Tamworth's community leaders need to start planning for recovery from coronavirus lockdown now, one councillor believes.
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But Cr Glen Inglis said the city that emerges from its COVID-19 lockdown could be different from the one that went in.
He called on Tamworth Regional Council to create what he called Bounceback Tamworth, a committee of community leaders to guide the city through the "recovery phase" after the end of the coronavirus threat.
The council-led advisory group would bring together young and old, business and employees, farmers and city-slickers, churches, sporting organisations and business, and average residents of the city, he said on Monday.
During the "survival phase" of coronavirus lockdowns and mass unemployment it would act as an interface between the three levels of government and Tamworth's community.
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But Cr Inglis said the city also needs to start planning for the future - and it needs to think big.
"As a group, and as the months roll on, our opinions and our attitudes - I think - about a whole lot of things are going to change," he said.
He said Tamworth needs to "see this disaster as an opportunity as well."
"What have we learnt from this that can enable us to do things better in the future?"
He said it was a chance to rethink what Tamworth does and how it does it - to use the coronavirus lockdown to press the reset button and start afresh.
He said the community after the crisis would be more willing to accept change quicker, even without the usual lengthy period of consultation or approvals.
The Bounceback Tamworth working group could be a vessel for developing that change, he said.
On Monday Cr Inglis told Tamworth Regional councillors he intended to put the idea before the next council meeting.
But mayor Col Murray indicated in Monday's extraordinary meeting he would like to sponsor the idea.
"I really like that idea and I think it's got a lot of merit," Cr Murray said in an interview.
"Sure, we're still getting to understand the depth and breadth of this crisis but we need to be really starting to think about the recovery."
The mayor yesterday called on the community to put its head together and bring ideas to soften the blow of the national lockdown on Tamworth to the council.
Councillor Glenn Inglis said the name Bounceback Tamworth is based on a metaphor used on the weekend by Prime Minister Scott Morrison - the "snap back" of government stimulus after the end of the coronavirus crisis.
