Recent months have seen a sharp rise in the number of potential conflicts of interest declared by councillors, the organisation's internal audit committee has been asked to focus on governance and a new code of conduct has been adopted.

A look back through council meeting minutes shows only five potential conflicts of interest were raised by councillors at the 18 meetings held in the last half of 2007. This year, in only eight meetings 12 potential conflicts have been declared.

Connections with contractors, developers, community groups and workplaces have all been announced, with some councillors allowed to take part in discussions and others asked to leave the chamber until the vote has been taken.

State laws and the council's own code of conduct require councillors to speak up if they believe they have, or could be seen to have, an interest in any matter currently on the table.

Former councillors Wayne Rigg and Geoff Hayes quit over the way thing were being run within council, saying good governance was nowhere to be seen.

But Mayor Stephen Jones does not believe the resignations prompted the remaining councillors to lift their game. Instead, he puts the increase in declared interests down to different items appearing in the council agendas.

"I would say it may just be the fact that things have come up coincidentally,'' he said.

Another explanation could be an Ombudsman report into local government, which found many councillors did not understand conflicts of interest.

Ballarat councillors noted the report and agreed to endorse a number of the recommendations.

And at a meeting this week, councillors agreed upon a new code of conduct with the old one reviewed "as part of good governance processes''.

Councillors also adopted resolutions stemming from an internal audit committee meeting.