Former deputy mayor Tina Salisbury wants to leave the past behind her as she bids for the Tauranga mayoralty in the upcoming election.

Salisbury was part of the council that was deposed by former local government minister Nanaia Mahuta.

The Tauranga City councillors served just over a year of their term and were ousted because of in fighting and significant governance issues in December 2020.

They were replaced by the four-person commission led by Anne Tolley in February 2021.

The commission’s term is ending with elections for a mayor and nine councillors taking place on July 20.

Salisbury said she was not involved in the interpersonal politics of the previous council.

“The city needs to move forward and leave all that behind us. We need to get on with the job because the job is big.”

Asked if she would do anything differently if she were to be elected, Salisbury replied: "There really isn't much I would do differently.

“I was values driven then, and I’m values driven now. I worked hard then, I will work hard now.

“My only regret is that I didn't have the opportunity to complete the work that I was elected to do and I'm asking for that opportunity now as mayor.”

Tina Salisbury, centre, at a 2019 New Years Eve event, with former mayor Tenby Powell, his wife Sharon Hunter and former councillor Larry Baldock. File photo / SunLive.

Asked if other members of the previous council were elected as well, would that concern her, she replied: “I trust the city to elect good people to lead the city and I will work with whoever is elected.”

Salisbury is only running for mayor and not as a councillor in her home ward of Welcome Bay.

“I was initially going to run for both, but I just felt like what we need is a decisive leader in our city and so in running, I would like to be that leader.

“Welcome Bay, it's my home, but I think we need decisive leadership.”

She said she decided to run again because she understands the complexities of Tauranga from having already been on council.

“I learned a lot in that process and feel that I can bring a different style of leadership to the city to be a part of the solution.”

Salisbury was a first-time councillor when she was elected in 2019 and was appointed deputy mayor after the previous deputy Larry Baldock resigned from his deputy mayor position in June 2020.

Asked if her different leadership style was compared to past leaders, she replied: “Perhaps politics in general.”

“I think we all would like to see a culture change. In the way politics is done, the way councils are run, and I think I would bring that style of leadership.”

Tina Salisbury in 2020. File photo / SunLive.

She said her leadership style was “decisive and collaborative”.

“I engage, listen, I can pull people together. I'm a team person and I think that's how we're going to find the solutions is we're going to do it together.”

Salisbury said if elected her key priorities were to address the housing shortage, build a connected city through transport and infrastructure, value community and foster collaboration.

She has been a business owner, a church pastor and became a justice of the peace in 2021.

After her time on council Salisbury was part of the Wednesday Challenge. The initiative that aimed to get people out of their cars and using other modes of transport every Wednesday.

She was also the interim chair of the Welcome Bay Community Centre. Salisbury said she has continued her work in the community working with the homeless and advocating for young people.

“I've been focused on that community work for a long time and that's what drives me; for our city to become a place we can all thrive.”

Nominations for mayor and councillors in the Tauranga City Council election are open now and close on May 24.

LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.