Speaking at Open Forum, president of the Concerned Inverell Ratepayers Association (CIRA) Caroline Wilson, was fortunate not to be ejected from the meeting after shouting down mayor Paul Harmon when he warned her accusations against councillors and staff members were out of order.

Ms Wilson - who is standing for council at September's election - accused current councillors of trolling the CIRA Facebook page, but fell short of producing any direct evidence to support her accusations.

“The third issue I wish to raise concerns trolling,” she told council.

“For 18 months now, the CIRA Facebook has been subjected to it. We know for sure that some councillors here are involved in this...”

At this point Mayor Paul Harmon tried to warn Ms Wilson that her comments were inappropriate and she raised her voice to override his warning.

“One of you in particular is happy to condone such behaviour by befriending at least one of these trolls. What concerns us though, is that a junior member of staff is also colluding and it concerns us that a culture of rudeness appears to be encouraged and cultivated at council.”

She was allowed to continue and Cr Harmon said Ms Wilson was allowed to finish because he was kind enough to let people have their say.

“She was very, very close to the limit. I think her behaviour is very unacceptable, particularly for someone who is wishing to stand for council,” Cr Harmon said.

“And it is for the community to decide who they want representing them at a level where they think their voice is being truly represented. 

“To my knowledge, no one from council or council staff has been involved in trolling CIRA’s site.”