By Charlene Macaulay
A panel of six councillors will help decide the recipients of Wyndham council’s annual community grants program, following a divisive debate at last week’s council meeting.
Councillor Josh Gilligan moved a motion to establish a community grants program evaluation panel, whereby six councillors – including at least one councillor from each ward – will consider and vote on all eligible applications submitted through the Wyndham community grants program.
Currently, half of all available council grants are determined by council officers. The rest are voted on at council meetings, with decisions based on council officer recommendations.
Cr Gilligan said the idea was to give councillors more engagement in the annual $1.6 million community grants process while “maintaining robust safeguards” .
He said the panel would include “very clear provisions around conflict of interest” to ensure decisions were above board.
However, councillors Kim McAliney and Henry Barlow questioned why the matter was up for debate when a review of the council’s grants program would be held next month.
Cr Barlow said that, despite provisions, there was still potential for direct or indirect conflicts of interest.
“If, for example, you are a very sports-minded individual, you may lean towards more sporting-type clubs to receive funding or grants,” he said.
The motion was carried by a small margin. Councillors Gilligan, Intaj Khan, Aaron An, Walter Villagonzalo, Heather Marcus and Mia Shaw voted in favour while councillors Barlow, McAliney, Tony Hooper, Peter Maynard and John Gibbons voted against.
Many councils do not involve councillors in the grants process to avoid potential conflicts of interest. Brimbank council was sacked in 2009 and Geelong council sacked in 2016 after some councillors were found to have awarded grants to groups or projects they had a personal interest in, among other concerns.
