Can anyone spell...

C-O-N-F-L-I-C-T O-F I-N-T-E-R-E-S-T ?

Clearly not at Guyton Street, where the task of printing the 116,791* glossy events brochures which will soon be decorating the floors of dairies and nestling against bin liners throughout the lower North Island apparently went to none other than Kiwiwebs.

This of course is the company owned by sometime blog visitor, self-confessed Mayoral admirer and Wanganui Inc member Nygllhuw Morris. Nothing on the company's website mentions any expertise in print, instead boasting of being "Wanganui's largest web design and hosting firm, specialising in internet, multimedia, video and animation" and elsewhere says "it has expanded from solely web design, into e-commerce, web hosting, animation, cd and dvd production, video production, database development and e-marketing".

Which is not to say the company hasn't done a very nice job on the brochure, but some of the other 14 printers in Wanganui listed in the Yellow Pages must be a little puzzled as to why a production on paper went to a web design firm. The Mayor certainly didn't choose a printer to host his MayorMichael.co.nz web site, instead opting for - you guessed it - Kiwiwebs.

While Mr Morris isn't an elected Councillor, the WDC's own guide on conflicts of interest, the Code of Conduct, is instructive. It says:

An elected member must be careful that he/she maintain a clear separation between his/her personal interests and his/her duties as an elected member. This is to ensure that people in positions of authority carry on his/her duties free from bias, whether real or perceived.

And the perception may well worsen in future, as the Diva says "Wanganui Inc will pick up this function in the near future – this is a trial run".

The Local Authorities (Members’ Interests) Act 1968 requires that a Council CEO seek approval from the Audit Office for contractual payments to elected members, their spouses or their companies that exceed an annual limit of just $25,000. Again, Wanganui Inc escapes this provision - it's a charitable trust not a committee of Council.

In politics, perception is everything. Mr Morris's company has undoubtedly done an excellent job on the brochure**.

But when you're an accountable entity like Council, charged with spending public money, it's surely better - to avoid creating the wrong perception - to avoid giving the work to your friends and associates, even when they're perfectly capable of doing the job.

Update (5.55 pm): A watchful Watcher informs us that Kiwiwebs did not do the entire publication, only the design elements. Warren Ruscoe of Meteor Printers mentioned printing the job at this morning's Wanganui Chamber of Commerce meeting. We stand corrected insofar as wondering why a printer didn't do the printing - they did. Our question regarding perceived conflicts of interest, given Kiwiwebs had a hand in the job, stands however.

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* The 100,000 copies that will be stuffed into Monday's DomPost, together with one for each dwelling in Wanganui as per the 2001 census (approximate figure only).

** We're submitting an LGOIMA request to see if we can find out just how much was paid - though that's probably going to be refused as "commercially confidential" - and whether tenders, or at least three quotes - were obtained before proceeding.

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