A Great Column About a City Planner Moonlighting As a Developer

It's exciting to read a column on a local government ethics matter that shows as deep understanding and as clear explanation as <a href="http://www.ottawacitizen.com/opinion/columnists/clear+conflict+interest…; target="”_blank”">the
column by Ottawa <i>Citizen</i> editorial board member Mohammed
Adam</a> that appeared yesterday. The column focuses on the problems that arise when a
city planner is a small property developer on the side. Both the chair of the
city's planning committee and the city’s general manager of planning
said that the city planner's side business was fine because she made
sure that everyone who needed to know about it was told. In other
words, disclosure is a sufficient cure for this conflict situation.<br>
<br>
Adam shows in his column how insufficient this cure is. He provides an
example of a serious problem arising from such a conflict that
officials often ignore. The planner was assigned to evaluate a
rezoning application for a proposed condo building that happened to
be close to her own redevelopment project. The community association
that had filed the application said the planner's involvement raised
fears that, if they opposed the planner's project, it might be held
against them in the future. In other words, when a planning official
is doing business in her own field, it can undermine the public
interest of open debate about land use projects. And simply by wearing
two hats, without having to say a word, she can give herself an
advantage over other developers. The more she discloses her
conflict, the more people will know not to speak out about her projects. Disclosure does absolutely nothing to cure this consequence
of her conflict.<br>
<br>

The other thing Adam understands, and explains clearly, is that an
individual official's conflict situation undermines trust not only
in her, but also in the planning department and the
local government ("that city hall is a special place where club members play by different rules"). The planning committee chair is quoted as saying,
“I don’t see a conflict. It’s all about politics. [The community
association's complaint] is a way to attack the credibility of the
city’s planning department.” Adam wrote, "Indeed, the only person
who undermined the credibility of the planning department and
tarnishing its integrity was [the city planner] — not the community activists."<br>
<br>
One of the best things Adam does in his column is to look at how
another Ottawa official handled another conflict situation, one not
nearly as serious as this one. Here is the situation. When a council
member discovered that his father worked for a developer, he
disclosed this conflict situation and withdrew from participation in matters that
involved the developer's projects. He did this even though he had
never been close to his father and did not stand to benefit from the
projects. He did this because he appeared to be conflicted and may
be seen as helping his father rather than acting in the public
interest.<br>
<br>
Believe it or not, this short column raises one more interesting
issue. The city planner filed a zoning application under a different
name. She
said that she used another name to prevent her colleagues from being
influenced by the fact that the application came from her. She was trying not to misuse her position by falsifying her application.<br>
<br>
This raises yet another problem with having a conflict. Not only
does one's position affect how citizens will act with respect to
one's outside projects. One's position also affects how one's
colleagues will act with respect to these projects. It's good that
the city planner recognized this. But falsifying one's application
(hiding one's conflict) is no more a cure for this conflict
situation than disclosing the conflict. She did both, and
neither worked. That is because neither approach was the best way to
deal responsibly with this conflict situation. The best way was not
to develop properties, not to wear another hat.<br>
<br>
Robert Wechsler<br>
Director of Research-Retired, City Ethics<br>
<br>
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