would not seek election<\/a> to the position.<\/p>\nToday, the council, with all councillors present, was offered two voting processes, opting for single-vote first past the post.<\/p>\n
Both Crown and seconder Simpson spoke to the nomination before the vote, and Taylor, aged in his early 70s and known affectionately from rugby days as \u201cGK\u201d, spoke before the mayor closed the meeting just after 1pm. <\/p>\n
Crown said that over recent weeks council members had worked hard to address concerns about \u201cprocess, communications and how we work collectively as a council\u201d, with particular input representing the experience of Taylor, a Taradale ward councillor.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd let me be very clear,\u201d she said. \u201cThis has never been about undermining the democratic choice voters made in electing a mayor, and it has never been about challenging the powers of the mayoral role.<\/p>\n
\u201cThose powers exist for a reason, and they are part of the framework that we all work within,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat this has been about is how those powers are exercised in practice, and it has been about process, transparency and making sure decisions affecting our city are made in a way that is inclusive, lawful and consistent with good governance.\u201d<\/p>\n
The process had \u201cnot been easy for anyone, but it is part of the job\u201d, she said.<\/p>\n
Crown said Tuesday\u2019s steps were \u201ca clear signal that we are moving forward collectively\u201d and about a \u201cculture and setting the tone for the rest of the term\u201d.<\/p>\n
Simpson thanked the \u201celected body\u201d, including the mayor, for stepping up with \u201ccourage\u201d and for \u201csetting a clearer picture for our city as to how we want to operate\u201d. <\/p>\n
![\"]()
Long-serving Napier City councillor Graeme Taylor, elected on Tuesday unopposed as Deputy Mayor, the third in the role in less than four weeks, and third appointed to the role in the five months since the 2025 Local Elections. Photo \/ NZME<\/p>\n
Thanking the council, Taylor said: \u201cLeadership is at its best when people are brought together. I see my role as a catalyst to bring us all together to work collectively and collaboratively for the good of this city.<\/p>\n
\u201cThank you for the opportunity,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m ready to start it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Former councillor Maxine Boag, who had 18 years at the table before standing down last year, earlier told Hawke\u2019s Bay Today that when she first joined the council in 2007 it was in the Standing Orders that a mayor\u2019s recommendation for deputy mayor would be put to the inaugural meeting of the incoming council.<\/p>\n
The mayor at the time was Barbara Arnott, who recommended Kathy Furlong as deputy, and Boag said: \u201cI don\u2019t recall there being any dissension.\u201d<\/p>\n
The power for the mayor to make the appointment followed changes to the Local Government Act, which came into effect at the 2013 elections.<\/p>\n
Timeline:<\/p>\n
October 9: Local elections with three candidates for the Napier City Council mayoralty \u2013 Richard McGrath (sitting councillor), Nigel Simpson (sitting councillor), Kirsten Wise (sitting mayor). <\/p>\n
October 16: Mayoral election result declared \u2013 Richard McGrath (sitting councillor) 10,185 (elected); Kirsten Wise 6763; Nigel Simpson 3989.<\/p>\n
October 17: Richard McGrath announces appointment of councillor Sally Crown as Deputy Mayor.<\/p>\n
October 30: Inaugural meeting of new council.<\/p>\n
February 23: The Mayor calls for the resignation of Sally Crown as Deputy Mayor, she refuses and is dismissed from the position.<\/p>\n
February 27: The Mayor appoints first-term councillor Roger Brownlie as Deputy Mayor.<\/p>\n
March 10: After a private meeting with councillors, the Mayor chose not to use his authority to appoint a deputy mayor of his choosing, and to call for nominations and a vote at an extraordinary meeting of the council. <\/p>\n
March 17: Graeme Taylor appointed Deputy Mayor.<\/p>\n
Doug Laing is a Hawke\u2019s Bay Today reporter based in Napier, where he has worked as a journalist for 38 years, covering events and issues throughout the region.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"McGrath had also been top-polling candidate in the council\u2019s new Napier Central ward, after 11 years as a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":333283,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[1558,2199,13849,38290,26519,24571,33092,84759,42,78,48425,10934,4486,10136,3607,35479,43,163,3755,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-333282","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-been","tag-city","tag-citys","tag-councillor","tag-councillors","tag-decide","tag-deputy","tag-graeme","tag-headlines","tag-in","tag-longterm","tag-mayor","tag-month","tag-named","tag-napier","tag-napiers","tag-news","tag-taylor","tag-third","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/333282","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=333282"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/333282\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/333283"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=333282"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=333282"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=333282"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}