Mayors: who will stand again?

Ōtorohanga mayor Max Baxter will hang up his mayoral chains this year – but Waitomo’s John Robertson wants another term.

When he leaves the council offices in Maniapoto Street for the last time as mayor in October Baxter will have completed four three-year terms or 12 years in the role.

“After 12 years I have decided that we have achieved all we set out to do,” Baxter, 60, told The News.

He and his team had worked hard to turn Ōtorohanga District Council into a high-performance territorial authority.

“We are doing extremely well,” he said.

“It’s time for someone else to take it on and put their impression on it.”

Baxter was elected mayor in October 2013, after Dale Williams decided not to stand again and moved away from the district.

Baxter will continue with his business interests. He is owner and director of Stanleigh Farms Ltd, a dairy operation which follows environmental best practice, and founding executive director of pyrolysis plant operator Waro Preta GP Ltd producing biochar for agricultural use.

Waitomo mayor John Robertson intends to hold on to his mayoral chains for another term.

“I am planning to run again,” Robertson,73, said.

He will have served the district for two terms, or six years, by the time the election results are announced on October 14. He was elected in 2019, succeeding Brian Hanna.

“There’s a lot going on in local government, including the water reform, and we have got some big decisions to make.”

The announcement last weekend from Hamilton mayor Paula Southgate that she would stand down in October prompted a check of the plans of leading local body politicians in the Good Local Media readership area.

Ruapehu mayor Weston Kirton has reportedly confirmed he is going to stand again for a second term.

Waipā district mayor Susan O’Regan is planning for a second term and will seek re-election in October.

“It’s no real secret,” said O’Regan, 52. “There’s such a need for continuity with water reform.”

O’Regan, with other mayors, has been involved in leading the exploration of options for water reform. Waipā and Waitomo were the first district councils to agree to sign the Waikato Water Done Well agreement last year to investigate the establishment of a council-controlled organisation (CCO) to deliver water and wastewater services.

Seeing through the Long-Term Plan, the council’s submission against Global Contracting Solutions’ application to build a waste to energy plant on Racecourse Road, Te Awamutu, reestablishing the youth council, and Cambridge Connections were all on O’Regan’s agenda.

“It’s not like it’s business as usual,” she said.

O’Regan was elected mayor in 2022, succeeding Jim Mylchreest, after serving the council as Kakepuku Ward councillor for two terms.

Waikato district mayor Jacqui Church will become the first female incumbent to stand for re-election in the district.

“I would like to do a second term, if people think I have done a good job,” she told The News. “It’s a privilege to serve the people.”

The biggest issues in her district were water infrastructure and affordability, she said.

“Affordability is not something we can fix,” she said. But it is something the council can be mindful of.

“With water the opportunity is ongoing.”

“There’s a real opportunity in the Waikato for longer term bipartisan agreements,” she said. Meaning there were lots of ways councils could work together for the betterment of their communities.