Napier Mayor Bill Dalton will run for a second term as mayor.
He announced last night, at a Christmas function at the Napier War Memorial conference centre with an "absolute undertaking", that 2016 would mark his last campaign.
Mr Dalton celebrated the year with colleagues and family that numbered about100 people.
He said it had been a hard year but a successful one as he reflected on the outcome of an outstanding campaign led against amalgamation.
About 66.18 per cent of people voted no, compared with 33.55 per cent who voted yes.
"I'm very keen to do one term without the distraction and sideshow of the amalgamation so I can have one last term to serve the city I love," he said.
It is not yet known who the candidates will be to run against Mr Dalton in the coming election.
The retired sharebroker was a councillor for two terms before beating school principal Roy Sye in a six-candidate race to succeed retiring four-term Mayor Barbara Arnott in 2013. Mr Dalton won with a margin of 4673 votes.
