Peter Abbott was elected mayor, alongside Jarrod Marsden who was elected deputy mayor, both unopposed at the Cobar Shire Council's monthly meeting for February.

Mr Abbott said he was looking forward to his role as mayor, but had big boots to fill.

"It's sort of strange, it's as if I have a small red head looking over my shoulder," he said.

"She was something rather special, and I'd like to think I could even half fill her boots."

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Mr Abbott moved to Cobar from Sydney, about three months after Lilliane Brady in 1969.

Despite being a mining engineer by trade, Mr Abbott said he didn't stay in the mining industry for long and branched out owning a pub and a newsagency in Cobar for almost 23 years.

It wasn't until six years ago he saw a by-election coming up and thought it was time to "contribute something toward Cobar, instead of complaining and whinging".

"I used to spend most of my time rolling in hand grenades under the councillors and stirring up all sorts of pots, but I suddenly decided at that age very close to 70, it was about time I contributed rather than cause havoc, and I did," Mr Abbott said.

Within three months of being on council, he was nominated for deputy mayor, and has since held that position, until Thursday evening when he was elected mayor.

"I haven't regretted it," he said.

"It gives you confidence, because the councillors think you have some sort of ability."

Mr Abbott said he expects, he and Mr Marsden as deputy mayor, would be a good team.

"He's quite intelligent and a good councillor, so I think we'll go alright together," he said.

"He's not afraid to speak his mind as well either, he's been known to rise up if he thinks something's a bit awry."

"He's been on council for some time, and he dwarfs me, he's about six foot five, so I'll have to watch myself I suppose."

Paying tribute to the late mayor of Cobar Lilliane Brady, Mr Abbott said he had work to do, as she always "had her head to the ground".

"I've never struck anybody like it who knew what was going on in town, before just about anybody else, she was a marvel," he said.

Mr Abbot said one of the big items on the agenda was trying to change the Fringe Benefits Tax and Living Away From Home Allowance to encourage workers, particularly from the mine who fly in and fly out, to relocate to Cobar.

He said at the moment the system encouraged travelling rather than residence, and said they were also missing out of financial assistance grants as a result of these workers not living locally.

"We suffer in financial assistance grants as well .... they're constructed in such a way, because it's where you live most of the time, where you're considered a member, and if you're live say somewhere else and fly in, then you tend to be part of the place you come from.

"So we get no percentage of the grants from those part people.

"It's a case of just trying to get more people to bring their families and kids out to town.

"We've got a situation where the schools lose teachers because there's less children available, and there's all sorts of flow on effects like that."

Another situation Mr Abbott said they were hoping to straighten out with the taxation system was the shortage of medical practitioners in Cobar.

"The further out west, the harder it becomes," he said.

"They perhaps come to Dubbo, but then as you go from Narromine further west, it becomes progressively harder."

"You're virtually competing with every other shire or area in NSW, which means you've got to offer all sorts of extra goodies, and even then, you're flat out getting anybody.

"We have been lucky lately, we've had a few, but we've also over a period of time had a lack of medical practitioners, that includes nurses and workers for the Lilliane Brady village as well."

While it 'looks like' the drought may be over, Mr Abbott said now is the time they should be working to safeguard the shire from future water shortage.

He said high on their agenda was getting the NSW government to resume responsibility for the pipelines, including the pipeline from Hermidale to Cobar, which was "rapidly deteriorating".

"The cost of water to us, is getting astronomic," Mr Abbott said.

He said the original pipeline was installed in 1963 and was intended to last 80 years, however because the joints weren't wrapped correctly, along with the soil reacting with it, it has become "almost completely useless".

"There was a second pipeline put in the mid-80s and it's rapidly going the same way," he said.

"The government spent $500 million on the pipeline from the Murray to Broken Hill, so I can't see why [we cant be allocated] $70 million to upgrade or replace the existing line."

"We think, we should get a better deal because of the amount of royalties the mine generate, and the state government achieves quite a few dollars from us, from various mines in the district."