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Health & Fitness

Leadership and the Cult of Spending

Good afternoon.  I wanted to provide you with an update of the Open Records Requests I have made to downtown regarding expenditures from amongst our elected officials.  I am not prepared to provide all the details of what I am seeing, besides for around $15 you can order up the same information.  There are no saucy little tidbits to titillate the public.  And that is not what I am after, in fact, I don’t care about any of the past regarding our elected officials.  I am leaving that up to the electorate who will decide whose hand they want at the tiller of the ship (after my last post I’m into nautical in a big way!).    Do they want Captain Edward J. Smith at the tiller, or someone who is paying attention and setting the right tone and atmosphere for the rest to follow?

What I want to do is make this election for City Council about Leadership, and Leadership involves making tough decisions and communicating honestly to people.  It means demonstrating that you are willing to make sacrifices that set a tone for the entire “corporation”.  It is on this point that my interest in how the politicians in Kennesaw, and perhaps a few city employees, choose to spend your hard-earned tax dollars on trips around the state, region and nation. 

Again, there is nothing in the information to suggest nefarious wrong doing, nothing at all.  In my opinion, the information shows a lack of Leadership and commitment to change the status quo and to exercise Stewardship about the tax-payers money.  Further, it demonstrates a lack of business acumen on the part of our elected Officials because the way it operates now is not how a normal organization would function.  Allow me to elaborate.

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In my records request I asked for the travel expenses of Mark Mathews for his attendance at the Georgia Municipal Association annual meeting this past June over in Savannah, along with his expenses for a trip in March to the National Leadership Conference in Washington, D.C.  (Ironic I should be writing about Leadership when he and Jeff Duckett attended such a meeting.)   Again, nothing saucy in any of the expenses, but there are interesting observations to make my point.  Let us focus on the Savannah trip.

I Googled the GMA meeting in order to print out the 14-page agenda for the meeting and to see how much food they were serving, when the meetings were taking place, etc., and to “square” dates of travel with the actual meeting.  

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Expenses were submitted by the mayor for $1,706.37 that included lodging and meals (cross-reference P.O. S621268, dated 7/17/2013, signed by Debra Taylor, City Clerk). 

The hotel ran $1,344.55, $346.82 for meals at the hotel, and a delivery charge for our City Flag of $15. Check-in was on June 21st and check-out on June 25th.  Separate from the P.O., and only showing up on the Expense Report, was a mileage charge for $315.28 to cover mileage (279 miles each way).   Now, I’m not sure how much the conference registration cost, if anything, but that is not included in the information and, perhaps, there is no cost to register, but I digress.  All told, $2,021.65 was spent for a trip to Savannah.

This is what should disturb you.  The City of Kennesaw has no formal travel policy for their officials and employees.  Those who have worked in big companies, or for the Federal Government, know there are standards for travel.  Ramada versus the Ritz, per diem caps subject to certain adjustments (New York versus Niceville), spend more than that and you pay for it.  Upgrade your room each night?  Go ahead it is your dime that will pay the difference.  Submit an expense for a meal?  Who did you eat with and what did you discuss?  You get the picture.

In Kennesaw there is no such policy, simply “reasonable travel expenses”.  Obviously the mayor’s sense of “reasonable” and those of hard-working taxpayers must differ a bit.  During his trip to Savannah our mayor decided to stay at the Westin Hotels and Resorts as, I believe, that is where the meeting was held (although I have not been able to confirm that exactly). 

The hotel charge was $214 before taxes, per night, but, the mayor decided on a more “reasonable” accommodation was required and upgraded his room for $30 more per night, and let us not forget the $19.26 per night “resort charge”.    So without anyone to question his spending, his idea of “reasonable” was $292.83 per night, versus, say, the River Street Inn for $166 per night (plus tax), just 4.35 miles away.  Imagine what he could have saved taxpayers if there was a travel policy to define the type of hotel you stay in when traveling?  Leadership.

The next question to ask yourself is why didn’t the mayor hitch a ride with Steve Kennedy, City Manager, or tell Steve Kennedy he’s taking Steve’s city provided car to the meeting, or find another city vehicle to use and drive that and simply have the city pay the gasoline bill?  Nope, “reasonable” suggests the mileage charge is a bit nicer to receive…$315.28 in mileage charges (the mayor pockets the difference between that and the gas he consumes).  Leadership.

The next question concerns the meeting itself.  Did the mayor go to the Friday meeting, which, by the way, was on the topic of GASB changes and what the changes mean to your city’s retirement plan and financial statement?  Wow, that’s an interesting topic called OPEB.  See my previous blogs for that one.  Did he go to the Municipal Training Institute the next morning, Saturday June 22nd from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.?  Did he attend any of the Sunday break-out sessions (the general sessions didn’t start until Monday)?  The reason for this line of questioning is simple:  if he didn’t attend any of the functions, why arrive two full days early and charge the expense to the City?  I’ll provide benefit of the doubt on this line of questioning and assume he went.  Mayor, leave a comment if you please.

Finally, while at these conferences you are fed pretty well.  Why then is the City picking up $156.05 for breakfasts, $28 for lunch, and $161.81 for dinner?  No supporting documentation as to who the dinner for $161.81 was with, unless the mayor has a very large appetite and he ate it all himself.  Leadership.

$1,706.37 of charges, plus $315.28 for mileage when they mayor could have spent maybe $180 a night at a hotel, ate most of his meals at the conference, and taken a city vehicle (or hitched a ride with Steve Kennedy) for the gas expense.  All in, he probably could have done the same five nights for around $1,100.00, saving the City $900. 

But it’s not about changing the system, why should he?  Reasonable is good enough for him and if you don’t like it, figure it out at his next election.  And if this is what he thinks is “reasonable” then what do the other employees and officials do….do what he does of course.  And what about those closest to him on the City Council…Mr. Killingsworth, Duckett and Reidemann?  I would expect they do what he does…they follow the leader (small “l”) instead of Leading by example.  What say ye Ms. Welsh and Mr. Jenkins?

Look for those in the next election who will correct this mistake, eliminate city leaders from receiving pensions, look to fully fund the existing pension and “freeze” it while moving employees to a 401(k) plan, and start talking with city employees about future retirement benefits that may need some adjustment if not dealt with today.  That is what Leadership is all about…with a capital L.

 

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