The notices, which have been distributed to residents in Low Head and Pipe Clay Bay, refer to George Town Council’s June meeting as evidence of Cr Archer and Cr Doug Burt’s “desire for higher rates on some residential properties”.

Former George Town councillor Graeme Neilsen admitted to distributing the material on someone else’s behalf at the September council meeting, and has since announced himself as a candidate for the upcoming local government elections.

Cr Archer said timing of the notices had led her to take the matter further.

“Given we are in the middle of an election campaign where Mr Neilsen is a candidate, it is a bit hard not to see linkages,” she said.

Mr Neilsen, who was charged with a breach of the Electoral Act in 2009, has remained defiant in the wake of the September council meeting, saying he has been “overwhelmed” by supportive responses. He questioned the removal of the audio taken from the June meeting off the council’s website. 

“If the audio was still accessible, interested ratepayers would still be able to hear the mayor referring to rates being a tax and espousing the desire to tax some sectors of the town based on the value of their home,” he said. 

Cr Archer said the audio from the meeting had been taken off the George Town Council website due to the council’s policy of only having the audio files of the previous three meetings uploaded.

“We have a policy of retaining all audio should anyone seek to access a meeting that is not on the website,” she said.

“The way these leaflets are worded means the onus is on the individual receiving the information to go and track down the audio if they wanted to confirm the validity of the information.

“This is done knowing we only retain three months of the audio on the public website, and that people have to go to the council to get recording of prior meetings.”