The new Far North District Council has rejected a proposal to merge Northland's four councils into one.
The Local Government Commission (LGC) unveiled its proposal last month to combine the region's one regional and three district councils into a single authority based in Whangarei with seven community boards for local representation.
The LGC came up with the plan after the previous council and iwi applied for a Far North unitary authority.
Councillors voted 7-2 to reject the LGC proposal at their first public meeting in Kaikohe on Thursday, with Mayor John Carter and deputy Tania McInnes opposing the motion.
Mr Carter said he had pledged during his campaign to fight any proposal he believed was Whangarei-centric, but would otherwise present the pros and cons to the people of the Far North and let them decide.