The mayor presides over the meetings of the Far North District Council.
The mayor is directly elected using the single transferable vote method.
He is a member of the Te Rarawa and Ngāti Kahu ki Whangaroa Maori tribes.
Then mayor John Carter abstained from voting on the issue.
A non-binding survey of local residents on the issue received 637 submissions, resulting in 231-to-406 in favour of adopting STV.