Skin in the game
CR Eddy Kontelj has been around the block a few times before.
He was elected in 2010, he was front and centre when the mayor and councillors were sacked by the State Government and now he is the portfolio holder for central and civic Geelong.
Last month he was pictured in the Geelong Advertiser with developers Bill Votsaris, Paul Votstaris and Cam Hamilton celebrating a new development. The picture shows the developers with arms in the air and the councillor smling for the camera.
It’s a landmark project, on the corner of Malop and Moorabool streets.
The development team stated they hoped to have their $5 million project completed within 12 months, so gaining council permission was a big deal.
Fast forward to this month and Cr Kontelj has convinced his fellow councillors to establish a new “CBD engagement task force”.
This task force will be comprised of “prominent, experienced and respected businesspeople”. So anybody can be involved, as long as you are “own or operate a business or own a commercial property in the 3220 postcode”. You just have to self nominate, but nominations close on Thursday so be quick.
The task force will be advising on things like parking, planning and commercial rates.
These are things that have a direct impact on their business, so this task force is going to expose the council to some potential for accusations of conflict of interest.
But Cr Kontelj does not see this as a problem. He told the Geelong Advertiser: “I don’t know if there is a (conflict of interest issue), we’re just asking for feedback and advice... I don’t know what conflicts of interest would need to be managed...”
Conflict of interest is easy to define and, if unattended, it can be a disaster for community confidence in local government decision-making.
The Municipal Association of Victoria has pages of detail and description to guide local governments around this minefield.
Basically, if you (or a member of your family) have any direct financial or indirect interest in a matter, and if you are advising or voting on that matter, then you have a conflict of interest. So, you have a duty to declare this interest.
This is transparency. It is one of the firewalls that protects local government and council workers from accusations of acting in their own self-interest or benefitting from council decision-making.
So it’s a little surprising that Cr Kontelj is promoting the new task force on the CoGG website by saying he encourages “eligible and experienced business owners/ operators and commercial property owners to nominate, who have ‘skin in the game’...”
Having “skin in the game” is pretty much the definition of having a potential for a conflict of interest.
For this task force to have credibility, the council needs to take this seriously.
It will need to make the meetings publicly accessible, publish minutes and ensure each participant openly discloses their financial investments in the CBD postcode.
The ratepayers of Geelong deserve to know who is being platformed to make the recommendations to the council about “public transport, parking, the Central Geelong Marketing Committee, central Geelong marketing levy and commercial rates”.
We already have a raft of lobby groups and business representatives; G21, Committee for Geelong and the Chamber of Commerce are significant public amplifications.
If the CBD business community needs another platform, we have to ask the question, what is wrong with the current systems of consultation? How is their message not already heard?
When it comes to the future of our city, every resident of Geelong has “skin in the game”. The role of councillors is to represent all their constituents, not prioritise one set of voices over all others.
The council’s community engagement promise says the city will “make sure engagement activities are inclusive, accessible and seek a diverse range of perspectives and ... let the community know how their input has influenced our decision”.
True consultation invites voices from a diverse range of backgrounds and interests.
Ross Mueller is a freelance writer and director