However, the chief executive has firmly rejected the candidate’s characterisation of a meeting between them and any suggestion she tried to discourage him from standing.
The candidate, Andrew Simms, said Dunedin City Council chief executive Sandy Graham made comments aimed at causing him to pause and think about whether he had time to be mayor.
The chief executive was required to encourage people to stand for election — "not to try and talk them out of it", Mr Simms said.
He characterised Ms Graham’s commentary as observing the mayoralty was "a big job, it involves this many hours and, you know, are you sure you’ve really got time to do this?".
"Our discussion included the workloads and time commitments involved in the mayor’s role and that of councillors, but I also wanted to introduce Mr Simms to our governance manager in case Mr Simms had questions in future," she said.
"In no way was this an attempt to discourage Mr Simms from standing."
Ms Graham said her approach was entirely appropriate at all times.
Her recollections had also been verified by the governance manager, she said.
Mr Simms described the meeting as "jaundiced" and he doubted the chief executive’s expressed intent.
"I didn’t interpret it as Ms Graham having concern for my wellbeing or the wellbeing of my family," he said.
"I thought it was wholly inappropriate, really."
Mr Simms alleged there was a broader effort by councillors and the chief executive to undermine his campaign and that of his Future Dunedin team ticket.
He cited as an example Ms Graham’s conduct around Future Dunedin team member Rebecca Twemlow’s council candidacy and role as a Business South board member.
Mrs Twemlow said at the time she felt insulted and undermined by the way the chief executive had highlighted potential conflicts of interest.
Ms Graham said she had behaved professionally and appropriately.
Mr Simms had also this year settled a defamation dispute with Cr Andrew Whiley, who ended up retracting and apologising for inaccurate claims made against Mr Simms.
"There’s certainly a group of councillors and probably others in the senior management of the DCC that don’t necessarily see my arrival on the political scene in Dunedin as being beneficial to them," Mr Simms said.
Ms Graham rejected Mr Simms’ assertion about attempts to undermine his campaign or that of Future Dunedin.
"This is completely without foundation."
Council staff would not normally comment on statements from candidates in an upcoming election but in this case "given the nature of the allegations, I feel it is important to provide the facts I am aware of", she said.
