Cr Garey yesterday announced she would seek Dunedin's mayoralty - as well as to retain her council seat - at local body elections in October.
The first-term councillor and former chairwoman of the Otago Peninsula Community Board joins Crs Jim O'Malley and Aaron Hawkins as the only incumbent councillors to declare their mayoral ambitions so far.
Three candidates from outside council - Scout Barber-Evans, Carmen Houlahan and Mandy Mayhem-Bullock - are also running.
Other potential mayoral candidates, including Cr Lee Vandervis, have yet to announce their intentions since incumbent Mayor Dave Cull confirmed last month he would not seek another term.
Cr Garey, in an interview yesterday, told the Otago Daily Times she was excited by the prospect of taking on the opportunities and challenges the city was facing.
While the city was "on a roll", the growth now being experienced brought with it "growing pains" that needed to be tackled, she said.
Those issues included finding more ways to boost the city's supply of quality, affordable housing, by implementing the recommendations of the recent Mayor's Taskforce for Housing and freeing up more land for development, she said.
The council also needed to continue working on solutions to alleviate parking concerns, such as a new central city bus loop, encourage "high value, but not elite" tourism and juggle the disruption expected from major central city projects, Cr Garey said.
The council also needed to keep investing - in infrastructure renewals and opportunities like the George St development - as the city grew.
Cr Garey said projected debt levels might appear "eye watering", but they remained within the limits set by the council's financial strategy and expected by auditors.
"You can't invest in the city without spending money. Anyone who tells you otherwise is not telling the truth," Cr Garey said.
And, looming over it all, was the "huge" challenge posed by climate change - a challenge the 63-year-old said she was "absolutely" the right person to face.
"I have a nearly 22-year-old daughter. We need to be able to face our children, and our grandchildren, and know that we have done the right thing and been on the right side of history."
The city needed to maintain its momentum - on climate change, cycleways and a host of other initiatives - if it was to continue to succeed, and the mayoral vote would be crucial, Cr Garey said.
"Keeping that momentum going is really important. And that could all change, depending on the leader, and we could lose what we have gained," she said.
