Does commission have authority to OK travel?

Commissioners want a new travel policy.
By NORMAN LEIGH
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
LISBON -- Columbiana County commissioners' ability to monitor travel among county government officials is in jeopardy of being significantly weakened.
Commissioners said Wednesday they will seek an opinion from the county prosecutor's office regarding whether they have the authority to approve travel requests submitted by many county departments, something commissioners have done for years.
No one has complained about their approving travel, nor have they been pressured to give up the practice, commissioners insisted.
They're seeking the prosecutor's opinion on their own as part of an overall review of travel and an effort to establish a new travel policy, they said.
Preliminary research indicates that, except for county agencies directly under their authority, commissioners don't have the right to approve travel for other county departments, commissioners said.
They are reviewing their travel policies after stories appeared in The Vindicator that detailed questionable travel spending in some county departments.
Questionable expenses
The public has paid for business trips to tourist destinations, stays at premium hotels and resorts, for meals unsupported with itemized receipts, and for overnight lodging in Columbus for one-day events.
Much of the questionable travel was approved by commissioners, although in some cases over the years, they have challenged sketchy trip plans.
Commissioners agreed that should the prosecutor's office determine they don't have authority to approve travel, a step in the travel oversight process would be lost.
If commissioners lose the right to approve travel requests, they could still ask departments to submit their plans to the commissioners so they could be recorded, Commissioner Sean Logan said.
Logan acknowledged, however, that department heads wouldn't have to comply with that request.