Restaurateur and contractor join race for mayoralty

An experienced but as yet unsuccessful Dunedin mayoral candidate will promote a rates freeze for the term in the city's top civic office.

Restaurateur Olivier Lequeux and Port Chalmers gardening contractor Kevin Dwyer announced their mayoral candidacies yesterday.

Mr Lequeux, who stood for mayor in the 2007 local government election, said he would also stand for a council seat in the new Dunedin Central Ward.

His last campaign was notable for its glitz and showmanship - but his experience finishing a distant fifth in the poll saw him return with a much more politically mature approach, he said.

"I have a policy, a thought-out and very possible policy: freeze the rates," Mr Lequeux, who spent more than $35,275 on his last campaign, said.

"We have very well-paid and very capable managers at the city council - they must be challenged to do everything they can to ease the burden on ratepayers. And a freeze on rates could do that."

Mr Dwyer confirmed he would run for mayor, but not as a councillor.

Mr Dwyer (59) said there was "not enough democracy" in Dunedin, and that initiatives like the stadium were being pushed through against people's wishes.

He was also concerned about debt levels, which he said were out of control.

Mr Dwyer said he had been a member of the Dunedin Householders and Ratepayers Association for about two years.

Asked what experience he had that would help him run a city, he pointed to his experience running a business.