Warrumbungle Shire Council's Roger Bailey has resigned as General Manager (GM).

Councillors accepted Mr Bailey's resignation at a closed Extraordinary General Meeting on Thursday 31 October.

The council's Director of Environment and Development, Leeanne Ryan has stepped in as Acting GM.

Mr Bailey will take up the role of Interim General Manager at Cootamundra–Gundagai Regional Council in the Riverina after its current GM leaves in mid-December this year.

"I'm not getting any younger. I'm getting to that stage of life where we're starting to look at other issues, or other priorities, for us, and that other priority is family. So, we identified a number of areas which we thought would be good to be moving to for family and future reasons," he said.

"My wife, she grew up in West Wyalong, so that's less than an hour and a half away, and then we've got other family and friends around that region.

“Given the journey that we have been through over the past seven years this has been a difficult and emotional decision to arrive at.”

Before joining Warrumbungle Shire in 2018, Mr Bailey had been GM at Lachlan, Leeton and Lithgow Councils.

He took the wheel at a rough period in the shire's history, when the Office of Local Government was investigating it over issues including councillor conduct and water security.

Warrumbungle Mayor Kathryn Rindfleish said she is sad to see Mr Bailey go.

"Through his leadership, Warrumbungle Council by almost every objective measure is a high performing council, which is a far cry from where we were only seven years ago," Cr Rindfleish said.

"At the time of his arrival, Council was facing an investigation by the NSW Office of Local Government, a failing Council housing project, the area was entering an extreme drought, Council struggling financially.

“During his time Roger was able to successfully navigate the organisation through those dilemmas plus deal with many additional challenges."

The Western Plains App understands the former council had opted in mid-this year not to renew Mr Bailey's contract as General Manager, which was set to end in early 2025.

Baradine-raised councillor Denis Todd said Mr Bailey had been an "excellent" GM.

"You could contact him any hour of the day," Cr Todd said.

"He was the best manager there in 25 years."