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.
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 Matthew 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 Augustus Edward 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:
- George Matthew Snelson (4 separate periods)
- James Linton[12]
- William Thomas Wood
Five mayors also served as members of Parliament:[13]
- William Thomas Wood (1902–1908)
- Jimmy Nash (1918–1935)
- Blair Tennent (1945–1954; 1957–1964)
- Jill White (1993–1998)
- Jono Naylor[7] (2014–present)
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
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 Matthew Snelson | 1877–1879 |
| 2 | James Linton[12] | 1879–1882 |
| 3 | Frits Jenssen[23] | 1882–1883 |
| George Matthew 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 Matthew 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 Matthew 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 | Augustus Edward Mansford | 1931–1947 |
| 19 | Geoffrey Tremaine | 1947–1956 |
| 20 | Blair Tennent | 1956–1959 |
| 21 | Gilbert Murray 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 |
References
- ^ a b "1910s". Palmerston North City Council. Retrieved 23 February 2010.
- ^ "Single Transferable Voting (STV)". Palmerston North City Council. 4 February 2014.
- ^ "STV Information". The Department of Internal Affairs. Retrieved 22 January 2015.
- ^ a b "1870s". Palmerston North City Council. Retrieved 23 February 2010.
- ^ a b "1930s". Palmerston North City Council. Retrieved 23 February 2010.
- ^ Annabell, John B (14 October 2007). "Election Results 2007". Palmerston North: Palmerston North City Council. Retrieved 24 February 2010. [dead link]
- ^ a b Townend, Lucy (4 October 2014). "Naylor confirmed as MP". Manawatu Standard. Retrieved 4 October 2014.
- ^ "Grant Smith elected". Manawatu Standard. 10 February 2015.
- ^ "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.
- ^ a b "1990s". Palmerston North City Council. Retrieved 23 February 2010.
- ^ a b "2000s". Palmerston North City Council. Retrieved 23 February 2010.
- ^ a b Scholefield, Guy, ed. (1940). A Dictionary of New Zealand Biography : A–L (PDF). Vol. I. Wellington: Department of Internal Affairs. p. 499. Retrieved 6 October 2013.
{{cite book}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help) - ^ a b 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.
- ^ "1880s". Palmerston North City Council. Retrieved 23 February 2010.
- ^ "1890s". Palmerston North City Council. Retrieved 23 February 2010.
- ^ "1900s". Palmerston North City Council. Retrieved 23 February 2010.
- ^ "1920s". Palmerston North City Council. Retrieved 23 February 2010.
- ^ "1940s". Palmerston North City Council. Retrieved 23 February 2010.
- ^ "1950s". Palmerston North City Council. Retrieved 23 February 2010.
- ^ "1960s". Palmerston North City Council. Retrieved 23 February 2010.
- ^ "1970s". Palmerston North City Council. Retrieved 23 February 2010.
- ^ "1980s". Palmerston North City Council. Retrieved 23 February 2010.
- ^ "Personal Items". The Dominion. Vol. 7, no. 1930. 12 December 1913. p. 4. Retrieved 11 February 2015.
- ^ "Obituary". The New Zealand Herald. Vol. LXVIII, no. 20968. 3 September 1931. p. 12. Retrieved 11 February 2015.
- ^ "Obituary". Auckland Star. Vol. LXII, no. 210. 5 September 1931. p. 7. Retrieved 11 February 2015.
- ^ Scholefield, Guy, ed. (1940). A Dictionary of New Zealand Biography : M–Addenda (PDF). Vol. II. Wellington: Department of Internal Affairs. p. 482. Retrieved 6 October 2013.
{{cite book}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help) - ^ "Obituary". The New Zealand Herald. Vol. LXIX, no. 21167. 27 April 1932. p. 14. Retrieved 11 February 2015.
- ^ "Obituary". The New Zealand Herald. Vol. LXX, no. 21440. 14 March 1933. p. 12. Retrieved 11 February 2015.
- ^ 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.