Invercargill will soon have a new mayor. Photo: RNZ / Nate McKinnon
Invercargill's mayoral candidates are pitching a back to basics approach ahead of this year's election.
For the first time since the 1990s an incumbent was not standing for reelection, and instead ratepayers have eight candidates to chose from, including sitting councillors and fresh faces.
The Southland Business Chamber hosted a lively debate in Invercargill on Tuesday night to help community members decide who they want to lead the city.
With the rubber chicken of shame for those who overran their time and some favourite pie chat, the debate had a healthy mix of tough questions and meaty answers.
Candidates tackled questions covering council amalgamation, water reforms, rates caps and project spending.
Sitting councillor Alex Crackett said she wanted the basics done right to keep costs down.
"I've heard from pensioners who are having to choose between buying a loaf of bread or paying for their rates. This is not the Invercargill that we should accept," she said.
"We need steady, experienced hands on the basics - the roads, water, waste, because our strong foundations give us room to dream bigger."
Current deputy mayor Tom Campbell backed the investments and projects that helped to revitalise the city, but said they did inevitably feed into rates.
Now his priorities were affordability of rates and finding efficiencies in the council.
"The new building phase has to be over. There are infrastructure projects to do, but that has to be it for capital works funded by ratepayers," he said.
Current mayor Nobby Clark has opted to stand down, watching from the audience instead on the stage last night.
The mayor's brother, Andrew Clark, copped flak for standing for the top job in both Tasman - where he currently lives - and the southern city.
He was after responsible, disciplined spending.
"Without hesitation as your new mayor, I would find an alternative water supply as a priority for Invercargill," he said.
"You are completely solely dependent on the river. In the event of an earthquake or severe drought, there would be real problems in the community."
Sitting councillor Ian Pottinger said he wanted to help the city's citizens and has an open door policy.
The council's two mana whenua representatives can only vote on committees before votes go to the council, but he would like to see some changes.
"I would give each committee delegated authority that made the decision, it stands, and then their vote has purpose," he said.
"I do like the way it is now with both the reps. I think it works great."
Sitting councillor Ria Bond also wanted to focus on the essentials and cutting back costs that were not core council business.
"I know the frustration when councils choose vanity projects or short term wins that leave ratepayers paying the price for decades," she said.
"As mayor, my focus will be clear and it will be disciplined."
Tom Morton was not onboard with amalgamating councils, and said he had gone door to door to speak with people
"Speaking to urban people, not rural people because we're in an urban environment and urban people have different needs to the rural people," he said.
"Just to save money is not a good reason. We need to keep Invercargill for Invercargill and worry about what's happening in Invercargill."
Stevey Chernishov, who used part of his introduction to spruik his men's conference, said the city was spending too much on businesses from outside the region and he wanted money to circulate around the district.
"If you want a personality for Invercargill city, if you want somebody who's going to smile and challenge the system that's currently in place, I'm here to tell you that what we need to do is build a localised and enterprising southern New Zealand," he said.
Gordon McCrone, whose party website has content described as disturbing and dangerous, was barred from the debate.
The website has since been taken down.
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