Roads and growth priority for new Tauranga Mayor Stuart Crosby

Build relationships with the new council, sort out the committees - and then move forward.
They're the first priorities of Tauranga's new mayor, Stuart Crosby, who also says his leadership priorities are roads and growth.
Tauranga's old guard is back in the box seat of the council after the city voted to end its three-year flirtation with rookie mayor Jan Beange.
It was a case of third time lucky for Mr Crosby, who squeezed past Ms Beange in Saturday's election to win the mayoralty by 1031 votes.
The 48-year-old's triumph followed two previously unsuccessful leadership bids in an 18-year political career.
"I knew it would be close - it is always difficult to beat an existing mayor," he said.
Mr Crosby said he was aware of community concern about Ms Beange's style and knew she would lose votes but he did not know where the votes would go.
His instinct was that the protest vote would split around the rest of the field, leaving Ms Beange to emerge through the middle.
"I was pleasantly surprised to learn I had won."
He said it was a real confidence booster to be the top-polling councillor in the at-large election, although the mayoral victory meant he did not need the fall-back position.
Mr Crosby said the new council was an exciting mix of people - some new, some into the second term such as Rick Curach and Murray Guy and some old hands such as Bob Addison, Mary Dillon and David Stewart.
As for the three new faces on the council, he was heartened by Terry Molloy winning the Te Papa/Welcome Bay Ward. Mr Crosby said he had known Mr Molloy for a long time and knew him as capable.
Likewise, Bob Tulloch was passionate about Tauranga and knew the city well, whereas Anne Pankhurst would bring a new dimension to the council, he said.
Mr Crosby said the tighter, smaller council would place a lot more responsibility on everybody so that even the new councillors would have some significant responsibilities: "I intend to spread the workload."
His leadership priorities would be roading and growth. Tauranga had catered with growth very well except in the area of transportation. It needed more energy and effort because it was so important to the city's lifestyle and economy.
Road funding and tolls were looming as key issues early in the new council's term, he said.
And while Team Tauranga had been a successful electoral vehicle for him, he denied there would be any favouritism shown to its two other successful candidates - Terry Molloy and Anne Pankhurst.
Mr Crosby said he regarded Team Tauranga as a work ethic and philosophy and there would be no favouritism or meetings before meetings.
"You achieve a lot more working collaboratively."
Ms Beange took her defeat on the chin, saying she was disappointed but not surprised. The sentiment she heard expressed at election meetings was that a chunk of the electorate was not particularly happy with her.
"When you are a mayor with a focus on moving things forward and getting things done, it means there are issues around rates ... that was challenging for a certain sector of the population.
"It is not a palatable message and I think I paid the price - there is a certain sector of the population that does not like to face up to reality," she said.
Ms Beange said these people needed to come to grips with the pressures of growth and issues of affordability. They needed to broaden their minds to the whole community, not just themselves.
She had no idea who the city's business vote got behind, although clearly there was some big money behind the Team Tauranga campaign and some high profile support.
"But that's fine, that's democracy," she said.
As for her future, the lawyer said her life was an open book: "I get my life back - I was okay with whatever way the vote went," she said.
In hindsight, Ms Beange said she would not have done things differently. "I could have campaigned harder but I decided to offer myself for re-election ... I did not clamour to be elected - people were either happy after my three years or they weren't."
What the new council delivered would not be a lot different to the old one, she said.