Charlie Clark is running for mayor.

The three-term city councillor announced his Saskatoon mayoral bid Wednesday and officially became the only other candidate so far to challenge sitting mayor Don Atchison.

“I want, and I am ready, to be your mayor,” Clark said in front of a crowd of energetic supporters at the Delta Bessborough hotel.

“My experience as a city councillor has made it so clear to me that we have all of the elements in place, right here in Saskatoon, to become a model prairie city for the 21st century.”

Clark, Saskatoon’s Ward 6 city councillor, was first elected to council in 2006 and was recently voted best councillor in Planet S magazine.

He opened his campaign speech calling for change in the mayor’s seat.

“I’ve learned the limits of what can be achieved as a city councillor without progressive leadership in the mayor’s chair, because being mayor is not a ceremonial position,” he said.

His speech outlined his plans to balance growth between downtown and suburban neighbourhoods, to broaden the city’s economy and to implement a different approach to policing. He also stressed “the basics.”

“Job number one is we get the basics rights,” he said. “We can build a city that gets your streets swept early, gets your snow removed efficiently and gets potholes fixed promptly.”

Clark, who is married with three kids, holds degrees in education from the University of Toronto, in conflict resolution from the University of Winnipeg and in environmental studies from York University.

He sits on numerous city committees and boards, including the transportation committee, the finance committee, the Meewasin Valley Authority board and the board of police commissioners.

He said in his speech he wants to see the city take an “innovative, relationship-based” approach to policing.

“Safe neighbourhoods are not created by trying to arrest your way out of crime,” he said.

He also promised to avoid divisive politics in his campaign.

“This is not going to be a campaign that is about left versus right, that is about pro-development versus anti-development, that is about downtown versus the suburbs, that is about car drivers versus bus riders versus cyclists. My Saskatoon is not a city of divided camps and simplistic labels.”

Sitting mayor Don Atchison confirmed in late 2014 he’d be seeking re-election in the next mayoral race.

He said in a statement Wednesday he’s yet to start campaigning.

“Right now I am focussed on the work of ensuring families are safe and secure and Saskatoon continues to be a successful and prosperous city,” Atchison’s statement read. “There will be time this fall to campaign.”

Atchison has been in the mayor’s seat since 2003 and, in October 2015, became Saskatoon’s longest-serving mayor.

He’s currently serving his fourth term.

The municipal election is set to be held on Oct. 26.

--- with files from Matt Young and Angelina Irinici