Cessnock City councillor Bryce Gibson says he didn’t need to declare a conflict of interest when he voted for an $8.2 million proposal for a KFC and Hungry Jack’s outlet that his former mentor profited from because the two have a “toxic” relationship.
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Last June Cr Gibson, the owner of LJ Hooker in Cessnock and Kurri Kurri, voted in favour of a rezoning proposal for the two fast-food outlets and a service station on land near schools and sportsgrounds in Cessnock, despite community concerns about feeding the obesity epidemic.
The vote sent the proposal to the Department of Planning for a gateway decision that it has since passed.
But Cr Gibson, a Liberal councillor, has faced criticism from some of his colleagues for failing to disclose that his former real estate mentor stood to profit from the rezoning.
At the time of the rezoning proposal the developer, Shayne Herring, who owns the existing KFC in Cessnock, had paid the former site owner, East Cessnock Bowling Club, $10,000 for an option on the land.
The selling agent on the property was Todd Fisher, the owner of LJ Hooker in Maitland and the former owner of LJ Hooker Cessnock and Kurri Kurri, which Cr Gibson bought off him in 2008.
Mr Fisher gave Cr Gibson his start back in 2002, when the real estate wunderkind sold property worth more than $2 million as part of an HSC traineeship.
At the time Mr Fisher told the Fairfax Media he had “never met a 25-year-old, let alone a 17-year-old, with his maturity and dedication”.
Asked if he stood to gain from the rezoning Mr Fisher said “oh yeah”.
But Cr Gibson has strongly denied any interest on the matter, saying the two had fallen out after he purchased the business, and had an “acrimonious” relationship.
“My feelings towards Todd are toxic,” he said.
“He might like me but I can’t stand the guy, so I would never be a fan or supporter of something he was doing.”
Cr Gibson said if he had planned to vote against the proposal he would have left the chamber because “of our history, it might have been seen interpreted that I was working against him”. “Sometimes perception is reality,” he said.
“I purely put it in terms of what’s best for the community, I’ve left the chamber and declared pecuniary interests on numerous issues in the past.”
Asked to corroborate Cr Gibson’s story, Mr Fisher said his relationship with “that office” is “fine”.
He hung up when asked if he still spoke to Cr Gibson.
The Herald has spoken with other Cessnock real estate agents who characterised the relationship between the two men as “strained”.
But Greens councillor James Ryan said he believed Cr Gibson made a mistake by not declaring a non-pecuniary interest, likening it voting on something that involves “your ex wife”.
“You might say, ‘she’s my ex, we hate each other’, but that doesn’t mean anything, it’s still a relationship,” he said.
“If you had a relationship and the public could reasonably assume that you could be influenced by that relationship then you should get out.”
Mr Herring said he had “never dealt with Bryce Gibson” during the sale and that he had “no involvement to my knowledge”.
“I know Bryce did his initial training with Todd Fisher but to my knowledge he has no commercial arrangement with him,” he said.
When asked if the option on the land was to protect him in the event the council blocked the rezoning Mr Herring said that was “certainly how options usually go”.
“It’s a fairly common commercial arrangement, and I’m not the first person to have had an option on this piece of land,” he said.
After the Herald spoke to Mr Herring he contacted Cr Gibson to inform him he had been approached.