Former deputy mayor Ron Ellsworth will be conducting a poll to gauge his chances of winning the deputy mayor seat in the municipal election this fall.

The businessman and community activist said he's eyeing the seat he held from 2005 until 2009 rather than the mayor's chair.

"I've ruled that out. The question is, I guess, where to run, and we are looking at different options," he said. "The poll that's being done is looking at the deputy mayor's seat."

Former deputy mayor Ron Ellsworth, pictured above during his time on city council, has his eye on the seat again. (CBC)

Ellsworth ran for mayor in 2009, but didn't win the vote.

He said there have been a number of issues in the last few months that have piqued his interest in returning to council.

Not the least of which is the heated debate about the proposed harbour fence.

Ellsworth said the city made a mistake in its support of the proposal.

"I don't feel it's the mandate of the municipal council to support federal infrastructure," he said.

"The fence issue itself is a different piece, but the funding of the fence, no I wouldn't have supported that."

Ellsworth will make a final decision about whether or not he will run by mid-February.

Deputy Mayor not surprised

Shannie Duff, current deputy mayor of St. John's, says she is not surprised that Ellsworth is eyeing her chair.

She said that there have been rumours circulating that he may take a run, as well as plenty of others.

"I am aware of the fact that there are quite a number of people, some internal, that are interested in my job, because it's a good sort of jumping point to the mayoralty," Duff said.

"But that's democracy, and that's fine with me."

What concerns Duff is how early the talks have started, considering there are still seven months until the election.

"Its puts us in what I call the silly season," she said. "Things tend to become political and you don't always get the best decision-making in that context."