Clutha Mayor Bryan Cadogan is in his first term of mayoralty, and says the role means the world to him.
Born in Dunedin Hospital but raised in Balclutha, Mr Cadogan said he has been part of the community for a long time and understands how it works.
"I owned a farm, I worked in shearing for 18 years, I did 12 seasons at the freezing works, I've been in real estate, I've been in business, I've brought up two teenagers with every crisis you can imagine, I've walked in people's shoes, so most sectors of society I can relate to, and I think that makes a difference."
He and Allyson, his wife of 28 years, have two children, and until recently owned and operated the 100% electrical store in Balclutha.
"I'd rather burn out than not give it my all," he said.
During his election campaign, Mr Cadogan said that everyone was "finding things really hard going" and he believed the council had to make rates affordable.
A "cornerstone" goal of his was to tie the rates to the rate of inflation, and he said he had achieved this overall. The council released a proposed median rates rise of 3.59% across the district, with individual townships and rural areas increasing by different levels.
"I'm pleased that overall draft rates came out under the rate of inflation, but some rates were still higher than I'd like."
With nine years on council before taking the top job in Clutha, Mr Cadogan stood for mayor against Juno Hayes four years ago, and lost by 958 votes.
He did not expect to return to politics, but decided he would not be happy until he had tried to reduce some of the problems in the district.
"I'm determined to move this district forward at a rate we can handle, and ideally want to see unemployment drop to zero."
One of the best things about the job was the opportunity to see some great programmes operating in the district that he never would have been able to see before.
After 200 days, he still struggled with making speeches.
"My speeches can be a 50cent mixture - I myself never know if it's going to be a goodie or a baddie. But I'm getting better," he said.
His biggest surprise happened at mayors' school in Wellington.
"I was leaving at 4am one morning to catch a plane to mayors' school. I didn't want to wake my wife, Allyson, so I grabbed a suit in the dark. It wasn't until I got there that I realised that the one and only suit I brought with me was a few years old and about six inches too small. I had to go for tidy casual, and wore my jeans with a good shirt instead."
The mayoral chains themselves were heavy, and he had managed to break them once already, but he still considered himself lucky to be in the job.
"I'm trying to push myself out of my comfort zone and to look at the big picture, I have the responsibility to more than one group in the district," he said.
"It's everything I thought it would be and more. Right now, today, I love being the mayor. I have one chance to do it right."
THE MAYOR
• Name: Bryan Cadogan
• Age: 51
• Council experience: Nine years.
• Best thing about being mayor: Opportunity to see great programmes and working with the community.
• Worst thing about being mayor: The speeches.
• Biggest surprise during this term: Grabbing a suit that was much too small to wear to the mayors' school in Wellington - he had to wear "tidy casual" instead.
