"I’m pretty stoked, actually, and I think I should be proud of the fact that people are satisfied with how I’ve been doing the job. It shows their faith in the council as well as in me. The last three years, we’ve achieved so much together and there’s so many exciting things in front of us."
It was a privilege to get the chance to continue as mayor and to promote continued stability and create jobs in the district, he said.
"We’re not accepting the idea there’s a rural decline."
Nine of his 14 councillors were returned uncontested, so he would continue with a "well-established and settled" council.
"We’ve had our challenging times but I believe we’re on the right path and the district residents have bought into, and understand, our battle plan. We promised our activities would be rates-neutral and, like other businesses, we have to live within our budget," he said.
Asked whether his re-election would free him up to campaign for his younger brother Tim, who is standing for the Central Otago mayoralty, Mr Cadogan said he was "staying out" of that one.
"I love my brother, but I’m also friends with [incumbent mayor] Tony [Lepper, who is standing again], so the professional way, the best thing to do, is to just stay right out of it. The candidates are all individuals who are doing the best they can for the district."
Clutha deputy electoral officer Alan Dickson said a rush of nominations yesterday morning kept electoral staff busy.
Although there were concerns earlier in the week about how slow nominations were, by noon yesterday there there were no vacancies, so no by-elections would be needed, he said.
