At the Council Workshop on 11 August 2015, Council identified that one of Les Munro’s legacies to the Waitomo District, during his term as Mayor, was the planning and seeing to completion of the Waitomo Cultural and Arts Centre, of which he was markedly proud.

Council agreed to the renaming of the Centre to the “Les Munro Centre” in recognition of his involvement in ensuring that the Centre was completed and to honour his outstanding contribution to the wider Waitomo community.

Les Munro became involved in local politics where he served as Mayor of Waitomo for 15 consecutive years from 1980 to 1995.