Russell O’Donnell, who was last year fined over the death of an employee, has taken over as Deputy Mayor of the Barkly Regional Council and is currently the acting mayor, after councillors on Thursday voted to grant Mayor Jeff McLaughlin personal leave to deal with drug charges, sources have told the NT Independent.

The leave means Mr McLaughlin will continue to collect his allowance and will still have access to the council car he was allegedly operating at the time of his arrest for drug driving.

The council website said Mr O’Donnell was elected to council for the first time in August last year.

Dianne Stokes had been the deputy mayor and thus acting mayor, however deputy mayors hold the role for a year, with a fresh election held at the council’s ordinary meeting on Thursday.

Mr O’Donnell’s council biography states he has called Barkly home for 30 years, after arriving there at 19. It added that he is passionate about service delivery, providing “information to the public”, and transparency and access of council members to the public.

He is also the director of Dexter Barnes Electrical and was last February fined in the Alice Springs Local Court after pleading guilty to charges relating to the electrocution death of an apprentice in 2019, who WorkSafe NT said was working unsupervised with another electrical apprentice on the roof of the Tennant Creek Fire Station.

NT WorkSafe said the company was fined $80,000 for failing to comply with its health and safety duties and the court also ordered the company to provide $40,000 to the authority as part of an enforceable undertaking to develop an electrical safety campaign.

Mr O’Donnell was convicted and fined $40,000, and was ordered by the court to complete hazard identification and management training, as well as due diligence training.

NT WorkSafe said failing to comply with Section 19 duties under the Work Health and Safety (National Uniform Legislation) Act 2011 (the Act) carries a maximum penalty of $300,000 for a person, and $1.5 million for a company.

There was also a motion at the Thursday council meeting to allow Mr McLaughlin to take personal leave until October 10.

This would see Mr McLaughlin continue to drive his council car as well as continue to collect his taxpayer-funded allowance of close to $8,000 a month, while he awaits a court appearance to answer to charges, including 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 was arrested last Monday morning for alleged drug driving in Tennant Creek, after his vehicle was stopped about 10:15am, and his identity revealed by the NT Independent.

NT Police media manager Rob Cross said police allege he returned a positive road side test result for cannabis, and they later found “a number of cannabis plants and material” at a Tennant Creek residence, but did not specify if it was his house.

The NT Independent this week reported that sources in the town had said Mr McLaughlin was driving a council car when he was allegedly caught with drugs in his system, raising questions about his proposed “personal leave” and what benefits he should be entitled to.

Barkly Regional Council chief executive officer Emma Bradbury later told the ABC that she and council were aware of the matter.