Councillors have welcomed an audit report clearing the shire’s former tourism manager Clayton Neil of any wrongdoing, but say the criticism and investigation should have never been forced to happen.
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Mr Neil is a co-founder and board member of the Australian Centre of Rural Entrepreneurship, which has shown interest in the Beechworth Railway Precinct.
Community members had expressed concerns he had a conflict of interest between his council and business interests.
The audit found there was no breach of rules, the council’s expressions of interest process was fair and transparent, and Mr Neil was open about his conflict.
But the report did state the council could improve the process in the future.
Cr Larry Goldsworthy told Tuesday’s council meeting that Mr Neil should be commended for how he conducted himself during the expressions of interest.
“It’s sad that he had to cop so much criticism over such a long time – it’s cost $5000 for Indigo Shire to get this report,” he said.
“The character of Clayton Neil was besmirched by the community.
“I think this clearly articulates that he’s done everything he had to, he couldn’t have been any more forthright with his employer with his potential conflict of interest.”
The audit, conducted over two days in January, examined the council’s documents and electronic communications.
Cr Sophie Price also backed the former manager, saying the results showed he acted appropriately.
“Clayton Neil was extremely proactive about the conflict of interest and, further to that, the culture of Indigo Shire promotes that proactivity in managing conflict of interest,” she said.
“There will be, always, conflicts of interest within our small rural shire and all councils for that matter.”
Mr Neil’s ACRE co-founder Matt Pfahlert said it was a great result, but not unexpected.
“The audit was really clear about any conflicts that get managed really well, that were declared at the earliest opportunity and were even flagged prior to any employment,” he said.
“That's all really well-known and well managed.
“It's unfortunate there's some people who want to keep speculating and it's just great the audit has hopefully put that stuff to bed and we can get on with the business of hopefully doing good things in the community.”
