Planning Management: Organisation part deux - local government perspective, or how planning, sex and money are mixed.
The dignity captured even in a craricature of yore makes some long with a mix of nostalgia and wistfulness the ‘good ol’ days’. It is not my place to judge on that, perhaps folks back then were just more cleverer in covering up their tracks. Anyway, back onto topic. Building on last post on organisational structure, today, we get to see theory meets practice - and it’s not necessarily pretty (nor am I).
One example given was the Wollongong Council in New South Wales, Australia. Given the desirabilty for public servants to be at the background of things, I would take a gander to say these councillors did not do that. Given the boom period experienced in Wollongong at the time, the amount of money changing hands ws enormous. Yet, being a boom town it remained governed by a small elite.One of whom was Beth Morgan, and I quote the NZ Herald, March 8, 2008
“Morgan, an attractive, close-cropped blonde, became a regular at the “table”. By her own admission to the ICAC, she also became physically intimate with three of the other regulars, all of whose business aspirations needed to pass through the council’s town planning department, where she held a senior position.”
To cut matters short (and dispense with all the lovely, intimate details), it had become apparent corruption was rampant.
There may be some humour in the strange bedfellows of what has been traditionally seen as dour - the public service, and the almost celebrity like mixture of sex, scandal and corruption, the question then remains. How the devil did it happen?? Whats more, this raises the issue of the role of ethics in planning.
Whilst traditionally a more prescriptive, technical excercise, a more integrated approach has seen planning become a mixture of politics, sociology, economics, and a myriad of other studies beyond its historic emmergence from architecture and civil engineering. And though organisational culture can have major influence, we are not given sufficent training in dealing with the non-technical aspects of said culture. Given the amount of power wielded and the influence local government has on the day-to-day realities of the average citizen a need for training into ethics then should be argued for.
A final musing to leave you with. Given the new supercity proposal for Auckland (see, Local Government (Tamaki Makaurau Reorganisation) Act 2009, Local Government (Auckland Council) Act 2009, and Local Government (Auckland Law Reform) Bill, one cannot help but detect a general theme going on…), calls for a single unitary body with a select few (21 councillors including Mayor elected-at-large) pulling the strings. From those we have seen appointed, we see a large amount of private sector figures. We then have to ask, are running a governing body anything at all like that of a profit-seeking organisations? What will the culture that develops from these roots? We have seen the political culture of today, how will the ideals that are in vogue impact the governance of Auckland in the long run?
I wait with bated breath.
