Not convinced of the point of having a mayor? The Liberal Democrat candidate probably agrees with you.
John Appleby is running to be the first North of Tyne mayor but he's hardly flush with hope and optimism about the transformative potential of the role.
The 62-year-old is as coolly pragmatic about the possibilities of the job as you might expect a Cambridge-educated mathematician to be.
Whoever is elected, he believes, will be hamstrung by the limitations of the powers afforded under the deal struck between the three councils and the Government.
So his pitch is clear: If we're going to have a mayor at all, we might as well have an experienced, realistic one - and he thinks we'd be better off with an anti-Brexit one to boot.
Born in Leeds but a resident of the region for 35 years ("I'm not a Geordie but my children are"), Mr Appleby has worked at Newcastle University since the 1980s and served as a councillor in Newcastle from 2004 to 2007.
He was the first candidate to officially throw his hat in the ring for the role but it's fair to say his earliness shouldn't be misread as giddiness over the oppotunity.
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Not only does he have "reservations" about the efficacy of mayoral systems in the first place, he's even more sceptical about the specific powers which will be available to the North of Tyne's mayor.
He said: "I think the deal is a poor one but it's there so we should do it well and I think I'm the best candidate to do that.
"The other candidates have good ambitions and some good ideas but the reality is is that being mayor will involve a lot of hard-nosed, organisational work.
"It would be lovely to be able to say in two or three years the mayor has been able to make some great progress but in my experience that's not how these things work.
"These things are hard and slow.
"I'm not going to let everybody down because I'm not going to promise things I won't deliver."
In a thinly veiled barbed aimed at Labour's candidate Jamie Driscoll, he said "a complete transformation of society and reversing austerity seems a big pitch".
He added: "I'm the most experienced candidate and I don't want to talk the others down but I think there are promises being made that can't be kept."
But he has set out a series of "priorities": tackling environmental problems (he's a keen cyclist); securing more meaningful devolution; boosting educational standards.
He says opposition to the Iraq War was a major part of what drove him to get involved in politics and also credits his faith - his wife is a Church of England priest - with informing his views.
One big thing which he claims sets him apart from the other candidates is his staunchly anti-Brexit position and says he's the most vocal about the threat he believes Brexit poses to the region.
But the fact remains that a majority of voters in the North of Tyne voted to Leave the EU - so, if elected, would he campaign for a Remain vote as mayor?
"I would have to be very careful because the mayor will be representing three authorities where many voters chose to leave and many still would", he said.
"I would not want to go around telling people they're wrong but most of the analysis shows the North East will be worse off after Brexit and the whole thing is a complete mess."
Asked who he would use his second preference vote for, he said: "I will use it, I'm not willing to say who for but I'm happy to say it won't be for Ukip."
So can he win? The Liberal Democrats have suffered greatly since going into coalition with the Conservatives - a decision he defends but says wasn't handled correctly - but Mr Appleby thinks he has a better chance than some have given him credit for.
He said: "I think I've got a good chance because Brexit is a factor.
"It would be stupid to try and put a probability on it but I think if voters look at who and what is on offer carefully I think I have a chance."
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