A 35-year veteran of local government in Parramatta, Cr Garrard believes there is a case for the city to come into line with the other cities where the lord mayor is elected by popular vote.

``In other jurisdictions in Australia, lord mayors are directly elected by the citizens at local government elections held every four years,'' Cr Garrard says in the council's first community newsletter for 2010.

Parramatta is the only city with a lord mayor where the community does not have a direct say in the matter and a popularly elected lord mayor would serve a full four-year term.

The city's first lord mayor, Allan Hyam, who served 28 years on council, with a total of nine terms in the top job including three as lord mayor, agrees that the time is right for a community discussion on popular election.

``I have always felt that a popular vote goes hand in glove with the lord mayoralty,'' Mr Hyam said.

``Now is a good time to be talking about it and it was certainly debated at the time that Queen Elizabeth conferred the title by royal decree in 1988,'' Mr Hyam said.

``The only downside, I think, with a popularly elected lord mayor is if you had a council of one mind or persuasion and a lord mayor of another, they could be at odds with one another.''

Mr Hyam also said that he believed that having the status of

a lord mayor had been beneficial for Parramatta.

``It is indicative of the standing of Parramatta and must have an effect on how people view Parramatta. And that is that is must be a place of some substance because it has a Lord Mayor,'' Mr Hyam said.

Cr Garrard said there could be a referendum on the question either before the next scheduled local government elections in 2011