Weston Kirton ready to hit the road as mayor of Ruapehu

Ruapehu's new mayor Weston Kirton with his trusty Fiat Bambina on the campaign trail. Photo / Supplied

While other candidates were anxiously watching the vote count, Weston Kirton was one of the last to learn of his successful bid to return to the Ruapehu mayoralty.

Kirton was performing marriage celebrant duties for a Ruapehu couple at their remote Hikumutu property on Saturday when the 90 per cent vote count revealed he had the numbers to win the day with 1495 votes.

"I had purposely left my cell phone at home so I wouldn't be interrupted during the wedding," he said.

"I'm not sure there would have been adequate reception there anyway."

Kirton said he was delighted Ruapehu voters had elected him to lead the council for the next term.

Until recently, he was the Ruapehu representative on Horizons Regional Council and is a former Ruapehu mayor, having served from 1995 to 2001.

Kirton's decision to stand in the 2022 election was one he had not taken lightly, he said, and he was persuaded by voter requests to join the mayoral race.

He had been driving around the region in his little red Fiat Bambina campaign car, reconnecting with his past supporters and meeting new ones.

"It's been a great campaign and I thank my wife Annette for her support and my son Andrew Kirton who has been my campaign manager," Kirton said.

"I acknowledge my fellow candidates Elijah Pue, Fiona Kahukura Chase and Adie Doyle for a robust but fair campaign."

One-term councillor Pue, who is just 28, was Kirton's closest rival with 1126 votes, while long-serving councillor Doyle received 901 votes.

Kahukura Hadley-Chase, Ruapehu's first wahine Māori mayoral candidate, missed out with just 211 votes but was successful in her bid for one of the three new Māori Ward seats on the council.

"It's going to be interesting with the new Māori Ward councillors and some new and returning faces at the table," Kirton said.

"We're going to have to knuckle down and work towards an exciting future for our district."

Kirton said there would be many challenges ahead and he was looking forward to "getting down to business" with a new council.

He campaigned on improving transport and housing in the district and launched a Vibrant Communities Strategy, which aims to diversify tourism and create more jobs for young people.

"In light of the recent job losses on the ski fields, it is more important than ever that Ruapehu diversifies its approach to economic development," he said.

He has also promised to review rates and make them fairer.

Kirton said he had received a congratulatory call from former mayor Don Cameron, who opted not to stand for re-election.

"I will probably be calling on Don quite often for advice and he said he's happy for me to do that."

One of the new council's first tasks will be consulting the community to decide on projects for the $4.12 million Better Off Government funding application.

"We'll have to knuckle down and sort that out as soon as we can," said Kirton.

"I'm really looking forward to it."