The mayor of Porirua is the head of the municipal government of Porirua, New Zealand, and presides over the Porirua City Council. The mayor is directly elected using the single transferable vote electoral system. There have been six mayors since the establishment of the borough council in 1962: the current mayor is Anita Baker, who was elected in October 2019.
History The locality was part the Makara County Council, abolished on 31 August 1962. The rural area became part of Hutt County, the urban area becoming Porirua Borough Council. Elections were held in October 1962, and Whitford Brown was elected the first mayor of Porirua. During Brown's term, Porirua achieved city status on 2 October 1965. At the time, this required having a population of at least 20,000. In the first triennium the mayor received honorarium for their duties of £750 per annum. At the first council meeting following the 1965 elections councillors voted to keep the honorarium at the same amount after the council was upgraded from a borough to a city.
Brown retired from the mayoralty in 1983. He was succeeded by John Burke, who had been Deputy Mayor since 1977. Burke remained mayor for 15 years (five terms) until 1998.
Jenny Brash was first elected mayor in 1998, succeeding Burke. She held the mayoralty for 12 years (four terms) until her retirement in October 2010. She was a Northern Ward councillor in 1983–89 and 1995–98.
Nick Leggett was elected mayor on 9 October 2010, defeating Deputy Mayor Litea Ah Hoi. He had been endorsed by his predecessor plus former mayor John Burke, and was first elected as a councillor in Porirua in 1998, when he was 19 years old. Aged 31 on his election to mayor, he was at the time the youngest mayor in New Zealand. In October 2016, Leggett was succeeded by Mike Tana.
List of mayors of Porirua Porirua has had six mayors: Key
# Name Portrait Term Elections 1 Whitford Brown 1962–1983 1962 • 1965 • 19681971 • 1974 • 19771980 2 John Burke 1983–1998 1983 • 1986 • 19891992 • 1995 3 Jenny Brash 1998–2010 1998 • 20012004 • 2007 4 Nick Leggett 2010–2016 2010 • 2013 5 Mike Tana 2016–2019 2016 6 Anita Baker 2019–present 2019 • 2022 • 2025
List of deputy mayors of Porirua Name Term of officeMayor Ernie Maxwell 1962 1968 Brown Jill Nixon 1968 1971 Tutuira Wi Neera 1971 1972† Hec Stuart 1972 1977 John Burke 1977 1983 Bill Herewini 1983 1985†Burke Hec Stuart Ivan Hardgrave 1985 1989 Jasmine Underhill 1989 2001Brash Kevin Watson 2001 2004 Euon Murrell 2004 2007 Litea Ah Hoi 2007 2010 Liz Kelly 2010 2013 Leggett 'Ana Coffey 2013 2016 Izzy Ford 2016 2022 Tana Baker Kylie Wihapi 2022 present
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