The name of the new Lismore mayor is a hot topic around the local area and now two prominent former councillors have weighed in with their views.

The election of the new mayor is set to be the main talking point at the upcoming council meeting on February 9.

Former mayor Isaac Smith retired from politics effective from February 1.

Mr Smith believes any of his former deputy mayors would be a good candidate to take over from him.

“There’s some really good choices to be interim mayor until the elections later this year, any of the deputy mayors I have had over my term would do a fantastic job,” he said.

“Neil Marks is the current deputy mayor, before that there was Darlene Cook, Elly Bird and Vanessa Ekins.

“I think all four of them have the balance to look after our city and the care it takes to take on the top job.”

Former councillor Gianpiero Battista said he believes current deputy mayor Neil Marks or Cr Nancy Casson would be astute choices.

“In my opinion, Nancy has a lot of heart, she has a lot of passion for the community which could be a good asset for Lismore,” he said.

“It’s been mainly a Green and Labor council (in the last 12 years), in my opinion, the council has not improved in terms of financially and provision of services so I reckon the other side should be given a go.”

“I would like to see Neil (Marks) or Nancy as the mayor … one’s got a bit more experience and ones got a bit more passionate but, in my opinion, either one of those would be okay.”