The prominent businessman and Mosgiel-Taieri Community Board chairman announced his mayoral bid at the end of January along with co-founder of the Future Dunedin ticket, Rebecca Twemlow, who is also looking for a seat at the Dunedin City Council table.
Yesterday, Mr Simms said the seven-member Future Dunedin team was not a voting block, but each candidate had agreed to a set of guiding principles.
"We've all agreed on a draft set of core beliefs, which centres around what's best for Dunedin, what's best for our children and what's best for our grandchildren," Mr Simms said.
"We're certainly not a voting block and members of Future Dunedin could be expected to vote differently on certain issues."
Joining Mr Simms and Ms Twemlow on the ticket are West Harbour Community Board member Jarrod Hodson, Dunedin lawyer Rachel Brazil, former Dunedin city councillor Conrad Stedman, University of Otago marketing senior lecturer Dr Robert Hamlin and volunteer and disability advocate Dr Amy Taylor.
Mr Simms said the team "got very close" with two people who represented a mana whenua perspective, but both decided not to stand for their own reasons.
"We're still talking to others and we would be incredibly keen to have some representation from that part of our community," he said.
Mr Simms said he had spent the past two months networking and reaching out to potential candidates, and had built not only a team standing for the council, but also a team of supporters and advisers.
He declined to comment in detail on policy, but said a significant policy announcement was imminent.
"It's one that needs to be put in front of the community well before the election, needs to be put in front of the community before this year's nine-year plan hearings because it's a very significant issue," he said.
"The key issue is to ensure that ratepayers are getting value for every single dollar."
Rates rises over the past three years were unsustainable, he said.
"We're absolutely determined to make better decisions that can lead to much lower rates rises without cutting any core services or without cutting any essential things that the council does."
Last election, Dunedin Mayor Jules Radich rode a team ticket to success; he launched Team Dunedin a year out from the next local body elections.
Team Dunedin also had seven members on the ballot.
Crs Andrew Whiley, Brent Weatherall and Kevin Gilbert were elected on the Team Dunedin ticket.
