Invercargill mayoral hopeful Andrew Clark says a "frosty" relationship with brother Nobby didn't stop the current mayor sharing private thoughts on the current council.

Clark is visiting Invercargill this week from hometown Nelson, where he is also contesting the Tasman mayoralty under first name Maxwell.

His late nomination for Invercargill's top job drew a cold public response from Nobby Clark, who questioned why he was standing in two places under different names.

But Andrew Clark claims the pair had a long phone conversation when he made his nomination and Nobby even shared thoughts about the council and councillors, which ran to eight pages of notes.

Andrew said he was then "really surprised" when Nobby went public with his criticism the following day.

"I put it down to his health needs and he was extremely stressed, and he acknowledged that," he said.

Asked what his relationship was like with older brother Nobby now, Andrew replied it was "a bit frosty".

Andrew had also reached out to Nobby for a catch-up during his southern trip but received an impolite response.

"I rang him yesterday or the day before and told him I'm coming down, I'd like to catch up with him, wouldn't that be nice... And he didn't pick up the phone, he sent an email which was less than courteous," Andrew said on Monday.

Nobby Clark. Photo: LDR/supplied

Mayor Nobby Clark was approached by Local Democracy Reporting but did not wish to comment.

Andrew Clark has contested the Tasman mayoralty multiple times and will try again this election alongside his Invercargill bid.

The mayoral hopeful is campaigning in the south on water security, saying no to residential water meters, keeping rates down and sorting council "dysfunction".

He has previously made headlines for a land dispute, receiving money from a gang-affiliated event, and spreading misinformation about a dam bursting.

LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air