Information". The Department of Internal Affairs. Retrieved 22 January 2015.
  4. "1870s". Palmerston North City Council. Retrieved 23 February 2010.
  5. "1930s". Palmerston North City Council. Archived from the original on 9 January 2010. Retrieved 23 February 2010.
  6. Annabell, John B (14 October 2007). "Election Results 2007". Palmerston North: Palmerston North City Council. Retrieved 24 February 2010.
  7. Townend, Lucy (4 October 2014). "Naylor confirmed as MP". Manawatu Standard. Retrieved 4 October 2014.
  8. "Grant Smith elected". Manawatu Standard. 10 February 2015.
  9. "Mayoral by-election to be held in February 2015" (Press release). Palmerston North: Palmerston North City Council. Scoop. 6 October 2014. Retrieved 11 February 2015.
  10. "1990s". Palmerston North City Council. Retrieved 23 February 2010.
  11. "2000s". Palmerston North City Council. Retrieved 23 February 2010.
  12. Scholefield, Guy, ed. (1940). A Dictionary of New Zealand Biography : A–L (PDF). I. Wellington: Department of Internal Affairs. p. 499. Retrieved 6 October 2013.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  13. Matheson, Ian Roderick (2003). "Palmerston North Borough and City Councillors". Council and community: 125 years of local government in Palmerston North 1877–2002. pp. 91–100. ISBN 0-473-09340-5.
  14. "1880s". Palmerston North City Council. Retrieved 23 February 2010.
  15. "1890s". Palmerston North City Council. Archived from the original on 9 January 2010. Retrieved 23 February 2010.
  16. "1900s". Palmerston North City Council. Retrieved 23 February 2010.
  17. "1920s". Palmerston North City Council. Archived from the original on 9 January 2010. Retrieved 23 February 2010.
  18. "1940s". Palmerston North City Council. Archived from the original on 9 January 2010. Retrieved 23 February 2010.
  19. "1950s". Palmerston North City Council. Retrieved 23 February 2010.
  20. "1960s". Palmerston North City Council. Archived from the original on 9 January 2010. Retrieved 23 February 2010.
  21. "1970s". Palmerston North City Council. Archived from the original on 9 January 2010. Retrieved 23 February 2010.
  22. "1980s". Palmerston North City Council. Retrieved 23 February 2010.
  23. "Personal Items". The Dominion. 7 (1930). 12 December 1913. p. 4. Retrieved 11 February 2015.
  24. "Obituary". The New Zealand Herald. LXVIII (20968). 3 September 1931. p. 12. Retrieved 11 February 2015.
  25. "Obituary". Auckland Star. LXII (210). 5 September 1931. p. 7. Retrieved 11 February 2015.
  26. Scholefield, Guy, ed. (1940). A Dictionary of New Zealand Biography : M–Addenda (PDF). II. Wellington: Department of Internal Affairs. p. 482. Retrieved 6 October 2013.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  27. "Obituary". The New Zealand Herald. LXIX (21167). 27 April 1932. p. 14. Retrieved 11 February 2015.
  28. "Obituary". The New Zealand Herald. LXX (21440). 14 March 1933. p. 12. Retrieved 11 February 2015.
  29. Cyclopedia Company Limited (1897). "Charitable Institutions". The Cyclopedia of New Zealand : Wellington Provincial District. Wellington: The Cyclopedia of New Zealand. pp. 1154f. Retrieved 11 February 2015.

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