Rotorua lawyer, former winter Olympian and Labour's 2017 general election candidate Ben Sandford has announced a run for the district council's top seat.
He becomes the fifth confirmed candidate bidding to replace outgoing mayor Steve Chadwick.
Sandford said he decided to stand for mayor because while he loved Rotorua, "we can always be better" and he wanted to see Rotorua people succeed.
"I'd really like to contribute to Rotorua's success and to make sure that we're the best place possible, and that we're a wonderful place to live in."
He believed he was a good candidate due to his experience in governance and leadership and connections with the community.
"We need someone that can stand up for Rotorua, and really advocate for us, but we also need someone that has a vision, that has empathy, and that really wants to see the city and the region do well and puts Rotorua first."
Sandford said his plan was focused on supporting communities, building capacity and smart investment.
The first related to reducing poverty, building environmental resilience, having better public spaces and making sure communities could have a say.
Building capacity related to growth, including building more infrastructure, and human resources meaning attracting skilled people to Rotorua and upskilling people already here.
Rotorua lawyer Ben Sandford has announced his run at Rotorua mayor. Photo / Andrew Warner
He said investment needed to be done smartly.
"Whether it's investing in the museum or the aquatic centre, or in the environment ... we need to do that in a smart way and we can do that through collaboration with central government and bringing on other partners, that also frees up resources that we can spend, and invest more in our communities."
If elected Sandford said reopening the museum would be a priority.
"It's part of our heritage, and it's part of who we are as a city so we need to get that back up and operating but the key is to work out where that funding to do that [comes from]. It's going to be expensive. But we need to make it happen somehow.
"The museum's key to our future."
He said Covid had taken issues that were "simmering" and made them worse.
"If we look at Fenton St and the homeless situation, those things are largely out of the control of council but it also reiterates that we need to invest and we need to work with central government to solve the issues that are there right now."
He believed the council had responded to the Covid-related challenges and underlying infrastructure issues but needed to be more transparent and refocus on community collaboration from the beginning of a process.
He said the council also needed to build partnerships to advocate for Rotorua "to make sure that even if it's not the council making those decisions, Rotorua is heard".
Sandford was the New Zealand Labour Party's candidate for Rotorua at the 2017 general election receiving 10,887 votes, just shy of 31 per cent and behind Todd McClay's 18,788, or 53 per cent.
In the 2019 local election, Chadwick received 9221 votes and top-polling councillor Tania Tapsell, who is also running for mayor this year for the first time, received 10,213.
"Local elections have historically had really low voter turnout. So part of the campaign needs to be showing vision and trying to inspire people to vote and making sure they know that if they're voting, they'll have a voice in council," Sandford said.
While Sandford tried his hand at central government in 2017, this is the first time he has put his hand up for local government.
He said he would rather be "fully committed to working for Rotorua" as mayor, than a part-time councillor.
Rotorua lawyer Ben Sandford has announced his run at Rotorua mayor. Photo / Andrew Warner
"I think what I bring to the table at the moment is best suited to running for mayor. As the world's reopening and as we move out of Covid, now's a really good opportunity to set the direction going forward. I believe I can bring that to the table ... in a leadership capacity."
Sandford, who was born and raised in Rotorua, represented New Zealand at the 2006, 2010 and 2014 Winter Olympics as a skeleton racer.
He has chaired the World Anti-Doping Agency Athletes Committee since 2019, is chairman of Drug-Free Sport New Zealand's Athlete Committee and sits on the New Zealand Olympic Committee's Athlete Committee.
He also helped establish the Rotorua Athlete Development Charitable Trust which aims to empower athletes to do charitable work in the Rotorua community by providing grants and support.
Asked if he would consider another run at Parliament, Sandford said he would be "100 per cent committed to being the best possible advocate I can for Rotorua and 100 per cent committed to being mayor" if elected.
"With Stevie [Chadwick] stepping down there's a real opportunity here for people in Rotorua to decide what direction they want the city to be going in, and what sort of leadership they want so I think it's fantastic that with me coming into the race there's five of us, and I think that gives people a good choice," Sandford said.
