Members of the region’s councils voted for Cr Chaffey to lead the JO until the next election later in 2018 at a meeting in Tamworth on Thursday.

Cr Chaffey said he was looking forward to the challenge of being mayor and chairman of the JO.

“I’ll be approaching this role as I have approached my role with Gunnedah Shire Council with 100 per cent commitment to the role,” Cr Chaffey said.

“If this stint as chairman proves successful I’ll be sure to throw my hat in the ring for the full time role which should hopefully be a big encouragement that things are going in the right direction.”

The position of chairman became vacant after former chairman Andrew Hope step aside for personal reasons.

“I accepted the position at the JO board meeting on Thursday in Tamworth after being nominated at the last meeting,” Cr Chaffey said.

“The need for a new person became apparent when the former chair stood down for personal reasons and I was very pleased to be nominated and in-turn to take the reigns as the interim-chair.”

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Cr Chaffey said the JO’s most recent meeting was very successful.

“As well as settling on an interim-chair, we were also able to resolve some important membership issues with the JO and it is nice to have those things set in stone,” he said.

“We moved on to strategic planning and ways to ensure we work well collabrativly as a JO and continue to strive to get the best results for everyone within our region.

“That is very much my focus as the chairman going forward, ensuring we continue to work well collaboratively and get the best social, economic and sustainability outcomes as we can.”

The election for a permanent Namoi Unlimited JO will occur later in the year when new government legislation takes affect.