Papamoa resident and former Mount Mainstreet manager Leanne Brown is the first to announce her candidacy for Clayton Mitchell's vacant city council seat.

Nominations don't open until November 22, but Leanne says she's announcing early because she wants to be fair to her current employer.

Leanne Brown intends to become a city councillor in next year's by-election.

Leanne is currently marketing manager for the Bethlehem Town Centre. Before that she was Mount Mainstreet manager for five years.

'And they have been incredibly supportive, so that's really good,” says Leanne. 'It's also a way of removing speculation. If you know you are going to run you might as well say, otherwise it just makes things more complicated.

'And there's quite a few that are still undecided but everyone starts to speculate if you don't come out and say it. I thought I would be the first one out of the blocks to announce that's what I would like to do.”

She thought about standing for council in the last local body elections, 'but I wasn't quite ready to take that step,” she explains.

'I was still at Mount Mainstreet and I was still absolutely loving the role and hadn't quite achieved everything that I wanted to on my list.

'So I decided I would not run but would probably consider it again for the next elections. Of course this position has come up with Clayton resigning, so here I am.”

The other advantage of the early call is it gets her name out before the holiday season when a lot of people will be away and a lot of businesses take their breaks.

'So there's no time like the present to put your hand up,” she adds

Leanne has been a Papamoa resident for 20 years.

Former Mount Papamoa ward councillor Wayne Moultrie won't be drawn on whether he will stand again, saying he will make up his mind closer to the time. The other former Mount Papamoa ward councillor David Stewart could not be contacted.

Former BOP electorate Labour Party candidate and Mount resident Clare Wilson says she is considering standing.