Mr Turnour, who resigned on Friday, indicated he was willing to remain as CEO for the next three months as stipulated in his contract, but after a lengthy closed-door discussion between councillors, he was released immediately of his duties.

Mayor Andrew Daniels and councillors Lynne Vernon, Colin Ferguson and Bob McDonald deliberated for more than 90 minutes in an in-committee discussion before calling Mr Turnour in to deliver their verdict.

Cr Greg Campbell was absent from yesterday’s meeting.

When asked if Mr Turnour jumped or was pushed by council to resign, Cr Andrews said he “pressurised” the CEO.

“We (him and Cr Campbell) told him we were bitterly disappointed with his normally high standard of work,” Cr Daniels said.

“We were just not achieving the goals we wanted to.”

The Mayor refused to divulge further details.

Yesterday, Mr Turnour declined to comment.

Cloncurry Shire Council’s manager of operations Tom Arnold was yesterday appointed acting CEO.

Mr Arnold had worked for council for more than 12 months and was previously a long-time employee of Cloncurry-based business Kiernan’s Transport.

Much of the agenda on yesterday’s monthly council meeting was deferred, with just a handful of planning matters dealt with before the meeting was closed at 11.20am.

The next council meeting will be next Tuesday, starting at 8am.