Ashburton district councillor Rob Mackle intends to run for the mayoralty, making the announcement a day before incumbent Neil Brown declares his intentions.
Mackle said he was not going to make any grand promises of major changes if he won in local body elections later this year.
“I am more than happy with the way the council has been tracking.”
While the district council faced some big issues, he would take a team approach as “you are only one of the 10 on the council”.
The first-term councillor also said he would not re-stand in the Western Ward.
“I’m all in or all out.”
He was looking to follow his younger brother Craig, who is in his second term as Kaikōura mayor.
Mackle joined the district council in a by-election in the Western Ward in May, 2023, following the sudden passing of Rodger Letham in December, 2022.
Letham had just been elected for his second term as councillor when he died.
Mackle is the second person to announce their intention to run for the mayoralty ahead of nominations opening on July 1.
Ashburton resident Jeff Ryan announced last month he would run for mayor. He aims to scrap the proposed second Ashburton River bridge location and instead build a bypass around Ashburton.
Brown will announce at a district council meeting tomorrow whether he intends to stand for a third term.
Brown dethroned Donna Favel for the mayoralty in the 2019 election, when Braam and Tony Todd also ran for the top role, and then in 2022 he beat the only other mayoral candidate, Jeff Swindley, by almost 9000 votes.
The local elections are set to take place on October 11.
Meanwhile, a report from Local Government NZ suggests replacing postal voting with a voting booth system is vital for the future of local body elections.
It’s one of 20 draft recommendations made by the Electoral Reform Working Group (ERWG) in its Draft Position paper released this week.
The document included a raft of proposed changes to help shape the future of local body elections and increase voter turnout.
The voter return in Mid Canterbury in 2022 was just over 50 per cent.
The draft recommendations are suggested for the 2028 local elections.
