COLUMBIANA COUNTY Officials take no action on travel policy

Guidelines being drafted would place more restrictions on travel.
By NORMAN LEIGH
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
LISBON -- Revisions to a Columbiana County government travel policy that will affect several departments have yet to be made.
Changes are still lagging, weeks after disclosures that the system now used allows county employees to spend public money in a questionable manner when they hit the road for conferences and training.
"We haven't had an opportunity to do a lot" of work on the policy, Columbiana County Commissioner Chairman Jim Hoppel said recently.
Officials have been concentrating instead on revising county employee health insurance to produce a savings, he explained.
But Hoppel added that the new travel policy remains a priority.
He was one of several county officials who called for travel practices revisions after a May 2 story in The Vindicator that described spending many might consider wasteful or lavish:
UCounty officials have been charging taxpayers for stays in luxury hotels and resorts when less-expense lodging is available nearby.
UThe public pays for conference trips to tourist destinations such as Orlando and Nashville.
UTaxpayers are charged, too, for valet parking, tips, snacks, room service and for overnight stays in Columbus for one-day events.
Missing receipts
Officials have been claiming meal costs but frequently failing to support the expense with itemized receipts.
That's a definite no-no, according to the state auditor's office. Detailed slips are the only way of ensuring taxpayers aren't paying for a public employees' booze, the state says.
Hoppel said that the new policy being crafted, with help from county Auditor Nancy Milliken and Treasurer Linda Bolon, won't affect all county departments. Most likely, it will cover commissioners, auditor, treasurer and recorder and maybe a few others.
Some county offices, like the courts, apparently are permitted to have their own travel guidelines.
Bolon, a former state auditor, is drafting the revised travel guidelines for review by the other officials involved in the project.
"We have to be as frugal as we possibly can" when it comes to travel, Bolon said.
Yet, she added, the policy must be fair to county employees who are called upon to leave the area for training, some of it required as part of their jobs.
The revised policy must definitely demand itemized receipts. "Absolutely," Bolon said.
She also is suggesting the county place a per-day limit on how much it will pay for a hotel. Federal guidelines establish the daily rate for Columbus area rooms at $75, she said.
Lodging limit
County officials last year frequently paid $130 per night, or close to that, for rooms in the lavish hotels and exclusive resorts that frequently hosted the conferences they were attending.
If Bolon's lodging limit is adopted, traveling county officials could still opt for costlier lodging -- but they would have to make up the difference themselves.
Bolon said claiming overnight stays in Columbus for one-day events should be permitted, providing the events start early. That way, county employees aren't forced to rise at dawn to make the nearly two-hour drive to Columbus.
Overnight stays shouldn't be claimed for Columbus events starting later in the day, she said. Hoppel suggested an 11 a.m. cutoff.
Bolon said she would allow claims for valet parking, usually about a $20 cost. But taxpayers shouldn't be charged the full amount, she said.
Premium hotels frequently mandate valet parking and then bill for it.
Bolon and Hoppel argued that using the service is not always a luxury. Sometimes it's a safety issue for travelers concerned about going to and from their vehicle in parking garages or darkened lots.
Evening meal
Some officials, including Bolon, don't claim the evening meal when they're traveling, saying it's taken after working hours and they would be eating at home anyway.
But Bolon said county officials who wish to charge for the evening meal should be permitted to do so because they are away on county business and it's a justified expense.
Bolon is proposing that the revised policy contain a request form for out-of-state travel that would require information such as the purpose of the trip, its cost, funding source and how many people are going.
It's unclear whether commissioners have the right to approve or disapprove proposed travel for any department other than their own. They're seeking a prosecutor's opinion on that issue.
If they don't have the right, it will be up to department heads to decide whether to grant requests, even if it means approving their own travel plans.
Bolon said she wouldn't object to departments' travel request forms being submitted to commissioners so the plans at least can be placed on the official record during public meetings, which are attended by news reporters.
"The more the public is aware of what we're doing, the better," Bolon said. "The public has a right to know."