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. 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.

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.
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.
Jono Naylor was first elected mayor in 2007, and resigned that position after being elected to the House of Representatives in the as a list MP for the National Party. Grant Smith was elected in his place in 2015, with the previous deputy mayor Jim Jefferies having been acting mayor in the intervening period.
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.
Three mayors have held non-consecutive terms:
Five mayors also served as members of Parliament:
Of those, Nash and Tennent have fulfilled the role of mayor and member of parliament concurrently:
The following persons have served as mayor of Palmerston North:
NameTerm
1George Snelson1877–1879
2James Linton1879–1882
3Frits Jenssen1882–1883
George Snelson, 2nd time1883–1884
James Linton, 2nd time1884–1885
4Alexander Ferguson1885–1886
5Ludolph Georg West1886–1887
6Solomon Abrahams1887–1889
George Snelson, 3rd time1889–1892
7Robert Edwards1892–1893
8William Park1893–1895
9William Thomas Wood1895–1899
10Henry Haydon1899–1901
George Snelson, 4th time1901 – 31 October 1901
William Thomas Wood, 2nd time1901–1903
11Charles Dunk1903–1904
12Edward Orr Hurley1904–1905
13Maurice Cohen1905–1907
14Richard Essex1907–1908
15Jimmy Nash1908–1923
16Frederick Joseph Nathan1923–1927
17Archibald James Graham1927–1931
18Gus Mansford1931–1947
19Geoffrey Tremaine1947–1956
20Blair Tennent1956–1959
21Gilbert Rennie1959–1969
22Desmond Barry Black1969–1971
23Brian Elwood1971–1985
24Paul Rieger1985–1998
25Jill White1998–2001
26Mark Bell-Booth2001–2004
27Heather Tanguay2004–2007
28Jono Naylor2007–2014
29Grant Smith2015–present

List of Deputy Mayors of Palmerston North