\u201cOver the last couple of years, our council has gone off on little tangents and we really haven\u2019t taken the people with us, or the people aren\u2019t interested in coming because it\u2019s not what they want.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve been struggling with post-Covid, post-cyclone [issues] and the cost of living and we just sort of carried on and lost the people.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said in his first term as mayor, he wanted to start resetting the council and getting back to basics, looking at what\u2019s important.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve campaigned on these things. That might mean putting some things on hold, cancelling some, looking at things that are annoying the hell out of our community, like judder bars, to see if they are doing the job they are supposed to.\u201d <\/p>\n
He thanked the community for supporting him and the people who helped during his campaign.<\/p>\n
\u201cEspecially my family and the retiring councillors who have given their heart and soul to the community.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo Kirsten, who has lived and breathed for the community for 12 years and done some absolutely awesome stuff, thank you. I have learned a lot from you and I wish you the very best for the future.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wise said this morning that elections are always a reflection of the community\u2019s mood at a particular time.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think people are feeling the pressure of ongoing challenges \u2013 from the economy to recovery from recent events \u2013 and sometimes that naturally leads to a desire for change. I completely respect that. Democracy is about choice and the people of Napier have made theirs,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cOf course, it\u2019s disappointing \u2013 I\u2019ve poured my heart and soul into this role and into our city. But I also feel an enormous sense of pride in what we\u2019ve achieved together over the past six years as mayor. It\u2019s been an incredible privilege to serve as mayor and to work alongside such dedicated people in our community and at council.\u201d <\/p>\n
She was taking time to rest and reflect and to spend more time with her family and friends.<\/p>\n
With roughly 85% of the vote counted on Saturday, McGrath had 8781 votes, Wise had 5508 and Nigel Simpson was third with 3332.<\/p>\n
Progress results include votes received up until Friday evening.<\/p>\n
They do not include special votes or votes received Saturday.<\/p>\n
Preliminary results will be announced on Monday. They include votes received Saturday, but special votes are still not included.<\/p>\n
Final results and official results include all votes, including special votes. They will be released by Friday October 17.<\/p>\n
The council table for 2025 will include new faces Roger Brownlie, who has topped the Ahuriri Ward, Craig Morley in Napier Central and M\u0101ori ward councillors Shyann Raihania and Whare Isaac-Sharland.<\/p>\n
Juliet Greig lost her seat, the only re-standing councillor in Napier to do so.<\/p>\n
Mayoralty votes <\/p>\n
MCGRATH, Richard 8781<\/p>\n
WISE, Kirsten (Independent) 5508<\/p>\n
SIMPSON, Nigel (Independent) 3332<\/p>\n
Ahuriri General Ward (3 vacancies) <\/p>\n
BROWNLIE, Roger (Independent) 2992<\/p>\n
PRICE, Keith (Independent) 2483<\/p>\n
CROWN, Sally (Experienced, Strong, Grounded) 2100<\/p>\n
BRADLEY, Iain (ACT Local: Real Change. Lower Rates.) 1969 BURNSIDE, Louise (Independent) 1656<\/p>\n
GOODCHILD, Karl (Lower Rates) 1553<\/p>\n
JOHANSSON, Lyndal (Independent, fresh voice) 1429<\/p>\n
GREIG, Juliet 1213 NEWPORT, Ben (Independent) 970<\/p>\n
Napier Central General Ward (3 vacancies) <\/p>\n
MCGRATH, Richard (Withdrawn)<\/p>\n
MAWSON, Greg \u201cGrego\u201d (Working with you, for you) 2592<\/p>\n
MORLEY, Craig (Get back to basics) 2065<\/p>\n
LAWRENCE, Te Kira (Independent) 1663<\/p>\n
LEPAIO, Taiatini (Independent) 1132<\/p>\n
Taradale General Ward (3 vacancies)<\/p>\n
TAYLOR, Graeme (Independent) 3940<\/p>\n
CHRYSTAL, Ronda (Independent) 3686<\/p>\n
SIMPSON, Nigel (Independent) 3303<\/p>\n
CORNISH, Terry 2689<\/p>\n
Te Whanga M\u0101ori Ward (2 vacancies)<\/p>\n
RAIHANIA, Shyann 812<\/p>\n
ISAAC-SHARLAND, Whare 589<\/p>\n
LEONARD, Kirk Kia-maia 430<\/p>\n
M\u0101ori Ward Poll – Napier CC (1 vacancy)<\/p>\n
VOTE TO REMOVE THE M\u0100ORI WARD 10,067<\/p>\n
VOTE TO KEEP THE M\u0100ORI WARD 7162<\/p>\n
\u2013 LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cOver the last couple of years, our council has gone off on little tangents and we really haven\u2019t…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":71210,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[95,57408,10934,56454,3607,117,111,43,139,2551,69,19762,15160,1534,312,27053,16124,61,8982],"class_list":["post-72936","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-and","tag-blindsided","tag-mayor","tag-mcgrath","tag-napier","tag-new","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-night","tag-nz","tag-reacts","tag-richard","tag-saturday","tag-says","tag-shocked","tag-surprised","tag-to","tag-victory"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72936","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=72936"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72936\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71210"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72936"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72936"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72936"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}