Hamilton City Council () is the

territorial authority Territorial authorities (Māori language, Māori: ''mana ā-rohe'') are a tier of local government in New Zealand, alongside regions of New Zealand, regional councils. There are 67 territorial authorities: 13 list of cities in New Zealand, city ...

for the New Zealand city of

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: * Alexander Hamilton (1755/1757–1804), first U.S. Secretary of the Treasury and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States * ''Hamilton'' (musical), a 2015 Broadway musical by Lin-Manuel Miranda ** ''Hamilton'' (al ...

. The council is led by the mayor of Hamilton, who is currently . There are also 14 ward councillors. Council elections are held every three years.

Composition

The council has three wards or constituencies. One Maaori ward covers the whole city and has two councillors, elected by voters on the Māori electoral roll. Two general wards, East and West, have six councillors each, elected by voters on the general electoral roll. The East and West wards cover half the city, with the boundary between the two being the Waikato River. The current council members are:

History

The current city council was formed as part of the 1989 local government reorganisation, which added parts of

Waikato The Waikato () is a region of the upper North Island of New Zealand. It covers the Waikato District, Waipā District, Matamata-Piako District, South Waikato District and Hamilton City, as well as Hauraki, Coromandel Peninsula, the nort ...

and Waipā counties to the previous city area. The original Hamilton borough had an area of . It now covers , which includes of Rototuna, Rotokauri and Peacocke added in 1989, and of

Temple View Temple View is a suburb of the city of Hamilton, New Zealand. Temple View was established in the 1950s from the construction of the Hamilton New Zealand Temple and the Church College of New Zealand by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day ...

added on 1 July 2004. Several councils, boards and committees had preceded it – * The first local government in the area was Kirikiriroa Road Board formed by a meeting in 1868. Kirikiriroa Road Board covered the east bank of the Waikato from Tamahere to Taupiri. Hamilton East took over its area from the Road Board in 1872 and the Board had its last meeting on 7 March 1921, before becoming part of Waikato County. * Hamilton West Highway District was set up on 14 August 1871 and a similar district for Hamilton East shortly after. * Hamilton parish

vestry A vestry was a committee for the local secular and ecclesiastical government of a parish in England, Wales and some English colony, English colonies. At their height, the vestries were the only form of local government in many places and spen ...

committee was formed in 1876. * Hamilton Borough Council was first elected on 7 February 1878. * Frankton Borough Council was formed in 1913, but merged with Hamilton in 1917, after a poll in 1916. Its last meeting was on 30 March 1917. Phillip Yeung was elected as a Councillor in the East Ward in the October 2019 election, but died while in office. A by-election was held in February 2018 to replace Phillip and Councillor Ryan Hamilton was elected. In 2020, the electoral system was changed from

First Past the Post First-past-the-post (FPTP)—also called choose-one, first-preference plurality (FPP), or simply plurality—is a single-winner voting rule. Voters mark one candidate as their favorite, or First-preference votes, first-preference, and the cand ...

Single Transferable Vote The single transferable vote (STV) or proportional-ranked choice voting (P-RCV) is a multi-winner electoral system in which each voter casts a single vote in the form of a ranked ballot. Voters have the option to rank candidates, and their vot ...

, following consultation in which 78.1% supported STV.

Council offices

Hamilton Borough Council first met in Collingwood Street courthouse. In April 1878 an immigrant cottage on Victoria Street was adapted as council chambers. After 1905 it was used as an insurance office, until demolished for the Security Building in 1924. That building was replaced by the Novotel, which opened in 1999. On 23 March 1905 Richard Seddon opened a £3,510 town hall, with a council chamber, further south, near the Municipal Baths. It was enlarged in 1914 and demolished in 1967. On 22 October 1932

ferro-concrete Reinforced concrete, also called ferroconcrete or ferro-concrete, is a composite material in which concrete's relatively low ultimate tensile strength, tensile strength and ductility are compensated for by the inclusion of reinforcement having ...

offices and a gas showroom were opened in Alma Street, bringing all the offices together, at a cost of £10,082, paid for by profits from electricity supply. On 2 July 1949 1XH Hamilton started broadcasting from the basement of the Alma Street offices. When the council moved in 1960, 1XH took over the whole building, then 1YW took over one of 1XH’s two studios and, in 1968, a television station also moved in. The building is protected by a District Plan heritage listing and is now occupied by several businesses. In June 1960 the offices moved into a 4-storey building, with 2-storey wings (a library in the east wing), was opened in July 1960, between Anglesea, Caro and Worley Streets and a multi-storey block, built over Worley Street, added between 1980 and 1983.

Coat of arms

The city's coat of arms has received some criticism, being accused of not reflecting the history and diversity of the city, with suggestions that it should be changed.

Composition

History

Council offices

Coat of arms

Notes

References

External links