Council hopefuls are urged to join the race now or risk missing their chance on a technicality.
Only a handful of candidates have stepped forward ahead of next week's nomination deadline for the 2016 Local Government Elections - in line with the 2013 election, where the vast majority of people left it late to throw their hat in the ring.
As of yesterday, three people had put their names forward for the 10-member Kaipara District Council; four for the 14-member Whangarei District Council; four for the 10-member Far North District Council and seven for the 9-member Northland Regional Council.
FNDC also had four so far running for its community boards, which needed 19 members.
Statistics from the 2013 local body elections showed that of the 167 candidates that stood for FNDC, WDC and NRC, 127 put their names forward in the final week of the month-long nomination period. KDC did not hold elections in 2013 as it was under Government-appointed commissioners.