The General Manager of the Narrabri Shire Council has resigned to retire his Brazilian farm and help out with flood relief.

Narrabri GM Pat White says he is needed on the farm in the small Brazilian town of Florianopolis, retiring just 15 months into a five year contract.

“My wife is from Brazil, Rosanne, and her Mum hasn't been well for quite some time and she's recently had her second inundation with flooding,” Mr White said.

“I’m enjoying my job and enjoying the people I'm working with but, at the end of the day, family does come first.”

Mr White will stay on as general manager until January, at which time a replacement will have been found. Looking back on his stint as GM Mr White said he was proud of his achievements.

“We started putting page numbers on the Council papers, which sounds very simple, but it made a big difference and we now finish Council meetings just on lunchtime, so I think there's been a great improvement in Council meetings.”

Narrabri general meetings did seem swept up in mounds of paper at some points, with business reports regularly running over 500 pages.

Narrabri Mayor, Conrad Bolton, says it is unfortunate the council will lose Mr White so soon, saying he had begun his run as GM quite successfully.

“He's been an excellent sounding board for myself and it will be a disadvantage for the Shire to see him go,” Mayor Bolton said.

“Pat's been integral in regard to where we've got to in the last 12 to 15 months as a Shire... he's going to deliver and he's going to hang around [until January] for which we're really grateful.”