\u201cThe three of us [mayoral candidates O\u2019Regan, St Pierre and Pettit] said from the start that whatever the result is going to be, we would support each other, and I feel like that\u2019s really happening.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pettit said he didn\u2019t want to get too far ahead of himself in terms of new projects, saying the immediate focus would be on \u201cdeveloping a new team\u201d and \u201ca different way of doing things\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m looking forward to getting out and about in the community and listening to the people to make decisions for the betterment of our district.\u201d<\/p>\n
However, for Pettit, winning the mayoralty doesn\u2019t come without a little bit of heartbreak, as he will step back from being Cambridge Primary School\u2019s principal.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had many children come up to me, so it\u2019s bittersweet.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been something I\u2019ve done since I was 21 … so the last day is going to be pretty emotional.\u201d<\/p>\n
On social media, O\u2019Regan congratulated Pettit and said it had been \u201cthe greatest privilege to serve\u201d as mayor.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy time as your Mayor of Waip\u0101 has now drawn to a close. As I look back, I reflect with pride on the many achievements we have shared together, and with humility on the challenges we have faced as a community.<\/p>\n
\u201cI extend my sincere congratulations to Mike Pettit and wish him every success in serving the people of our wonderful district.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo all those who have supported me over the last nine years, thank you.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis chapter closes with immense gratitude in my heart for the trust placed in me, the friendships forged, and the opportunity to give back to a community that means everything to me.\u201d<\/p>\n
With special votes still to be counted, some ward results remain close.<\/p>\n
According to preliminary results, Jo Davies-Colley (3906 votes), Roger Gordon (2658 votes), Aidhean Camson (2066 votes) and Pip Kempthorne (1973 votes) have been provisionally elected.<\/p>\n
However, this could change after special votes are counted, with Dave Marinkovich (currently 1930 votes) and Hope Spooner (1904 votes) currently in fifth and sixth place, respectively.<\/p>\n
The preliminary results also show Shane Walsh (2229 votes so far), Dean Taylor (2140 votes) and Marcus Gower (1627 votes) have been elected to the Te Awamutu and Kihikihi Ward.<\/p>\n
Clare St Pierre (1904 votes so far) and Les Bennett (1564 votes) have been provisionally elected to the Pirongia and Kakepuku Ward.<\/p>\n
Mike Montgomerie was elected unopposed as the Maungatautari Ward councillor.<\/p>\n
The Waip\u0101 M\u0101ori Ward seat went to Dale-Maree Morgan with 512 votes so far. The second candidate, Yvonne Waho, received 422 votes.<\/p>\n
The majority of Waip\u0101 voters (9095 votes) want to see the M\u0101ori Ward removed for the 2028 election. So far, 6772 votes were in favour of keeping the ward.<\/p>\n
The district also voted for 10 members across the Cambridge and Te Awamutu Community Boards and their subdivisions.<\/p>\n
So far, the voter turnout excluding special votes sits at 41.25%, slightly up from the last election with 39.65%.<\/p>\n
Final results are expected on Thursday, October 16, after this edition went to print.<\/p>\n
Danielle Zollickhofer is the Waikato news director and a multimedia journalist at the Waikato Herald. She joined NZME in 2021 and is based in Hamilton.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cThe three of us [mayoral candidates O\u2019Regan, St Pierre and Pettit] said from the start that whatever the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":82444,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[836,1443,806,63338,1259,7797,61313,19134,8455,440,19133,10934,21168,1456,117,111,43,139,69,59966,6029,63337,19764,63336],"class_list":["post-82443","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-836","tag-about","tag-as","tag-chains","tag-community","tag-elections","tag-elects","tag-forward","tag-getting","tag-local","tag-looking","tag-mayor","tag-mayoral","tag-mike","tag-new","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-officially","tag-once","tag-pettit","tag-received","tag-waip"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82443","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=82443"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82443\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/82444"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=82443"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=82443"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=82443"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}