One of the most controversial mayors during this current local body election cycle was New Plymouth mayor Andrew Judd.

Judd, who unsuccessfully tried to introduce a Maori ward to the city, has just entered his last month as mayor, but has no regrets about the decisions he has made and wants to continue his journey with others after he gives up the chains.

Maori representation completely changed the way his city viewed him. The attempt to introduce a new type of representation, led to him being spat at, verbally abused and on the end of large amounts of hate mail.

However, it made him a people's champion to many, this is most notable on a fan-run Facebook page with nearly 11,000 followers, and he has also been nominated for New Zealander of the year.

The ordeal, led to his announcement in May that he would not be running again for the mayoralty this year, knowing he had lost the popular vote.

Newstalk ZB's Josh Price sat down with him to discuss his whirlwind three-year tenure and what’s next for the optometrist.

Coming to an end to your tenure, has it sunk in yet?

It’s a surreal sort of feeling, obviously no one sets out to only do one term, but it’s been quite a journey, and I'm sort of transitioning out of the office at the moment. Taking down all the family photos and anything that sort of makes it your own space.

Obviously most people will remember you for your stance on race relations, but is that what you want to be remembered for?

I think there’s been a lot of other things that this council has dealt to, the two that come to mind is that we realigned the investment fund by selling those farms [in Tasmania] and we’ve now put it into a new structure .We’ve been strong supporters of the realignment through the council, so it’s a council that’s more fit for purpose. I guess ultimately, the other thing I’m proud of is all those fears people had around cuts, never happened.

And the Waitara land issues?

Of course, the local bill coming through for the Pekapeka Block, that came on the back of settling Te Atiawa with the Crown which started my representation question or journey as such.

On the Maori ward issue, the council still doesn’t have Maori representation, what needs to happen get that back in place?

We have been working with iwi at a high level to try and formulate what we can do within the scope of the law, and by that we are asking questions like, what is effective? What is real? I mean you can get rid of Judd but the question still doesn’t go away. The challenge still remains. This isn’t something that’s of our making. This is the consequences of our country. We haven’t lived up to what was signed up to through the Treaty. There’s a legal requirement on this, and you can argue that until the cows come home, but that is just a fact, a foundation of who we are. Either way we haven’t got anything at the moment.

Are you confident that New Plymouth will find that solution?

Of course I am. I’ve got great faith. We have great people and we’ve got to find a way.

Obviously tackling this issue you have copped a lot of personal abuse, how hard was that to deal with?

I’ve been challenged to core of who I am, and it’s fundamentally changed who I am. Look, I’m not the victim in this, we all are actually, particularly Maori. We’ve got to change this culture that we pass on, because I harboured those thoughts and views as well. That’s why I say I’m a recovering racist, because I am. Simply because it was handed down to me by my parents and the majority culture we live in. And that hurts people.

Did you ever think about walking away?

No, no gosh no, would never walk away, people say now [by not seeking re-election] I’m walking away, but to them I say look, there’s a time to stand up and a time to sit down and each of those takes a different form of strength, to care enough about my community, because it’s not about me.I mean if it was, let’s be blunt, I probably would never have gone there.

A new wave of support came after you announced you wouldn’t run again, does that excite you?

I guess it does, because I’ve had some horrific stuff, but also some heart rendering warm stuff as well from children right across the country actually, from overseas even! A card from a 91-year-old lady to ignore it all and stand strong, so you can’t generalise, that’s one thing I’ve learned. I just really want people to just ask the questions of yourself and challenge those mind sets.

Do you have any advice for an incoming mayor that gets caught up in a controversial topic?

You can only be true to yourself. I mean I came in with quite a majority and I could have simply played the numbers to stay in office. It’s certainly a thought that you have. Only they can answer if that’s the kind of politician they are. The challenge is politicians tend to follow the populous, and you have to decide if you are there to be there, or to really make a difference, but only the individual can answer that.

Something’s not right though, I’d have to say, something’s broken in our political system, not just here but in the world, I would tend to say it’s because we follow what we think is popular rather than do what is right, because often what is right in unpopular.

What are you doing once you hang up the chains?

I don’t really know! I’m just Joe Bloggs off the street. I’ll go back to my business and family time, but I am motivated at a deep level to try and bridge people together. Because if we can’t talk about the reaction to the Maori ward issue, we’ll never truly get representation that we understand. So I’d like to work in a space where if there is anyone that wants to come together and follow the journey that I follow, let’s find a way to do that.