Auckland mayor Len Brown has announced he will not stand for re-election.
Brown said in a statement on Sunday morning that it had been "my absolute honour to be given the privilege to be able to serve our people as the first mayor of a united Auckland".
"However after discussions with my wife Shan and our daughters, I have decided nine years as mayor, first of Manukau and then Auckland, are enough," he said.
Brown was elected as the first mayor of the "Super City" in 2010 and re-elected in 2013. He was previously mayor of Manukau City.
In his statement, Brown said: "Aucklanders have my assurance that my commitment to this job will continue until the last day of my mayoralty. There is still enormous amount we need to achieve during the coming year.
"My best wishes to those who decide to stand for what is one of the most all-consuming jobs in the nation. Tamaki Makaurau is an extraordinary place which will place extraordinary demands on whoever takes up the challenge."
Brown's second term as mayor as New Zealand's first "Super City" has been overshadowed by revelations he had carried on an affair with council advisory board member Bevan Chuang.
News of the affair prompted an investigation into whether Brown spent any council money during the two-year liaison.
Brown agreed to pay $40,000 toward the final $250,000 cost of a review into the affair.
The audit, by private company Ernst & Young, found Brown did not misuse council resources during his affair.
However, he made 1375 texts and calls to his mistress and failed to declare receiving free hotel rooms and upgrades valued at more than $39,000, an NRL grand final ticket and an iPad.
Brown's announcement he will not seek re-election comes as long-serving Labour MP Phil Goff is poised to confirm his bid for the Auckland mayoralty - a move observers say would have been the death knell to Brown's prospects of another term.
Goff is expected to make the announcement on November 22 and has already pulled together a campaign team, which includes former Brown aide, top spin doctor David Lewis.
Brown on Sunday conceded it would have been hard to be re-elected, telling Radio New Zealand that the public view of his performance had "taken a hit".
"In politics you rise and fall on how the public perceives you, and that perception has certainly taken a hit," he told Radio New Zealand.
However, he said "you have to be philosophical in this game", and he said he was pleased that he had been elected as a mayor three times, each time with a strong mandate.
In his statement on Sunday, Brown said opponents had "wrote us off from day one, but the achievements during the first five years of the new Auckland have been extraordinary".
"Auckland is more confident and positive about its future than it has been in decades. We are becoming a true international city and the symbols of our optimism are all around us.
"Electric trains, double decker buses, a growing network of cycleways, new ferry routes and most of all construction is about to begin on the City Rail Link – the most important piece of infrastructure to be built in Auckland in decades."
Brown said Auckland was working better with central government than it had in years, with the Housing Accord enabling thousands of extra homes to be built and the Auckland Transport Alignment Project focussing on building vital transport infrastructure.
"We have opened up the waterfront and award winning civic amenities have been built and are now being enjoyed by people across Auckland.
"Our swimming pools are free for our kids, people will be able to cycle and walk across SkyPath on the Harbour Bridge, we have saved iconic heritage landmarks such as the St James, and that most iconic of Auckland landmarks, Maungakiekie/One Tree Hill will soon have a tree back on the summit."
Source: Stuff.co.nz
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