The mayor of Waipā officiates over the

Waipa District Waipa District is a municipality in the Waikato region of New Zealand that is administered by the Waipa District Council. Its most populous town is Cambridge. The seat of the council is at the second most populous town, Te Awamutu. The district i ...

of New Zealand's

North Island The North Island, also officially named Te Ika-a-Māui, is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, separated from the larger but much less populous South Island by the Cook Strait. The island's area is , making it the world's 14th-largest ...

. There have been five mayors since the formation of Waipā District in 1989. The incumbent mayor is

Susan O'Regan Susan Catherine O'Regan (born ) is a New Zealand politician serving as the mayor of Waipa since 2022. Early life O'Regan was born and raised in Rukuhia. Her mother was Katherine O'Regan, a National MP who represented . She boarded at Waikato Dioce ...

, who was elected on 8 October 2022.

History

Bruce Berquist was elected the first mayor of Waipā District in 1989, defeating chief executive of Hamilton Airport, Barry O'Connor. Berquist stood down at the 1995 local-body elections, when the mayoralty was contested by

Te Miro Te Miro is an area in the Waipa District of the Waikato Region of the North Island of New Zealand. Te Miro is situated 31 kilometres east southeast of Hamilton, New Zealand, Hamilton, and 24 kilometres northeast of Cambridge, New Zealand, Camb ...

farmer John Hewitt and the National Party MP

Katherine O'Regan Katherine Victoria O'Regan (née Newton, 24 May 1946 – 2 May 2018) was a New Zealand politician. She was a member of parliament from 1984 to 1999, representing the National Party. She served as a minister for the National Government for six ...

. Most pundits considered that O'Regan would win, but Hewitt was elected with a substantial majority. Hewitt considered resigning the following year when his wife, Joslyn, was diagnosed and subsequently died from bone cancer. However, he remained in office, and was re-elected in 1998 with a majority of 400 votes, before deciding not to seek re-election in 2001. Alan Livingston was elected mayor in

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...

, and served four terms before stepping down in 2013. Livingston later served as chair of the

Waikato Regional Council Waikato () is a local government region of the upper North Island of New Zealand. It covers the Waikato District, Waipa District, Matamata-Piako District, South Waikato District and Hamilton City, as well as Hauraki, Coromandel Peninsula, t ...

from 2016 to 2019, and was appointed an

Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit The New Zealand Order of Merit is an order of merit in the New Zealand royal honours system. It was established by royal warrant on 30 May 1996 by Elizabeth II, Queen of New Zealand, "for those persons who in any field of endeavour, have rend ...

, for services to sports and the community, in the

2014 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 2014 were appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebrati ...

. Jim Mylchreest, was first elected in

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

, with a margin of more than 600 votes over nearest rival Pat Bishop in a four-candidate race. He was re-elected in

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

, defeating the only other candidate, Vern Wilson, by over 4500 votes, and was elected unopposed in

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

. In 2022, he lost by 1900 votes to two-term councillor

, whose mother

had missed out on the mayoralty in 1995.

List of officeholders

References

{{Mayors in New Zealand

Waipa Waipa may refer to: New Zealand * Waipa (New Zealand electorate), a former electorate * Waipa District, a territorial local authority * Waipā River, a waterway Elsewhere * World Association of Investment Promotion Agencies, using the acronym WAIP ...

Waipa District