Mark Rex Bell-Booth was
Mayor of Palmerston North for one term, from 2001 to 2004.
He became known through his "Save the Avenue" campaign. He is best known for the redevelopment of
The Square, which happened during his mayoralty.
In the 2004 local elections he lost the mayoralty to
Heather Tanguay
Heather Leigh Tanguay (née Black; born 17 September 1944) is a New Zealand politician who served for twelve years on the Palmerston North City Council, being Mayor of Palmerston North, Mayor from 2004 to 2007. She takes a leading role in the c ...
.
He made headlines when it became known that he lent his wife's car to a known gang member. His time at the council was described by a political commentator as being more akin to that of a chief executive than a mayor. He contested the mayoralty again in the
2010 local elections and came a distant second against incumbent
Jono Naylor
Jonathan Mark Naylor (born 1966), commonly known as Jono Naylor, is a New Zealand politician from Palmerston North. He was Mayor of Palmerston North from 2007 until 2014, when he was elected to the House of Representatives in the as a list M ...
, with 2,229 votes against 16,717.
From 2004 to 2008 Bell-Booth was chief executive of Assetta, a software development company. Since then he has been a director of Unlimited Realities, a designer of touchscreen software applications.
References
Mayors of Palmerston North
Living people
Palmerston North City Councillors
Year of birth missing (living people)
{{NewZealand-mayor-stub