Can the Mayor define "independent"?

The Mayor has said that she does not regard the fact that Dr Leslie is working on research projects for his university partially funded by CH2M Hill (the same company building the Toowoomba I-PU! project) as compromising his independence.

To quote the Mayor: "Participation in this research project does not in any way compromise Dr Leslie's independence in relation to the Water Futures project."

See - Water Futures blog.

So CH2M Hill provides funding for Dr Leslie's research projects and he suddenly appears to promote the benefits of a project to be built by CH2M Hill?

Maybe we're missing something but this scenario seems like a potential conflict of interest...