Despite talk of a "green bloc" on the Dunedin City Council, returning Mayor Dave Cull says he has no agenda to push through.
The idea of such a bloc was raised by Mr Cull’s opponents during the election.
It was denied by councillors supposedly on the bloc.
Asked if he had a majority of eight councillors he thought he could pull together to get things done, Mr Cull said he did not see it that way.Instead, it was up to the new council to decide how to implement strategies already in place.
He said there was plenty of diversity on the last council, and perhaps more on the new one.
Challenges ahead included the "financial challenge" that would not go away, and he was keen to keep pushing debt down.
The effects of climate change on groundwater levels and sea-level rise was going to be a major focus for the next two decades.
Housing, "some of the oldest and coldest in the country", was another issue.
Mr Cull rang new councillors over the weekend to introduce himself and explain "where we go from here".
He also planned to talk to each of them during the week.
After that, there would be "an in-depth, comprehensive induction".
That would mean once pre-draft annual plan hearings began in January, all should be up to speed.
