Steve Chadwick's first day back (+video)

Rotorua's re-elected mayor has wasted no time congratulating herself - getting back out in the community and putting her feet under the desk in a full day of events and meetings.

Steve Chadwick's first day back on the job had her attend the official renaming of Toi Ohomai Institute of Technology, speak at the opening of Mental Health Awareness Week, meet with deputy mayor Dave Donaldson, the chief executive, staff and councillors, and visit an eco-design challenge in the evening.

She said the busy day began with a "very excited and upbeat" reception from council staff this morning.

"It's fantastic - you walk in here and I'm just overwhelmed at the responses by the staff who are really thrilled - and that's genuine, you can see it. It's lovely. People like stability."

"I think they were particularly upbeat knowing [councillor] Karen [Hunt] is back too - I've had a lot of comment about that."

An initial result indication on Saturday showed Ms Hunt had lost her seat on council, but after conceding her time had come to an end, her fortunes reversed as results showed her edging in front of candidate Mike McVicker by 100 votes.

Mrs Chadwick said she had a clear direction for the next three years.

"This term will be about infrastructure - so it will be about housing, subdivisions, roading...the spatial plan, the district plan...It's going to be a very focused three years. We definitely want to stick to that long-term plan of sustainable growth," she said.

"There is an aspect I want to see of community development - growing strong clusters of neighbourhoods."

Mrs Chadwick said she had prioritised individual meetings with councillors in the coming weeks.

"I just want to hear from them. There's no promises at this stage - I just want to hear what they felt, and if there's something we might use their skills better for. I just want to meet them rather than sending out an email saying 'well done'."

Mrs Chadwick was comfortably re-elected on Saturday by more than 2700 votes over nearest candidate Reynold Macpherson, but received almost 3000 votes fewerthan she did in the 2013 election.