Mayor of Stratford, New Zealand

Mayor of Stratford
Incumbent Neil Volzke since 2009 [1]
Style	His/Her Worship
Term length	Three years, renewable
Deputy	Amanda Harris
Salary	$105,503 [2]
Website	Official website

The mayor of Stratford officiates over the Stratford District Council. The mayor is elected directly using the first-past-the-post electoral system. ^[3]

The current mayor is Neil Volzke. ^[4] Volzke was first elected as mayor in a 2009 by-election following the death of previous mayor John Edwards. ^[5]

History

The first Stratford Town Board was formed in 1882. The Stratford County Council was formed in 1890, and the Stratford Borough Council was formed on 22 July 1898. The county and borough councils amalgamated on 1 April 1989 to form the Stratford District Council, which was reconstituted on 1 November 1989 as part of the nationwide restructure in local government. ^[6]

List of mayors of Stratford

Stratford has had 24 mayors:^{[ citation needed ]}

	Name	Term
Mayors of Stratford Borough
1	George Newsham Curtis	1882–1885
2	Charles Curtis	1885–1890
3	Ebenezer Burgess	1890–1892
4	William Loftus Tocker	1892–1894
5	J. B. Patton	1894–1896
(3)	Ebenezer Burgess	1896–1898
6	Harry Norman Liardet	1898–1899
7	Frederick Jeffray Steuart [7]	1900–1901
8	Reginald Brooking Tatton	1901–1902
(6)	Harry Norman Liardet	1902–1903
9	Nathaniel John King	1903–1907
10	Pilcher Frederick Ralfe	1907–1908
11	George A. Sangster	1908–1910
12	Jonas Masters [8]	1910–1912
13	William Patrick Kirkwood	1912–1915
14	Josephiah Wedgwood Boon	1915–1917
15	James Watson McMillan	1917–1929
16	Percy Thomson	1929–1933
(15)	James Watson McMillan	1933–1938
(16)	Percy Thomson	1938–1947
17	Norman Harold Moss	1947–1957
18	George Boon	1957–1971
19	Leo Carrington	1971–1986
20	Lachlan Grant Bond	1986–1989
Mayors of Stratford District
21	David Walter	1989–1998
22	Brian Jeffares	1998–2007
23	John Edwards	2007–2009
24	Neil Volzke	2009–present

List of deputy mayors of Stratford

Name	Term	Mayor
Deputy mayors of Stratford Borough
T. Lawson	c. 1927–1929 [9] [10]	McMillan
A. H. Nelson	1929–c. 1930 [11] [12]	Thomson
N. B. Fletcher	c. 1931–1933 [13] [14]
William Gordon	1933–c. 1937 [15] [16]	McMillan
R. F. Harkness	1938–1944 [17] [18]	Thomson
George Boon	1944–1957 [19] [20]	Thomson Moss
Unknown	1957–1989	–
Deputy mayors of Stratford District
Roger White	1989–1992 [21]	Walter
Barrie Smith	1992–1998 [22]
John Edwards	1998–2007	Jeffares
Neil Volzke	2007–2009	Edwards
Roger Hignett	2009–2013	Volzke
Alan Jamieson	2013–2022
Min McKay	2022–2025 [23] [24]
Amanda Harris	2025–present [25]

References

1. Rilkoff, Matthew (11 September 2024). "The hard yakka of being the mayor of Stratford, Taranaki". www.stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 27 December 2024.
2. Edmunds, Susan (13 June 2024). "How much your local council gets paid". RNZ. Retrieved 31 December 2024.
3. "Stratford District Council — Administration". Stratford District Council. Retrieved 30 July 2013.
4. "Mayor and Councillors". Stratford District Council. Retrieved 30 July 2013.
5. "Business as usual for new mayor". Stratford Press. The New Zealand Herald. 19 November 2009. Retrieved 27 December 2024.
6. Derby, Mark (1 February 2015). "Local and regional government – Reforming local government". Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand . Retrieved 14 August 2022.
7. "Obituary". Taranaki Daily News . 9 November 1926. p. 8. Retrieved 18 January 2022.
8. "Mayor of Stratford". Auckland Libraries . 11 May 1910. Retrieved 28 January 2026– via DigitalNZ.
9. "Mayor Leaves The Chair". Stratford Evening Post . No. 30. 11 June 1927. p. 5. Retrieved 31 January 2026.
10. "General News". Stratford Evening Post . No. 98. 27 April 1929. p. 4. Retrieved 31 January 2026.
11. "Deputy Mayor Explains". Stratford Evening Post . No. 41. 2 December 1929. p. 5. Retrieved 30 January 2026.
12. "ANZAC Day Celebrated". Stratford Evening Post . No. 47. 26 April 1930. p. 5. Retrieved 30 January 2026.
13. "Master Butchers Confer". Taranaki Daily News . 13 October 1931. p. 6. Retrieved 30 January 2026.
14. "Chamber of Commerce". Stratford Evening Post . Vol. II, no. 213. 5 April 1933. p. 4. Retrieved 30 January 2026.
15. "Deputy Mayor To Act". Northern Advocate . 7 June 1933. p. 4. Retrieved 30 January 2026.
16. "Electricity Charges". Taranaki Daily News . 18 May 1937. p. 6. Retrieved 30 January 2026.
17. "Stratford Council". Taranaki Daily News . 19 May 1938. p. 7. Retrieved 30 January 2026.
18. "Returned Soldier Complains of Unfair Treatment of Wife". Taranaki Daily News . 24 May 1944. p. 6. Retrieved 30 January 2026.
19. "General". Taranaki Daily News . 7 June 1944. p. 6. Retrieved 29 January 2026.
20. "Personal Items". The Press . Vol. XCV, no. 28282. 21 May 1957. p. 12. Retrieved 29 January 2026.
21. "3 February 2021 ORDINARY MEETING OF COUNCIL" (PDF). Stratford District Council. 3 February 2021. Retrieved 29 January 2026.
22. "Congratulations to our 2023 Citizen Award recipients". Stratford District Council . 17 July 2023. Retrieved 29 January 2026.
23. Hanne, Ilona (25 October 2022). "Min McKay named deputy mayor for Stratford". Stratford Press. The New Zealand Herald . Retrieved 27 December 2024.
24. "Stratford deputy mayor told to apologise after confidential info leak". The Post . Taranaki Daily News. 14 July 2025. Retrieved 28 January 2026.
25. "Elected Members sworn in and straight to work". Stratford District Council . 31 October 2025. Retrieved 28 January 2026.