Ian McKelvie was first elected mayor in a by-election in November 2002. After being elected to Parliament in the , he resigned from the mayoralty on 15 December 2011. Deputy Mayor Matt Bell was then acting mayor until a by-election held on 7 March 2012. The by-election was narrowly won by Margaret Kouvelis from Feilding, who beat councillor Steven Gibson by just 14 votes (3293 votes to 3279). Helen Worboys won the mayoralty from the incumbent Margaret Kouvelis in the 2016 Local Government elections.