Council tires of complainant

The latest attack on the Queenstown Lakes District Council by a regular complainant has proved fruitless, QLDC chief executive Duncan Field said. 

“Over the years the council has endured a long series of attacks over its credibility from Wanaka ratepayer Andre Prassinos. These have consistently proved not only to be without substance but also an unnecessary expense to the ratepayer,” Mr Field said.

The most recent complaint against the council related to the council’s demolition of a fence in Cardrona, erected by Mr Prassinos and his associate Greg Stewart.

“They (Prassinos and Stewart) made a wilful damage complaint to the police. I have today received a letter from the police to the complainants confirming the council’s actions were not criminal,” Mr Field said.

A great deal of council’s time and resource was spent last year after Mr Prassinos complained to the Auditor General about the purchase of CivicCorp.

“After a lengthy investigation the Auditor General found the council had followed appropriate procedures and good practise,” Mr Field said.

A recent complaint to the Ombudsman’s Office about a decision concerning compliance action taken in regards to complaints by Mr Prassinos regarding his neighbours had again proved a waste of time.

“The Ombudsman found that the decisions taken by Council were reasonable and appropriate,’ Mr Field said.

A litany of complaints from Mr Prassinos stemmed back over six years.

“I could go on and mention the complaints about the Snowpark and the Bra Fence. Quite honestly it has grown somewhat tiresome,” Mr Field said.

There was little the Council could do about the complaints.

“At the end of the day any individual can exercise their right to scrutinise council business. We can only appeal to individuals not to exploit that right and continue to deal with each complaint in a professional and reasonable manner,” he said.