[6] Newspaper reports after his death say he was a "man of mystery" as little is known about his early life,[7][8] and his Who's Who in New Zealand entries in 1971 and 1978 both start with his election to Wellington local bodies in 1950.

[11] Given his mayoral experience the press speculated he was a likely candidate for the role of either Speaker of the House of Representatives or Chairman of Committees after the formation of the Second Labour Government.

During the government's term, Kitts was one of a group of three Labour MPs (the others being Mick Moohan and Bill Fox) who were deeply critical of the decisions made in the "Black Budget".

[13] Kitts supported the 1959 National Roads Amendment Bill, which allowed the construction of free-flowing state highways into urban centres by the government funded by petrol taxes.

[11] Years later, ahead of the 1969 election, he put himself forward for the Labour nomination to stand in the newly created Porirua electorate, but lost out to Gerry Wall.

His popularity had grown significantly and was not only re-elected to the three local bodies, but topped the poll for all three, gaining more votes than any other candidate, the first time this had been achieved in Wellington history.

[4] In 1956 Kitts was elected mayor on his third attempt, exploiting a split vote on the centre-right with Macalister running as an independent after losing the Citizens' Association nomination to Ernest Toop.

[18] He was re-elected over Toop (this time his sole opponent) in 1959 despite Labour's council ticket faring much worse with its representation being halved from six seats to three.

He was a "full-time mayor" devoting as full working day to the role and made a point of attending to the ceremonial and social aspects of the mayoralty.

[21] This backfired on the Citizens' as many groups and businesses in the city appreciated the advent of an "open door policy" for them with the mayoral office.

[23] The city continued to modernise under Kitts, one particular landmark of this was in May 1964 when the council replaced its system of trams for public transport with trolley buses.

Kitts himself confessed he had a secret desire to keep the trams, but as the council had a Citizen's majority he could not stop the process, describing the decision to replace them as a "retrograde step.

[25] This was part of a larger urban renewal agenda promoted by Citizens' councillor George Porter, who Kitts thought of as a 'secret socialist' and was happy to support him.

[4] Like Norman Kirk, also from Waimate, he was "a big man, using his imposing six foot two inch, 17 stone frame to overshadow his opponents.

Labour city councillor Joe Aspell said "Thousands expected Frank Kitts to be given something to make use of his considerable ability".

[32] Kitts died suddenly on 16 March 1979, aged 67, collapsing at his home after completing a morning shopping trip with his wife.

A by-election was avoided when Terry Brandon, the highest polling unsuccessful candidate from the 1977 election, was appointed to fill Kitts' vacant seat.

[34] There is a children's playground, the orange foremast recovered from TEV Wahine, and a water sculpture The Albatross by Tanya Ashken.