Playing Battleship with the City of Kennesaw - And $500 for Tires

Everyone remembers Battleship.  The game of seek and destroy where you try to guess the position of your opponents ships then make them cry “You sunk my battleship”!  So, too, is it the same when doing an Open Records Request with the City….without the destroy part or anyone uttering the famous advertising line. 

I’ve put aside, only for the moment, my further reviews of the financials of the City.  Again, I’m not a qualified CPA or auditor, just a person that likes to ask a lot of questions….sort of like Columbo did!  Always loved detective Columbo, (Peter Faulk for those of you trying to wrack your brains for the actors name), always coming up with one last question.  In our case (congrats readers you are now on the team), one more question leads to one more question.  So recently I turned to all the fine details that make up the expenses that a City Councilperson, or Mayor, might submit for reimbursement…and things are interesting.

First, let’s review what the answer is that we are seeking?  We are seeking Leadership.  Leadership starts with the leader setting the tone for the organization through their leading by example.  If the leader sets a tone of unbridled spending, lavish travel, etc., the tone in the organization is to follow like-wise.  If the purse is pulled tight, that will also show through.  Unfortunately it is looking like the purse strings are loose and the spending a bit “unbridled” by the Mayor and some on the Council.

Over the past few days I have put in several more Open Records Request.  The first one, as mentioned in a previous blog, was organized quickly and cost $1.20 for 10 pages.  As I drilled in on “the battleship”, honing in on the exact position of the prey, the requests more precise, the stakes were raised. 

A one page document would now cost $50.  Obviously I was in the right vicinity, but to be honest, I was asking for three times as much as I asked before (Duckett, Mathews and Killingsworth, not just Mathews).  No matter, I have a small fortune to spend on Veritas.

When reviewing the documents you are struck by their lack of detail.  Some documents with dates, some without, but nothing with actual receipts to support the expenditure on a given Purchase Order page.  What I was seeking, honing in on, were the receipts to support the $1,700 the Mayor spent on his trip to Savannah, or the $899.96 he spent on the D.C. trip.  I have determined that trip was a three night/four day affair (as Colombo would have found out, Mr. Mathews had a parking receipt for the Atlanta Airport for $54.  Anyone who has parked in the Daily lot knows it is $16 per day; that equates to three and one-third of a day.   He could not have parked in Hourly, could he?  Or do Government Officials get any special parking deals at Hartsfield….see how questions begat questions?)

While in D.C. he spent $55.09 for breakfast with Councilperson Duckett, and $35.41 for lunch with Duckett.  I guess they split the lunch but he covered the breakfast?  Has City Hall heard of “per diems” yet?

So, my second request, the one costing $50 (they have not charged me yet, pending my okay, which I won’t spend because it is not the right detail, but wait for the rest of the story), covered the Professional Development we have spent for Mathews, Duckett and Killingsworth (I’m sure there is some for Jenkins and Welsh, but the cabal of MDK is more interesting at the moment…Bruce and Cris can chime in here and let us know what they have cost the City in this category).

In 2013, we spent $1,875 for professional development for the Mayor, while we spent $1,430 for Mr. Duckett and $940 for Mr. Killingsworth.  First, it would be nice to know what this was spent on, but without further detail, these charges could be coming from Wal-Mart for all we know.  But you have to ask for that because if you don’t ask right, you have just missed the battleship.

Second, why do we spend money to “professional develop” people that might never hold elected office again?  Hope this is for some kind of continuing education.

Okay, back to the D.C. and Savannah trips.  I’m sure I screwed myself up with the City because on my detail sheet I inadvertently asked for the detail of both P.O.’s, but named them Savannah.  Hey Ms. Taylor, I need the detail for D.C. and Savannah!  Thanks.

So, the questions that come back to me are this:  How does the Mayor of the small town of Kennesaw (population 30,000, 9 square miles in size), rack up $1,700 in Savannah when a lot of the meals are covered in the convention and a normal room in a Hampton might cost $150 (and get free breakfast to boot)? 

Second, how do you spend less in Washington, D.C. on a trip that is three nights in length than you do for a four night trip to Savannah?  Riddle me that one Batman and get back to me.

Third, why do we not have a travel policy (assuming we don’t or we would not have these questions) much like the Federal government has for their employees?  You want to stay at the Ritz?  Fine, but we will only pay up to $150 for the hotel, the rest is yours.  Do we have a “per diem” for food?  Do we have proper mileage reimbursement?  Etc., etc., etc….

Fourth, what the heck does a City Manager do exactly to control this?  And this, my friends, is the “circle I cannot square”.  How can Steve Kennedy confront the Mayor and Council on these issues, lay down the law on expenditures and take away their goodies?  The City Manager serves at the behest of the Mayor and Council, and if the Mayor controls a voting block that can pass his agenda (or hire and fire who he wants); Steve Kennedy cannot be effective.

Besides, he rides in a nice SUV, compliments of the taxpayers of Kennesaw since he must commute to his job from outside the city.  Yes, our City Manager does not live in the City….something you would think you would require for the job application (but I’m sure there is some law that says you cannot have that requirement).  Again, rock the boat too hard and the Mayor and his cabal may begin to revoke privileges that Steve enjoys. 

Now I understand why we have a line-item in the City Manager budget (Department 1320 for you who play the home version of Wake Up Kennesaw) for $500 for tires…heaven sakes he should have to pay for his own tires out of his pocket.

Leadership – Esse Quam Videri.  Look it up.

Wake Up Kennesaw