Stuart Crosby has seen off five challengers to serve a third term as the mayor of Tauranga City.
He received more than 16,500 votes, more than 12,000 clear of his nearest challenger Murray Guy.
Mr Crosby says a critical issue for the incoming city council will be the finding a new chief executive to replace the outgoing Stephen Town.
Stuart Crosby says that's a major appointment and will need to be a strong focus initially.
However, Mr Crosby says that's just one of the challenges Tauranga's facing, including readjusting finances after the recession and maintaining levels of service.
But he says Tauranga's always had challenges as a result of growth and they have always been met.
Mr Crosby says he is humbled by the support he's had from the community.
Rotorua mayor returned
The Mayor of Rotorua, Kevin Winters has also been returned to office.
He beat off challenges from two others and won with a majority of 4394 votes.
Six way race for Whakatane mayoralty
Meanwhile, a six way race for the mayoralty of Whakatane split the field completely.
Incumbent Colin Holmes preferred to stand for the regional council and six prominent local figures stood for the vacancy.
Former one-term mayor Tony Bonne has taken more than 2500 votes, about 600 clear of both former United Future MP Judy Turner and ex-council senior manager Julie Jukes.
In Opotiki, John Forbes has polled nearly double the number of votes of his only challenger, taking 1805 votes versus 939 for Barry Howe.
Kawerau mayor gets fourth term
Malcolm Campbell has been re-elected to serve a fourth term as mayor of Kawerau in the eastern Bay of Plenty.
He polled more than 1700 of the almost 2000 votes cast to comfortably see off Matai Bennett.
