SA ICAC tries to stop baseless complaints

South Australia's independent corruption watchdog has gone to extraordinary lengths to stop a flow of complaints from a small community.

Commissioner Bruce Lander held a meeting on Kangaroo Island last month after declaring a string of complaints made against the local council to be trivial and vexatious.

"I wanted to be able to make the community aware that the vast majority of complaints that have been made about the Kangaroo Island Council are not worthy of investigation," he told AAP on Thursday.

"I was attempting to persuade the complainants to desist from making complaints that do not involve a potential issue of corruption or serious or systematic misconduct or maladministration."

Half of the 26 complaints made about the council since 2013 came from two people.

Only one was investigated by ICAC and cleared of corruption while four were referred to the ombudsman for investigation of misconduct or maladministration.

Kangaroo Island Council chief executive Andrew Boardman said the council had spent up to $300,000 dealing with the complaints.

"You have a right to make complaints but you reach a point when you say, `is this misappropriation of public funds by stealth?'" he said.

"They've been systematically targeting the council and I believe there has been a campaign to discredit council for unknown reasons."

Mr Boardman said he was not "holding my breath" in anticipation the flow of complaints would stop.