Tasman's veteran deputy mayor, Tim King, is making a bid for the district's mayoralty.
Tasman District Council's deputy mayor Tim King is putting his hat in the ring for the top job. Photo: RNZ
Long-time mayor Richard Kempthorne is stepping down at this year's election.
Mr King, a farmer, has held the deputy position for 18 years and was encouraged by members of the community to step up to the mayoralty.
"It's been nice that lots of people have asked," he said. "Yeah, it's quite a big responsibility because obviously everyone has different reasons why they ask you.
"I guess like every political role it's pretty hard to please everybody, so we'll just have to wait and see what happens."
Mr King is the fourth candidate to enter the mayoral race alongside the first-term councillor Dean McNamara; a repeat candidate, Maxwell Clark; and Motueka Community Board chair Brent Maru.