Auckland's deputy mayor said he had butterflies in his stomach after he heard of his new appointment.

Bill Cashmore was formally announced in the role yesterday.

"I went from feeling happy and elated to nervous and anxious. I've been through all the emotions today."

He said his role is going to be about making sure the Council has a good sense of collaboration around the table.

"It's going to be a challenging time. We've got good foundations but we've got a lot to do.

"We need a lot of everything and we need it in a hurry, so we've got to find means and ways to achieve that to make Aucklander's lives better. Simple as that."

Mr Cashmore said despite his nomination of former deputy mayor Penny Hulse to continue in the role, he can understand why Phil Goff went for a clean sweep.

"Penny's set a high bar, [she's] a very capable lady. I have a huge amount of respect for her and if I can measure up to some portion of her bar then I'll be happy to succeed at that."

When asked about their being a lack of ethnicity representation in the Council, Cashmore said: "I quite agree."

"The committee structure, and the people who will be put into lead positions around it, is not perfect because what we've been given is what the voters of Auckland decided would be their representatives."

However he said Council is very conscious of making sure that it can deliver things that the city needs.

"We are going to amp up the advisory panels. We really want to work with the advisory panels and their interface of council, both politicians and staff.

"I think that's important because we have senior, disability and ethnicity panels. We really need to lift the delivery that those panels are putting into our decision making and I think that's going to be one of our key focuses.

"The councillors who've been appointed to lead those functions will be expected to really make those panels more effective and deliver more information and more guidance to council."

The Franklin Councillor said his appointment to deputy mayor will not change his involvement with the district.

"My role as Councillor for Franklin won't really change. I'll still keep heavily involved in our community as much as I possibly can. I really enjoy being the Councillor for the south. It's been a lot of fun."

He said there is a huge amount of growth and economic development happening in the Franklin area and he really wants to be a part of making sure that change is for the positive.

"Creating employment for the people that are going to be living in the new housing developments. Help businesses expand. That we get the infrastructure right for our transport station and get that efficiency of product that we're losing now at $2.5 -3 billion a year on gridlock on our roads."