Stuart Alan Crosby

ONZM 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 ...

(born 1956) is a New Zealand politician who served as mayor of the city of

Tauranga Tauranga () is a coastal city in the Bay of Plenty region and the fifth most populous city of New Zealand, with an urban population of , or roughly 3% of the national population. It was settled by Māori late in the 13th century, colonised by ...

, New Zealand from 2004 to 2016.

Early life

Crosby's family moved from Gisborne to

Papamoa , image = View_to_Mayor.jpg , caption1 = Looking towards Mayor Island down Domain Rd from the Papamoa Hills , city1 = Tauranga , ward = , council = Tauranga City Council , established = , coord ...

in 1966, where they started the Papamoa Beach Resort Holiday Park. After finishing high school, Crosby took up an apprenticeship with the Tauranga Electric Power Board, which later became

Trustpower Manawa Energy Limited, formerly Trustpower, is a New Zealand electricity generation company that offers bespoke electricity products to commercial and industrial customers across New Zealand. Manawa Energy has 26 hydro-electricity schemes, with a ...

. He travelled and worked overseas from 1978 to 1981; after returning to Tauranga he owned Papamoa Electrical Services and Accolade Homes.

Political career

Crosby stood for and was elected to the Papamoa Community Council, which was part of the Tauranga Borough Council, in 1986. Crosby was 30 at the time, which was considered young for a councillor. The

1989 local government reforms The 1989 New Zealand local government reform was the most significant reform of local government in New Zealand in over a century. Some 850 local bodies were amalgamated into 86 local authorities, made up of regional and territorial levels. Backg ...

saw a merger of local authorities, resulting in the establishment of the Tauranga District Council (renamed

Tauranga City Council Tauranga City Council is the local government authority for Tauranga City in New Zealand. It is a territorial authority elected to represent the 158,000 people of Tauranga. The last Mayor of Tauranga was Tenby Powell, who resigned in November 2 ...

in 2003). Crosby was elected to Tauranga District Council in 1989 and was re-elected every three years thereafter. Crosby was deputy mayor to Noel Pope from 1998 to 2001. After Pope's retirement, Crosby sought the mayoralty but was defeated at the 2001 local elections by Jan Beange. In 2004, Crosby defeated Beange and began what would become a twelve-year period as mayor. Crosby did not recontest the mayoralty in 2016. Instead, he successfully sought election to the

Bay of Plenty Regional Council Bay of Plenty Regional Council is the administrative body responsible for overseeing regional land use, environmental management and civil defence in the Bay of Plenty Region of New Zealand's North Island. It was founded as part of the 1989 New Z ...

, representing the Tauranga constituency. In 2019, he was elected unopposed. In August 2020, Crosby was elected as the president of

Local Government New Zealand Local Government New Zealand Te Kahui Kaunihera ō Aotearoa (LGNZ) is the local government association of New Zealand. It represents the interests of the regional, city, and district councils in New Zealand. History The Association was for ...

, the national association of councils in New Zealand, succeeding former Dunedin mayor

Dave Cull David Charles Cull (1 April 1950 – 27 April 2021) was the mayor of the city of Dunedin in New Zealand. He became the 57th Mayor of Dunedin in October 2010 and was re-elected in both the 2013 mayoralty race and 2016 mayoral election. Before ...

. Crosby had previously served as Cull's vice-president.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Crosby, Stuart Living people Tauranga City Councillors Deputy mayors of places in New Zealand Mayors of Tauranga Officers of the New Zealand Order of Merit 1956 births