This resulted from the resignation of Jono Naylor in October 2014 after his election to the House of Representatives.

At the time, Palmerston North was an isolated village in the midst of a native forest that covered inland Manawatu.

The first elections on 9 August 1877 returned a council with nine members, including George Snelson as the first mayor.

Snelson is regarded as the founding father of Palmerston North.

[4] On 1 August 1930, Palmerston North was officially gazetted as a city, the 7th settlement in New Zealand to have reached the then-threshold of 20,000 inhabitants.