Gunnedah Shire Council re-elects mayor and deputy, who hope their strong bond will lead Gunnedah into the future

That's according to mayor Jamie Chaffey, who was re-elected to the position unopposed on Tuesday afternoon.

"It's quite exciting to see the mix of elected members that we have on GSC," he said.

"I believe they bring some strong skills and abilities and I'm really looking forward to that benefit being realised by the whole community."

Returning to the second-in-charge position is deputy mayor Robert Hooke, who is no stranger to working alongside Cr Chaffey.

He was by Cr Chaffey's side for his first term as mayor, and is just as excited to be with him for his second.

"We're lucky, he's a real driving force and a leader," he said.

"We work very well with our executive management team. They're an extremely good and enthusiastic young team and it's really lovely to be part of that.

"It's a great privilege to be deputy mayor and be able to support the mayor and also to be part of what I think is going to be a very exciting and dynamic new council for Gunnedah."

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Cr Chaffey told the Leader his focus would now turn towards delivering two major projects which are already underway - the Gunnedah Saleyards redevelopment and the Gunnedah Koala Sanctuary.

A keen advocate for rural health services, he also wants to make sure Gunnedah's struggles in attracting medical professionals remain at the forefront of people's minds.

"The new hospital is currently being designed and construction will happen at some point during this term," he said.

"But also we need to focus on looking at solutions around housing. We have a population that's growing now but we also have a lot of vacancies in our business community."

Cr Hooke said the local government area's hardest problem to solve, and the most pressing, is still the doctor shortage.

"We really are at crisis point," he said.

"There's only so much that council can do. We've certainly engaged the services of the rural doctor network and they're working very, very closely with our local doctors and council to try and resolve the issue.

"So watch this space."

Cr Hooke and Chaffey were among nine councillors elected at the December local government election, including Colleen Fuller, Murray O'Keefe, David Moses, Kate McGrath, Ann Luke, Juliana McArthur and Robert Hoddle.

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