Car dealer and Mosgiel-Taieri Community Board chairman Andrew Simms has confirmed his bid for the mayoralty, as well as announcing intentions to form a "Future Dunedin" ticket to bring other people with him on to the council.
Mr Simms was a critic of an ultimately unsuccessful Dunedin City Council proposal last year to sell Aurora Energy and he said the group sprang out of this.
The founder and director of marketing and digital transformation business Firebrand, Rebecca Twemlow, will be on the ticket and running for council.
Confirmation of further candidates is expected soon.
Mr Simms is also running for council and he is the first challenger for the mayoralty to declare a tilt to the Otago Daily Times, after incumbent Jules Radich had earlier said he intended to run again.
The announcement about Future Dunedin came while the council was discussing its draft long-term plan and Mr Simms said he brought this forward to coincide with issues being debated.
Dunedin had a great opportunity to flourish, but "we're squandering that by a lack of vision and a lack of direction and a lack of leadership from the current council", he said.
Mr Simms said the elected arm of the council needed to set the agenda, rather than allowing the process to be captured by bureaucrats.
The group’s campaign would be well resourced, he said.
An advisory group would be behind the ticket and it was not just about business acumen, he said.
"I can sum up my political belief in that I believe that I can look after myself under most circumstances, but that I have responsibility to apply my ability and skills to lift up people that are less fortunate than me as well."
Cr Andrew Whiley was part of Mr Radich’s Team Dunedin ticket in 2022 and said he would stand again for council, but not as part of a ticket or group this time.
He had no intention of standing for the mayoralty.
Cr Whiley expected investing in the city, improving quality of life and managing the finances to be key issues in the campaign.
Christine Garey and Brent Weatherall were other councillors who ruled themselves out of the mayoralty race.
Cr Garey intended to run again for council and Cr Weatherall said he had not decided yet about running for council or being part of a ticket this time.
Cr Weatherall was part of Team Dunedin in 2022 and he nominated sustainability of rates rises as the top issue this year.
Cr Steve Walker said he would definitely be standing and he hoped to again be on a Labour Party ticket. Top issues for him included the hospital rebuild, mitigating and adapting to climate change, supporting live music and walking and cycling infrastructure.
Cr Carmen Houlahan said she would run as an independent candidate for the council.
She had no announcement at present on her intentions regarding the mayoralty.
Crs Sophie Barker and Kevin Gilbert said their focus was on the council’s long-term plan process.
Former mayor Aaron Hawkins said he had "three jobs and I'm not looking for another one right now".
"The election will be critical to the city's future prospects, though," he said.
"You're dealing with a coalition government whose attacks on local councils in general, and neglect of the South more specifically, make robust local leadership more important than ever."
