Mayor of Manukau

The Mayor of Manukau was the head of the municipal government of Manukau City, New Zealand, from 1965 to 2010, and presided over the Manukau City Council. The mayor was directly elected using a first-past-the-post electoral system. The last serving mayor, elected in 2007, was Len Brown. Manukau City Council was abolished on 31 October 2010 and was incorporated into the Auckland Council, for which elections were held on 9 October 2010.

The wider South Auckland area was administered by numerous small road boards. The Franklin and Manukau Counties Act 1911 resulted in the formation of Manukau County and Franklin County in 1912. The first elections were held in Manukau County in June 1912, returning seven councillors. On 1 June, four councillors were declared elected unopposed: Hugh R. McKenzie (Mangere Riding); Sydney J. Harbutt (Otahuhu), John Consentine Bryant (Papatoetoe) and Captain Frank Colbeck (Papakura). The other three elected at the polls on 10 June were Alexander David Bell (Wairoa), Francis Henry Brownhill (Turanga) and Alfred Edward Hattaway (Pakuranga). On 21 June the newly elected council held its first meeting in the Agricultural Association offices in High Street, Auckland, and elected Cr McKenzie as the first County chairman. Cr Harbutt resigned on 20 September 1912, after Otahuhu had become a separate borough.

Manukau City Council was formally constituted on 3 September 1965 from the amalgamation of Manukau County Council and Manurewa Borough. The new city was divided into the Clevedon, Mangere, Manurewa, Otara and Pakuranga wards for electoral purposes.

The mayor was elected at large and Hugh Lambie was returned unopposed in the 1965 election. In addition, 18 councillors were elected across five wards. Ian Aplin also became councillor for the Clevedon ward unopposed. The successful candidates at the polls were: Jim Anderton, Roger Douglas, Clyde Ellett and Hugh Graham for Mangere; Harry Beaumont, William Berridge, Jack Cloherty, Chris Mountfort, Bernard Ross and Robert Ross for Manurewa; Pearl Baker, Alexander Cowie and Murray Freer for Otara; and Laurence Gregory, Frank Malcolm, Charles Mason and Desmond Molesworth for Pakuranga. At the first council meeting on 22 October 1965, Manurewa councillor Mountfort was elected as deputy-mayor.

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