'Trump of the North' will not seek re-election as mayor
Kaipara Mayor Craig Jepson will not be seeking re-election to the top job.
Photo:
NZME
A controversial Northland mayor will not be standing for a second mayoral term.
In a shock move, Kaipara Mayor Craig Jepson on Tuesday confirmed he would not be standing for the $138,441-a-year position in the October local election.
Mangawhai's Jepson (67) is instead backing Kaipara District Council (KDC) Deputy Mayor Jonathan Larsen (54). Jepson appointed Larsen to the deputy role in October 2022.
And Jepson - who has
referred to himself as the "Trump of the North"
- will be standing as a councillor in his Kaiwaka-Mangawhai ward. The position pays $68,719 annually.
Jepson's about-turn comes after consistently indicating he will be standing for a second tilt at the Kaipara mayoralty.
He would not be drawn on the reason for the tack change, other than to say he wanted to step down from the top job and spend more time on issues close to his heart as a councillor.
Jepson's political move comes as first-term KDC councillor Ash Nayyar said for the first time that he would be taking a tilt at the top job.
Dargaville's Nayyar believed too many KDC decisions were being made behind closed doors, and unnecessary pet projects were being adopted by the council.
He said he was unhappy KDC, in his opinion, had generally ignored the voice of the people during public consultation.
Nayyar claimed Kaipara's west had been neglected and as Mayor he would do all parts of the district justice.
He has a Master of Business administration, Bachelors of Commerce and Law and 40 years' banking experience.
Kaipara Councillor Dargaville's Ash Nayyar speaks at the controversial KDC meeting in Mangawhai in August where the council voted to can its Māori ward.
Photo:
NZME
Topuni's Larsen was first elected onto KDC in 2010. He resigned in protest in August 2012, just under two years into a three-year term.
He said he left over his dissatisfaction with the council making closed-door decisions on the future of
the controversial Mangawhai wastewater scheme
, including $30 million in extra spending on the project.
Larsen said he had brought this matter to the attention of the Auditor-General. government ministers and Ombudsman.
The government appointed commissioners to run KDC in September 2012.
Larsen was re-elected in 2016 and has been a KDC politician since. If successful in October, it would see him elected for a fifth term. He has a Bachelor Science, and an Executive Master of Business Administration with first class honours.
Kaipara Deputy Mayor Jonathan Larsen at KDC's Māori ward meeting in Mangawhai in August where he voted for removal of the electoral area from the upcoming 2025 local elections.
Photo:
NZME
In his first controversial move, Jepson
canned karakia from council meetings
in November 2022, just two months into the job.
KDC later became the
only council to can its Māori ward
in August 2024 after government law changes - one of Jepson's proudest achievements, and one which was also backed by Larsen.
Jepson said he was proud of his council's "small" 8.2 percent rates rise for 2025/2026.
He said another positive move was his council
withdrawing
from national councils' representative body Local Government New Zealand.
The mayor said there were a range of issues he wanted to work on as a councillor.
Getting rid of mangroves
would be one of the major issues he wanted to invest in.
"I want to get rid of mangroves from our harbours, not just Mangawhai Harbour, but Kaipara Harbour and the whole of Northland," Jepson said.
KDC councillor Ash Nayyar (second from right) was among volunteers parking 20,000 visitors' Northland Field Days vehicles over the event's three days along with (from left) Dargaville quartet of KDC councillor Ash Nayyar (second from right), with (from left) Anthony Taylor, Darren Jones and John Murray.
Photo:
Susan Botting, Local Democracy Reporter Northland
Jepson said he also wanted to boost the fight against Auckland's Dome Valley landfill - which is just across the local political border in Auckland Council - and educate people about the merits of waste to energy technology. He has
strongly campaigned
for such a plant in Kaipara.
Larsen and Jepson jointly conducted information visits to constituents around Kaipara on the plants.
Meanwhile, Jepson has long-challenged current science backing climate change. KDC
axed its Ruawai-based Northland climate change pilot midstream
.
KDC also
got rid of its key climate change policy in 2023
in a move brought to the council table by Larsen.
Larsen said that even if climate change was a reality, the actions of Kaipara's 18,000 ratepayers would not make a jot of difference in a world with 8 billion people.
Jepson was elected with a big majority in 2022.
Jepson said that many had encouraged him to stand again, to do a "lap of victory", but being a local politician was not about ego. It was about what was best for the district.
LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
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