The mayor is raising the issue at the May Dubbo Regional Council meeting on Monday night.

He'll also be looking for support for council to investigate the possibility of hosting an NRL game.

Council believes about 1450 jobs have already been affected from closures due to COVID-19 and another 700 jobs are expected to be affected in the knock on effects.

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It equates to 10 per cent of the jobs in the local government area.

Cr Shields said national data also suggested spending had declined by 20 per cent with food, accommodation and retail stores hit the hardest.

His solution to help aid recovery is the formation of a taskforce, comprised of industry leaders from the business, tourism, real estate and education sectors.

"I'm worried we're certainly going to have a large economic downturn but the goal is to be the region that recovers the quickest," Cr Shields said.

"That's why we need to gather the industry leaders within Dubbo to workout how we recover the fastest.

"The councillors are not the be all and end all of all knowledge in Dubbo. We need to be taking advice from people who work in the field and know their industry very well."

The taskforce will help guide council. Cr Shields said it could come back that more events were needed in the city or red tape needed to be cut.

"My biggest worry is that Dubbo won't grow as fast as what it had been growing. The reality is, of all the Inland cities in NSW, Dubbo has had one of the best runs in the last five years. We need to keep that momentum," he said.

If the recommendation is passed, the group is expected to meet with council staff once a week for six to eight weeks.

Hosting an NRL game will also help boost the economy.

"I've always been hesitant to spend a lot of money getting the NRL to Dubbo because in a good year our motels and shops and restaurants have been doing well," Cr Shields said.

"But going into a potential recession and economic downturn this is the year we do need it. We need to have an event in Dubbo to attract people to the region."

Cr Shields said council would not have the capability to manage the pandemic and host an NRL game this year, but he believed it could be done within the next three years.

Both items will be raised as mayoral minutes at Monday night's meeting. The meeting will be livestreamed on the council website and Facebook page from 5.30pm.