The Mayor of Palmerston North is the head of the municipal government of

Palmerston North Palmerston North (; mi, Te Papa-i-Oea, known colloquially as Palmy) is a city in the North Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Manawatū-Whanganui region. Located in the eastern Manawatu Plains, the city is near the north bank of the ...

, New Zealand, and presides over the

Palmerston North City Council Palmerston North (; mi, Te Papa-i-Oea, known colloquially as Palmy) is a city in the North Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Manawatū-Whanganui region. Located in the eastern Manawatu Plains, the city is near the north bank of the ...

. The current mayor is Grant Smith, who became mayor in a February 2015 by-election. This resulted from the resignation of

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 MP ...

in October 2014 after his election to the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

. Since the 2013 election, Palmerston North is one of the few councils that uses the

single transferable vote Single transferable vote (STV) is a multi-winner electoral system in which voters cast a single vote in the form of a ranked-choice ballot. Voters have the option to rank candidates, and their vote may be transferred according to alternate p ...

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

electoral system, starting with the 2013 election, and with a

first past the post In a first-past-the-post electoral system (FPTP or FPP), formally called single-member plurality voting (SMP) when used in single-member districts or informally choose-one voting in contrast to ranked voting, or score voting, voters cast thei ...

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.

was first elected mayor in 2007, and resigned that position after being elected to the

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 Jacqueline Jill White (born 22 February 1941) is a former New Zealand Labour Party politician, and a registered nurse. Early life and career White was born in Feilding in 1941. She attended Manchester Street Primary School and Feilding Agricultu ...

was the first female mayor in 1998, since followed by Heather Tanguay in 2004. Three mayors have held non-consecutive terms: *George Snelson (4 separate periods) * James Linton *

William Thomas Wood William Thomas Wood (10 June 1854 – 10 June 1943) was a Liberal Party Member of Parliament in New Zealand. Early life and family Born in Hobart, Tasmania, in June 1854, Wood was the son of Robert Wood and Charlotte Wood (née Watford). After ...

Five mayors also served as members of

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...

: *William Thomas Wood (1902–1908) *

Jimmy Nash James Alfred Nash (27 July 1871 – 24 July 1952), known as Jimmy Nash, was a Reform Party Member of Parliament in New Zealand and a Mayor of Palmerston North. Biography Nash was born in 1871 in Foxton to Ann Ellen Webster and Norman ...

(1918–1935) *

Blair Tennent William Blair Tennent (4 December 1898 – 1 May 1976), known as Blair Tennent, was a New Zealand politician of the New Zealand National Party, National Party and a cabinet minister. In Palmerston North he was a dentist, and a local body politic ...

(1945–1954; 1957–1964) *

(1993–1998) *

(2014–2017) 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:

List of deputy mayors of Palmerston North

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mayor of Palmerston North