- Source: Mayor of Tauranga
The mayor of Tauranga is the head of local government in Tauranga, New Zealand's fifth-largest city. The mayor presides over the Tauranga City Council. The mayor is directly elected using the single transferable vote method. The current mayor is Mahé Drysdale, elected in the 2024 Tauranga local elections. He assumed office on 2 August.
History
Tauranga was gazetted as a borough in 1882, and achieved sufficient population to become a city in 1963. The 1989 Local Body reforms saw the city become part of the Tauranga District, before the City of Tauranga was reproclaimed in 2004.
Elections for mayor were held annually from 1882 up to 1915, when terms become two years. In 1935 terms were made three years, the current system. The election used first-past-the-post voting up until the 2016 election, then changed to single transferable vote.
One of Tauranga's longest-serving mayors was Canon Charles Jordan, who was mayor for nine years in total over five separate periods. He is the subject of a commemorative statue, unveiled in Tauranga Domain in 1916, four years after his death.
Tenby Powell was elected to the mayoralty in October 2019 but resigned in November 2020, eight months after he was unanimously censured by his council for an angry outburst. Following further mayoral "outbursts," Powell publicly called for the Minister of Local Government to appoint a commission to replace the "dysfunctional" council. The decision to cancel the election for a new mayor and councillors, and the appointment of a Crown commission instead by minister Nanaia Mahuta on 9 February 2021 was not without controversy. A legal opinion by law firm Russell McVeagh found her decision may have been "unlawful" and Tauranga MP Simon Bridges called the decision "dramatic and draconian", while saying that Powell quitting removed "a significant source of friction" and it was reasonable to assume the council would become more functional with the election of a new Mayor and Councillor.
The council and mayor were restored following elections in 2024. Mahé Drysdale was elected as mayor.
List of mayors
Notes
References
Sources
Mayors of Tauranga, 1882– Tauranga City Council
History of Tauranga and Western Bay of Plenty
Kata Kunci Pencarian:
- Gisborne
- Daftar monumen A-4 Skyhawk
- Mayor of Tauranga
- Tauranga
- 2024 Tauranga local elections
- 2024 Tauranga mayoral election
- Robert Galbraith
- 2019 Tauranga mayoral election
- 2016 Tauranga mayoral election
- Larry Baldock
- 1952 Tauranga mayoral by-election
- Mahé Drysdale