Cr Bezett - he stays officially a councillor until new ones are sworn in - will continue to run his George St jewellery and watchmaking store.
Perhaps more impressively, the 73-year-old is busy training for a half-ironman event.
Cr Bezett was on the council through some significant periods in Dunedin's history, including the period in which Forsyth Barr Stadium was built and Toitu Otago Settlers Museum, Dunedin Town Hall and Dunedin Centre were upgraded.
Those projects came as the city's water and wastewater system were modernised, meaning a massive spend for the city, and the resulting debt.
Despite bitter political disputes over those projects, and in particular the stadium, Cr Bezett said yesterday the period was a highlight of his career.
He was ''very fortunate'' to be on the council when it built infrastructure he said was going to last the city for another 100 years.
The stadium caused plenty of angst, and plenty of his friends opposed the project, but he ''stuck to the belief it was the right thing to do''.
''We had a lot of debate about that, and they were big-ticket items. That council spent a lot of ratepayers' money, no question of it whatsoever.''
But future generations would see the decisions were the right ones.
''Time will tell, but I'm absolutely convinced some time in the future the people of Dunedin will look back and say, 'Hey, those guys did a good job'.''
Cr Bezett said he was comfortable with the level of debt that resulted.
The full tally is $581million, made up of about $217million owed by the council, and the rest owed by council companies.
''Yes I am. Because we put in all this infrastructure yet we still maintained rates that are the envy of other cities.''
Cr Bezett said company debt was in line with the value of the companies' assets.
''The borrowings of the companies is well within their ability to be able to repay. It is an issue, but if you don't have debt, you won't get the amenities.''
Another period he was ''really pleased'' to be associated with was the corporatisation of council trading departments.
Cr Bezett was the first chairman of Dunedin Electricity when Sir Cliff Skeggs was mayor. It was the first time corporatisation had been done in New Zealand and the city was ''under the spotlight''.
''If you look at the dividends that have come from those companies over the years, it saved our ratepayers millions of dollars.''
Economic development was another area he was proud to have been involved in.
In the mid-to-late 1990s, the council had a group of staff members dealing with businesses, offering help and encouraging them to stay instead of waiting for large industries to come. The economic development unit was begun and, with Cr Bezett's lobbying, it was made into a standing committee.
Cr Bezett said there were differences nowadays in how people got on to the council. With social media, it was easy to get your message across.
''In the past, you had people who stood for council because they were doing good work in the community. That's how they got known.''
He said that system was better in that people got to know those standing.
''Today, you can reinvent yourself any time you like.''
Cr Bezett said his election success over the years was a result of portraying himself as ''someone with basic common sense, no nonsense; I mean there's no bullshit with me.''
