La Plata has no written rules for when its elected officials can spend town money on travel and events. That could change after the Town Council agreed Oct. 13 to have staff draft the town’s first travel policy for the mayor and council.
Councilman Paul Guttenberg brought the request after reviewing budget line items. He told the council that town staff currently apply the staff travel policy loosely to elected officials, even though the council has established that elected officials are not staff. Even under that policy, he said, some expenses “still don’t look correct to me.”
His written request lists examples of spending that concerned him, including wine tastings, gala events, charity auction attendance and fundraisers for nonprofits. He also questioned municipal memberships that are renewed each year without a review of what the town gets from them.
“I don’t reference an industry standard when I evaluate whether a wine tasting or a black tie charity event at a marina has a municipal value,” Guttenberg said.
What the policy would do
Guttenberg asked staff to draft a policy with five main pieces:
- Staff-only booking. Town staff would make all travel arrangements, such as hotels, as they do now.
- Per diem fixes. Elected officials now receive mileage and meal allowances at federal GSA rates automatically, without requesting them. He said that means officials who carpool are paid mileage anyway.
- Tiered approval. Recurring trips the council approves in the budget, such as Maryland Municipal League conferences, would be “tier one.” Anything else would be “tier two” and need council approval.
- Membership reviews. The council would review the town’s municipal memberships every year.
- Public reporting. The town would publish an annual report of travel spending by elected officials, with clearer accounting categories.
“The determination of municipal value is made not by one person, it’s made by the body,” Guttenberg said. He said the policy would cost nothing to set up and would likely save money.
The council did not vote on a policy. Under its rules for member-requested items, Guttenberg, Councilman Gregory Sampson, Councilman Tyjon Johnson and Mayor Jeannine James all agreed to have staff bring back a proposal at a future meeting. Councilman Patrick McCormick was absent.
Johnson asked Town Manager Chuck Stevens what it would take to suspend booked travel, other than the Maryland Municipal League fall conference, until a policy is adopted. Stevens said a majority of the council would have to direct staff to do so. No such direction was given.
The mayor’s defense
James, who said she does most of the travel among La Plata’s elected officials aside from Maryland Municipal League trips, backed sending the policy forward but defended ceremonial travel. She said mayors attend nonprofit and community events because “non-profits and small businesses are the backbone of the town,” and that she has been asked to speak at three upcoming events as mayor.
She pointed to one trip as an example. James said she drove two and a half hours in the rain to a fundraiser for a state senator, at no cost to the town, and credited that trip with helping secure $500,000 for the Dorchester Community Center.
James said the town’s travel budget has not been exceeded. Guttenberg said about half of the line has been spent so far this year. James also said she was traveling to Tennessee the next day for a Maryland Municipal League-related event that the league is paying for.
“I think this deserves more digging into than just on the surface,” James said. She said she has also seen cases where people signed up for events the town paid for and did not show, which she called “fraud, waste and abuse.”
James asked whether the proposal was driven by the council’s “contentious” relationship with her. Guttenberg said it was not. “This is being true to what I told people I would do,” he said. The council voted 4-1 in August to censure James and 4-1 in September to remove her as presiding officer through a charter amendment.
Sampson: ‘taxpayer dollars should be spent carefully’
Sampson said at the meeting that he supported asking staff to gather the facts. In an email the day after the meeting, he said he backed the proposal because it “seeks to provide greater accountability and transparency regarding travel reimbursements for elected officials.”
“Throughout my service on both the Planning Commission and Town Council, I have generally paid my own expenses,” Sampson wrote. He said future travel funding should be “clearly budgeted, transparent, and subject to council oversight,” while recognizing that “the Mayor’s ceremonial and promotional responsibilities may require a larger travel budget than other council members.”
The draft policy will come back to the council at a future meeting.
