The Mayor of Upper Hutt is the head of the municipal government of
Upper Hutt, New Zealand, and presides over the
Upper Hutt City Council
Upper Hutt ( mi, Te Awa Kairangi ki Uta) is a city in the Wellington Region of New Zealand and one of the four cities that constitute the Wellington metropolitan area.
Geography
The Upper Hutt city centre lies approximately 26 km north-e ...
. The mayor is directly elected using a
First Past the Post electoral system
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 their ...
. The Upper Hutt Town Board had seven chairmen, with the role regarded as the predecessor role of mayor. The Upper Hutt Borough Council was proclaimed in 1926, and with that, the role of mayor was introduced. In 1966, Upper Hutt became a city council. The current mayor,
Wayne Guppy
Wayne Noel Guppy (born 31 August 1954) is a New Zealand local-body politician. He has been the Mayor of Upper Hutt since 2001.
Early life
Guppy was born in Upper Hutt on 31 August 1954, the son of Colin Guppy, a police officer, and Joy Guppy ...
, is the eleventh since the role was created in 1926, and he was first elected in 2001.
History
Local government in Upper Hutt commenced with the formation of a Roads Board, which was subsequently incorporated into the
Hutt County Council
Hutt County was one of the former counties of New Zealand. It occupied the south-western corner of the North Island, extending south from the Waikanae River and lying to the west of the summits of the Rimutaka Ranges. The county's name arises fro ...
when that body was established in 1876. The road board evolved into a dependent county town board within the County Council's jurisdiction. After a change in local government legislation, the Upper Hutt Town Board was proclaimed in 1908.
In 1965, Upper Hutt qualified as a city, and this status was officially conferred in the following year, with Upper Hutt becoming a city council.
In 1973, the Hutt County Council, Rimutaka, and parts of Heretaunga Ridings were amalgamated with Upper Hutt, which thus became the second largest council by area (after
Dunedin City Council). Further amalgamation happened in 1989, when Heretaunga/Pinehaven District Community Council was incorporated into Upper Hutt.
The seventh and last chairman of the town board,
Angus McCurdy, was elected as the first mayor of the Upper Hutt Borough Council, which was formed in 1926.
Peter Robertson was chairman during the years of World War I, and mayor from 1927 to 1931, and again in 1938 until his death in 1939. He died from injuries received in a car crash, colliding with the car of the son of Councillor
James Blewman. The resulting by-election was won by Blewman, who beat John Purvis by a majority of 193 votes.
Doris Nicholson was mayor from 1971 to 1977. She has been the only woman so far to hold the mayoralty.
She was succeeded by
Rex Kirton
Rex Stratton Kirton is a New Zealand local-body politician in the Wellington Region. He was mayor of Upper Hutt for 24 years until 2001, and then served three terms on the Greater Wellington Regional Council.
Biography
Kirton attended St. Patr ...
, who was mayor for 24 years until 2001 and by the time of his retirement from the role, he was New Zealand's longest-serving mayor at that time.
He was succeeded by one-term councillor
Wayne Guppy
Wayne Noel Guppy (born 31 August 1954) is a New Zealand local-body politician. He has been the Mayor of Upper Hutt since 2001.
Early life
Guppy was born in Upper Hutt on 31 August 1954, the son of Colin Guppy, a police officer, and Joy Guppy ...
, who was elected with a 6,000 vote majority and who has held the mayoralty since then.
Unusual for a city in New Zealand, none of the chairmen or mayors of Upper Hutt has been a Member of Parliament.
Until 2004,
First Past the Post (FPP) was the electoral system used for New Zealand local elections (with few historic exceptions) including in Upper Hutt. The option of using the
Single transferable vote voting system was introduced in 2004, but Upper Hutt continues to use FPP.
Chairmen and mayors
Upper Hutt Town Board Chairmen
The Upper Hutt Town Board had seven chairmen between 1908 and 1926.
Upper Hutt Borough Council
The Upper Hutt Borough Council had eight mayors between 1926 and 1966.
Upper Hutt City Council
The Upper Hutt City Council has had an additional four mayors since its formation in 1966. The last mayor of the borough council was also the first mayor of the city council.
References
{{Mayors in New Zealand
Upper Hutt
People from Upper Hutt
Upper Hutt