Calling for the government to step in, Burton cites "systemic governance failures, environmental mismanagement, and serious breaches of financial transparency" and demands "immediate action" from Local Government Minister Simon Watts.
"We can no longer trust QLDC to act in good faith or in the best interests of this community," Burton says.
"Years of mismanagement, secrecy and environmental failures — especially around the sewage treatment plant — have damaged the council’s credibility.
"It’s time for the government to step in."
The change.org petition — ‘Public Vote of No Confidence in the Governance of Queenstown Lakes District Council’ — was launched on Sunday. By the Mountain Scene deadline it had attracted 28 signatures, though Burton expects hundreds will follow.
Alleged council failures listed include breaching the Resource Management Act through non-compliance and a lack of transparency in resource management decisions; repeated failures to provide financial disclosure of public funds used; withholding critical information from elected members and the public regarding the ongoing failures at the Shotover wastewater treatment plant; and a "pattern of non-consultation and bad-faith governance", undermining the public trust and integrity of the council.
It calls on Watts to launch an independent investigation of the council’s compliance with statutory obligations; consider appointing a Crown Observer or commissioners to oversee council’s governance; and ensure full public disclosure of its "financial mismanagement and environmental compliance failures".
It says governance failures at this level risk environmental damage, economic harm "and the loss of our region’s reputation for transparency and integrity", the petition says.
But council CEO Mike Theelen wants to see the evidence to back up the petition’s allegations.
"These are very easy tropes to throw around.
"I haven’t seen any evidence, by any party ... that would validate any of [those] accusations."
