During the Invercargill Gold Cup tournament at the weekend, Cr Pottinger chose a different way to throw his name in the race — he sponsored a hole at a golf tournament.
He paid to sponsor hole number five, which included a plate with naming rights. On the plate it read "Ian Pottinger — prospective ICC mayoral candidate for October 2025".
Yesterday he explained his declaration.
"I sponsored it (a hole at the golf tournament) last year, and there was room on the [plate] and I thought, ‘Oh, well, there's heaps of room there to put something on’. So I did it."
Cr Pottinger has been an elected member of the council since 2010. In the last election he announced his intentions for the mayoral role, but withdrew months before the election to focus on the councillor role.
At the time, he said he would endorse the now Invercargill Mayor Nobby Clark.
Mr Clark said he would not seek re-election, while his colleagues, deputy mayor Tom Campbell and Cr Alex Crackett, have already voiced their intention to seek the mayoralty.
While it was still early to campaign about policies, Cr Pottinger believed his experience and leadership would help the council to have good standards and sustainability in the long term.
"Whatever we do has to be fit for purpose and efficient.
"I think if you get those right, then you're actually delivering something at the right price.
"For example, the museum doesn't fit that. It's a huge expense for Invercargill that's not justified.
"We need a good museum, but not at probably $20 million over what we should be spending — and now we're finding out that it's going to be potentially more expensive and delayed."
Cr Pottinger said as a councillor he felt he could contribute to those decisions, but not as much.
However, he believed as a mayor he could lead those discussions in a more meaningful way.
"There's lots of examples of where I would have gone and said, ‘no, no, let's think about this and put up a rationale’.
"I guess that's what's motivated me — as a councillor, you ... can contribute, but when you see decisions like that, you need to be leading, and that's what prompted me."
The local authority elections will be held in October.
