AFTER five years of serving the Brewarrina Shire Council General Manager Jeff Sowiak has decided it is time for him to move on.

Mr Sowiak announced his resignation last month, and will soon move south to the NSW Riverina district to take up the General Manager position at Balranald Shire Council.

Mr Sowiak said he first came to the Brewarrina shire in 2017 from Queensland and looks back on his time with the council very fondly.

"I was looking for new opportunities, somewhere where I can make a difference and Brewarrina was a council I had some familiarity with so I decided to give it a shot as General Manager," Mr Sowiak said.

With projects ranging from the complete sealing of the Goodooga Road, to the redevelopment to the Brewarrina pool, to establishing the Goodooga bore baths as a new tourism and economic opportunity, Mr Sowiak's time with Brewarrina Shire Council has indeed kept him busy.

He said the he had been proud to secure $54 million in grant funding for projects like these over the past three years - more than $30 million was sourced last year alone - while also providing local work opportunities.

"We always tried to employ locals wherever possible - my staffing went from from about 55 up to 110 at one stage," he said.

"As the funding has been cut back, we're reducing now, but there are people here that potentially may have been unemployed for a very long period of time living in the community and we were able to give them a long-term opportunity in terms of having a career."

With more than four decades of experience working in local government, Mr Sowiak made it clear to the council when he began that he wanted to have an impact on the community.

Looking back, he said he hoped he had left a lasting legacy in the projects he helped complete in Brewarrina and, after a period of time being remote from his wife and family, he was hoping to reunite with them as he undertakes his newest challenge in Balranald Shire.

ABOVE: Mr Sowiak will soon begin the same role at the Balranald Shire Council in the southern part of NSW. Image: Jeff Sowiak Facebook.

"I think the biggest challenges there is bringing a little bit of stability to the organisation and hopefully, economic stimulus and economic development opportunities in tourism, mining and manufacturing," he said.

"(While in Brewarrina), I've certainly developed and enhanced my skills in terms of lobbying for funding and just basically listening and learning and being empathetic with the community and responding to community needs."

Mr Sowiak was also highly complementary of his working relationship with the councillors and staff he had worked alongside over the years, including former mayor Phil O'Connor.

Mr O'Connor's successor as Brewarrina Mayor, and a councillor for most of Mr Sowiak's tenure, Vivian Slack-Smith said she wished him well in his future endeavours.

"I've only been Mayor since the start of this year but he had always been good to work with," Mayor Slack-Smith said.

"He had a vast knowledge of local government and had been a big help for me to try and swim through it."

Mr Sowiak's last day with Brewarrina Shire Council will be Thursday 21 April before starting his new position the following week.

An extra-ordinary meeting of Brewarrina Shire Council will take place next Wednesday 13 April where an interim General Manager will be appointed, likely someone already within the staff.

Mayor Slack-Smith said council had also approached two recruitment companies to begin looking for Mr Sowiak's permanent replacement, however this process could take anywhere from three to six months.