The Barkly Regional Council mayor Jefferey McLaughlin has said he will be contesting his second drug driving charge in less than five months, saying his positive roadside test for marijuana police alleged, was a result of “prescription medication”.

Mr McLaughlin confirmed to the ABC that he was the subject of an NT Police media statement from Friday, which said a 42-year-old male driver tested positive for cannabis after his vehicle was stopped by officers in Tennant Creek on Friday morning.

The ABC reported Mr McLaughlin told the organisation he would be pleading not guilty to the charges, saying the positive test was the result of “prescription medication”. The outlet did not detail what exactly the prescription medication was, or explain why the mayor was charged if he had a prescription.

Multiple sources had confirmed to the NT Independent on Friday the man was Mr McLaughlin, who was also charged after being pulled over by police on September 19, when he also allegedly gave a positive road side test result for marijuana.

Mr McLaughlin did not publically say the last positive results was due to prescription medication.

In statement at the time, NT Police then-media manager Rob Cross said police searched a Tennant Creek residence and seized a number of cannabis plants and material, and that Mr McLaughlin had been charged with driving under the influence of drugs, supplying less than a commercial quantity of a schedule 2 drug, possessing less than a traffickable quantity of a schedule 2 drug, and cultivating less than a traffickable quantity of a prohibited plant.

Mr McLaughlin said he would be contesting those charges as well.

After Mr McLaughlin was charged last year, fellow councillors voted to allow him to take personal leave, after he and the council’s chief executive officer Emma Bradshaw maintained it was a personal matter despite him driving a council car during work hours when drug tested by police.

“For me to continue in working as the public face of council through this time will detract from our work,” he said in a statement at the time.

The latest charges, announced late Friday afternoon, comes while he and the CEO are dealing with the fallout of a “review” into “people systems” and “business processes” after reports of a “flood of resignations amid allegations of bullying and mismanagement”.

The mayor and Ms Bradshaw have since had to step aside from any involvement in a so-called review conducted by Melbourne’s Justita Lawyers, because they are subjects of some of the allegations. They both strenuously deny the allegations.