The Innisfail-Tully super council election campaign is heating up, with a new mayoral hopeful and police investigations into the theft of a candidate's roadside signs.

Former Johnstone Shire councillor Johanne Stitt has made it a four-person battle for mayoral honours, announcing yesterday that she would run against her former mayor Neil Clarke, Cardwell Shire Mayor Joe Galeano and recently retired Tully Sugar secretary Bill Shannon.

Ms Stitt said losing her position last year, when the State Government sacked all nine Johnstone Shire councillors after in-fighting and claims of bullying and biased decision-making, had in no way put her off.

“I missed the role,” she said. “Now I want to move forward with a teams approach to management, by encouraging councillors to become educated about their roles and financial systems and by being mindful the one-size-fits-all approach isn’t acceptable for such a diverse community.”

Ms Stitt’s announcement comes amid claims of election skulduggery in the region where 10 roadside signs featuring candidate Bill Shannon have been swiped from Silkwood, Innisfail and Tully.

“It’s disappointing: you can see where someone’s driven into the grass and wrenched them out of the ground,” Mr Shannon said.