STANDALONE?: Mayor Peter Butler.
Although there's been talk of other contenders, as of last week incumbent Central Hawke's Bay mayor Peter Butler was the only person putting his name forward to be in the running for the council's top job next term.
It's nothing new in Central Hawke's Bay for potential candidates to
keep their cards close to their chest until nearing election time, but Mr Butler said he would be quite happy not to have to campaign.
Last election the only rival for the mayoral seat was former CHB mayor Trish Giddens, and she confirmed this week she would not be running again, with a move to the greater Hawke's Bay area in the pipeline over the coming year.
Mr Butler said that with amalgamation off the agenda, if he was elected he would look forward to continuing his campaign to maintain low-figure rate rises.
"The reason I'm sitting at this desk now is because we were facing unsustainable rate rises of 9.9 per cent each year for nine years," he said.
