Gretchen Robertson, chairwoman of the last council, says the council will vote on the leadership in the usual democratic process and each councillor has a responsibility to consider who has the right skills and temperament to lead the organisation at the time.
Cr Laws, who was the top-polling councillor in the Dunstan ward for the Otago Regional Council in the recent election, said he felt there had been a shift in the council with the election results and a mandate for change given by the voters.
The election was a first since the council formed in 1989 where Dunedin representatives were in the minority compared with the other regions, he said.
Dunedin lost a seat because of population changes, with the Dunstan ward growing to four councillors.
Green Party Dunedin candidate Alan Somerville is a returning councillor, holding off one-term councillor Elliot Weir and fellow incumbent Tim Mepham in a close contest.
The rest of the council is set to be made up of Dunedin representatives Hilary Calvert, Andrew Noone, Gretchen Robertson and newcomer Chanel Gardner, Moeraki ward member Kevin Malcolm, Molyneux representatives Robbie Byars, also a newcomer, and Kate Wilson, and Dunstan constituency members Mr Laws, Gary Kelliher, and new representatives Matt Hollyer and Neil Gillespie.
With the turnover on the council there would be five new councillors.
The new council represented a new era for the Central Lakes region and the real opportunity to advocate for much improved policies and services for the area, Cr Laws said.
"We’ve suffered from Dunedin’s dictates for too long," he said.
"There are massive challenges ahead of us — from protecting and preserving our outstanding lakes, to having an effective pest plan that actually works, to reducing Dunedin’s appetite for our ratepayer monies, to representing our communities when it comes to fast-track projects."
Cr Laws ran on the Vision Otago ticket — a group of candidates with three elected — Ms Calvert, Cr Laws and Cr Kelliher.
The ticket had policies such as reducing rates, eliminating the 5% automatic salary rise for council staff and pushing for a fairer public transport model to reflect who used the service and where it was available.
The Vision Otago group ran on these policies so that was what they were going to do, Cr Laws said. It would be wrong to not bring in the policies if they were elected on them. He was confident it would work.
"I have done it before when I was the mayor of Whanganui 20 years ago. We had the lowest rate rises for six years in the country," he said.
In Whanganui, a chief executive who had worked in the private sector was brought in.
"We took the approval rates in Whanganui from the mid 30s to the high 60s."
He said new policy would be focused on customer service.
Others had the appropriate skills and needed to be based in Dunedin. He was 220km away and had a job as a radio announcer.
He declined to say who he wanted in the role but described former chairman Andrew Noone as a safe pair of hands.
Cr Robertson was chairwoman in the last triennium, but Cr Laws said it was "pretty obvious" her time as chairwoman was up.
Cr Robertson said regional council leadership was determined differently from mayoralties.
"Each triennium, all councillors are sworn in at the inaugural meeting and then collectively vote to choose their chair at the first meeting. That process is normal, transparent and democratic.
"At the moment, each elected member is yet to be sworn in at the inaugural meeting. No titles or positions are held as the inaugural meeting is some time away yet — October 29.
"Every councillor has a responsibility to consider who has the right skills and temperament to lead the organisation at that time. It’s not about political labels — it’s about capability, fairness and serving the people of Otago well ... the outcome will reflect the collective view of the new council, as it should in a healthy democracy."
When contacted, Cr Noone said he was not interested in being the chairman. He had taken over from Marian Hobbs when she was ousted from the council in July 2020.
He said it was a case of "been there, done that" with regard to the role and it was not something he wanted to pursue.
