Having served as a councillor for nearly 18 years, including four years as mayor, Cr Kendall has been a central figure in many big decisions and important discussions which have helped shape Wagga's recent history.

He believes these talks have gone from productive to unnecessarily hostile in the past few years and if re-elected he hopes to bring an end to the "vicious bullying" between councillors.

"The biggest issue I'd like to address is the elimination of the bullying and harrassment that has occurred in the last term of council," Cr Kendall said.

"The most important thing is that all councillors have a good, workable relationship with each other and that secondly they have that same relationship with council staff.

"It is incredibly important both in council and life itself that we respect one another, respect the community and respect different views."

The 66-year-old said he would be pushing for all the elected councillors to sit down together and agree upon how they should be treating one another.

Cr Kendall is leading the Supporting Diversity ticket, which includes four other candidates from various multicultural backgrounds.

He said improving the diversity of council would be one of his biggest focuses both during the upcoming term and beyond.

"Getting a greater diversity of people on council is critically important so that council can better reflect the values of the community," Cr Kendall said.

"I don't believe we will achieve all of that in this election but it will be my major aim over this next term and probably the term after that."

The "semi-retired" structural engineer is also looking to continue the current growth across Wagga and ensure the city is growing in a sustainable and controller manner.

"With growth comes a high level of expenditure on infrastructure and the like and we need to be making sure we are prepared for that expenditure," Cr Kendall said.

"If we want our personal investments in the city, like our homes, to continue to be valuable then Wagga must continue to grow albeit at a controlled pace.

"The moment a community starts to shrink in size, things like property values also shrink, jobs start to leave the town and then the population starts to leave the town."

Cr Kendall described his years as councillor as a "great honour" and said he still has much to offer the city.

He said he offers a unique perspective to the table, both through his career as a design engineer and his role as a foster parent.

"I believe I come with a unique set of life experiences which always help that debate around the table and I know I've still got more to offer around that table," Cr Kendall said.

He added that he would "never say no" to retaking the position of mayor.

In the lead up to this year's election, The Daily Advertiser has profiled the candidates looking to secure a spot on Wagga City Council.

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