James Roncon said he spent it meeting people to get a 'lay of the land'.

"I had a meeting with the mayor mid-morning and John Rayner [the former acting general manager] a couple of times throughout the day, so it was pretty full-on," he said.

"I'm more a listener than a talker, so it's really about asking questions and taking things in. But I'm aware of events because it was laid out to me in the interview, and I subscribe to the Armidale Express, so nothing was a surprise."

The priority in the next few weeks is to develop an understanding Mr Roncon said, and not spend too much time researching the past.

"Mainly that's because people will want to share those stories with me anyway, and it is always handy to know the background but from the council's perspective it's about drawing a line in the sand to move forward," he said.

"We need to make sure if relationships have broken down we are in a position where we can start to restore those and ensure people get back the confidence that their council can deliver what is important to them."

Mr Roncon has had more than 23 years of proven experience in senior leadership and executive management roles across public and commercial business sectors including the position of general manager at Broken Hill City Council since April 2016.

"Listening to people on my first day, I was drawing a lot of parallels with the time I first started at Broken Hill and needed to recruit a raft of senior executives," Mr Roncon said.

"There was also some disarray amongst senior councillors and former senior staff, and those relationships needed to be built.

"Councillors have a very important role to play, and we need to get information to them to help them make informed decisions. There are some key experiences I have had that will mean we can make some inroads fairly quickly."