Glyn Lewers is the new mayor of Queenstown. Photo / Queenstown Lakes District Council
Queenstown-Lakes has a new mayor.
One-term councillor Glyn Lewers will lead the district for the next three years, based on the preliminary results.
Lewers, a structural engineer, was confirmed as a councillor in 2019 following an infamous coin toss with AJ Mason after the pair were tied on exactly the same number of votes.
This time, however, it appears as though history will not repeat.
Lewers received 3678 votes, 573 votes clear of second-highest polling mayoral candidate Jon Mitchell (3105), with Olivia Wensley in third (2110), followed by Al Angus (678), Neeta Shetty (432) and Daniel Shand (166).
Lewers told the Otago Daily Times this afternoon he was elated.
"It feels really good, just having the trust of the district to lead them at council — it's very humbling.
"I'm really looking forward to getting the councillor team together, and my thoughts go out to the other candidates.
"It's not easy putting your [hand up] and putting your name forward, so condolences to them."
He said he was looking forward to listening to the community and further engaging with it, particularly in the Wanaka-Upper Clutha area, something he would be encouraging all councillors to do.
Looking ahead, his immediate top priorities were to continue to focus on infrastructure improvements, look after community facilities and navigate the upcoming Government reforms, as well as the visitor levy.
"That's happening," he said.
"We'll be working on that — it's already started, we'll get that one pushing through."
He'll be joined around the council table by, in the Queenstown-Whakatipu ward, iFLY co-owner Matt Wong, who was the top-polling candidate, receiving 1944 votes, existing councillor Esther Whitehead (1623), newcomer Gavin Bartlett, an engineer, who received 1466 votes and existing councillor Niki Gladding (1358).
Long-standing councillor Craig Ferguson was the top candidate in the new Arrowtown-Kawarau ward (2148), with Lisa Guy (1577) and Shetty (1282) also elected.
In the Wānaka-Upper Clutha Ward, Quentin Smith has been re-elected (2967 votes), with Barry Bruce (2224).
Former councillor Lyal Cocks, who did not seek re-election in 2016, is back — he received 2069 votes.
That area's final representative is 27-year-old designer Cody Tucker, of Lake Hawea.
The Wanaka-Upper Clutha Community Board will comprise Simon Telfer (2740 votes, Chris Hadfield (2060 votes), John Wellington (1814 votes) and Linda Joll on 1652.
Electoral officer Jane Robertson said both Bruce and Cocks received enough votes to be elected to the community board, 2287 and 1954, respectively, but would instead only take the position of councillors.
At this stage, the voter return is just 37.25 per cent, or 10,464 votes.
"This progress result is based upon the counting of approximately 90 per cent of the returned votes and excludes votes in transit to the processing centre and special votes.
"The outcome of these elections may change once all votes have been counted," she said.
Final results are expected on Thursday, October 13.
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