From time to time an elected person gets an unsolicited gift from grateful elector or from a business, religious or community group. And asking around, the most common gifts include a bunch of flowers, bottles of wine or boxes of chocolates, cakes, sometimes items of religious significance and such like, usually given at Christmas or after opening an event or as part of it or presiding over the AGM.
After declaring the gift on the Gift Register, the most common practice is to pass the gift on to either Council staff or friends or family or another community group or donate it as a raffle prize at a later date. Conscience is then clear as not actually receiving the benefit of the gift, but at least not offending the giver.
Hospitality can be a very tricky thing at times.
I remember getting an enormous bunch of roses from a grateful development applicant. Or at least I think that’s what they were. The florist delivered them to my home in Fern Tree, left them on the deck and as I had come home late, hadn’t seen them.
The possums did.
Ringing the applicant the next morning, I stated that Aldermen were not allowed to receive gifts and it had to be returned. She was most offended until I explained that the gift had been reduced to a nicely tied bunch of battered and stripped rose stems, so honour was satisfied and at least the possums derived a benefit. Even so, she was most put out that she was not allowed to express her thanks in a way that was most natural to her.
As I said, hospitality can be a very tricky thing.
Other times a common gift is the event ticket. As most Councils support sporting and cultural events, the organisers provide tickets back, particularly for opening nights. In Hobart City Council such tickets are automatically declared on the Gift Register. In some cases, tickets for the funding organisation are part of the commercial/grant arrangement.
Eva Ruzicka was first elected to local government in 1999 after a number of years of community activism. She studied public policy at the University of Tasmania and tries to apply the theory of what she was taught to the practice of what she does in local government. She is currently attempting a PhD investigating why reform of local government in Tasmania is so difficult. She’s also up for re-election for Alderman and Deputy Lord Mayor in 2014 to the City of Hobart.
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