At its meeting in Tapanui on May 29, board members were shocked to learn an unidentified individual had made multiple spurious submissions to the Clutha District Council under other residents' names, on the question of civic tree management in the town.
When it met again on July 10, the board agreed to provide the culprit with an amnesty period to August 16, during which they could step forward and admit their wrongdoing to Mayor Bryan Cadogan.
During the board's meeting last week, Mr Cadogan said his office had not been contacted.
However, council investigations had since provided several clues to the identity of the person, which the board resolved to pass on to police in lodging a formal complaint.
Board chairwoman Barbara Hanna said the culprit had been given a fair chance.
''The board feels it's not fair to those people whose names were implicated during the process. I had hoped, knowing this community, someone would come forward, but that hasn't happened. We need to demonstrate this sort of behaviour is unacceptable, and has consequences.''
Mrs Hanna said yesterday the board was still considering whether to contact Tapanui or Balclutha police to escalate the matter.
A Balclutha police spokesman said any complaint received would be taken seriously.
''Police investigate all complaints received but to date we have received no complaint from the council on this matter, and cannot comment further.''
