Mr Sinclair, aged 60, is the owner of the Empire Gym in Wagga and lives in Bourkelands but is building a new house in Lake Albert.

"I've had my own business since 1992; I don't like people telling me what to do, so I can live or die on my own bloody decisions," he said.

Mr Sinclair said he was running as an independent and ungrouped candidate.

"I'm the secretary of the Liberal Party [Wagga branch], but we're not endorsed Liberals, there are a few people in the same situation as me but we are not running as a group," he said.

Mr Sinclair nominated governance and roads as areas where the council needed to do better.

"I think we have got a crap council and I think we can do a whole lot better that what we have done," he said.

"It seems to me that the present councillors seem to be a bit of a bunch, an old boys' club.

"I've got nothing against developers, they do a great job and we have got to have investment in Wagga and development, that's fine, but a developer should not be a councillor, there's too big a conflict of interest."

Mr Sinclair said the city's roads were in a bad state and not safe for drivers even when accounting for heavy rainfall this month.

"If you build the roads right in the first place, that cuts back on the maintenance you have got to do," he said.

"We should build the roads really well ... it might cost you a bit more to do it, but the life-cycle cost of the road would be cheaper rather than slapping them together and having them fall apart and repairing them in a continuous cycle."

Mr Sinclair said he wanted to be a "fresh face" on council with new solutions to problems.

"For the amount of rates and turnover that this council gets in, I don't believe it spends it in a way that's value for money for the residents and ratepayers of Wagga," he said.

"As a management technique, you can KPI [key performance indicator] certain sections of your council against other councils, and I don't know that our council comes out that well.

Mr Sinclair said Wagga's development application process needed to change, based on his own experience and talking to other small business owners.

"It took ages; I've dealt with other councils before, and this council seemed like they were making me jump through hoops," he said.

"If I'm spending money on improving my business, I should go through all the rules and regulations but council should be there to cooperate with people who want to spend money, whether they are residents or business owners."

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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