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Recent trips cost county $6,800
Published Saturday, June 20, 2009
NATCHEZ — For most of the week, four of the five Adams County supervisors weren’t in the county. The board members were taking care of county business outside of Adams County, they said.
Supervisors Thomas “Boo” Campbell, S.E. “Spanky” Felter and Henry Watts were in Biloxi for the Mississippi Association of Supervisors Conference.
And while some board members were on the coast, supervisor Darryl Grennell and Adams County Chancery Clerk Tommy O’Beirne were in Washington, D.C.
Supervisor Mike Lazarus did not travel.
The trips cost the county approximately $6,800.
Grennell, who was in Washington to discuss financial assistance for Mississippi River Corporation, said the face-to-face meetings that come from travel are extremely valuable.
“It’s critical to be able to get out there and talk to the people who can help make things happen in the county,” Grennell said.
Grennell said he believes that his most recent trip to Washington to discuss MRC, which pays more than $400,000 in taxes annually, will benefit the county and the financially troubled company.
The cost to send Grennell and O’Beirne to Washington was $3,436 total.
Campbell, who was not able to attend the entire supervisors conference due to a family matter, said in the past he’s found such conferences helpful.
“It helps to keep you current on changes at the state level and locally,” Campbell said. “You can really get a lot of information.”
The total cost to send Campbell, Felter and Watts to Biloxi was $3,364.
Adams County Administrator Cathy Walker said the supervisors’ travel accounts for a small portion of the county’s overall travel budget.
In 2008-2009, the county budgeted $210,000 for travel.
Of that $210,000, the supervisors have only used $13,658.
But the travel budget is not comprised solely of county money.
Approximately $100,000 of the total budget comes from federal grants allocated for travel.
Walker said the county should have very little travel expenditures for the rest of the fiscal year, as most of the regular conferences have already occurred.
To date, Campbell has spent $3,189; Felter has spent $2,236; Grennell has spent $4,818; Lazarus has spent $62 and Watts has spent $2,831.
Walker said Grennell’s expenses were higher than his fellow supervisors’ costs because the county paid for his travel to Washington in February when Grennell was a guest speaker at National Association of Counties conference.
Lazarus, who has spent the least on travel, said he felt travel to Biloxi is inconvenient.
Comments
Posted by speakup (anonymous) on June 20, 2009 at 2:45 a.m. (Suggest removal)
how long were they there? seems like that was a lot of expense for the ms. coast trip. woner if we could get a break down on just how that money was spent. could we cut back on the price of room, food, drinks, ride together, ect.?
Posted by SayItRight (anonymous) on June 20, 2009 at 3:45 a.m. (Suggest removal)
How about they write an essay on what they learned and how they intend to use it and have it published in the ND?
Posted by Krogers (anonymous) on June 20, 2009 at 7:52 a.m. (Suggest removal)
to me these expenses seem reasonable and were also reasonable efforts to help our area- thank you gentlemen for your efforts......
I'm glad to see that none of these travels were to racially oriented events
yes SayItRight, we should get summary reports and I think that is required upon their return to justify the travel
as a former state employee we always had to request travel, state our purpose and intent, seek approval, take the travel within the time requested, stay within the estimate of the request, then give a report after completion of the duty performed......
Posted by kpage1 (anonymous) on June 20, 2009 at 7:57 a.m. (Suggest removal)
SayItRight....you're onto something there!! Why shouldn't this be REQUIRED, or expenses won't get paid until they do! Proves they were listening to the seminar and not picking their noses and wondering about when the break is or what they're gonna eat next. Usually, here in Concordia Parish, when an official goes out of town, they COME BACK WITH A PLAN to better the community.
Posted by KSUP56 (anonymous) on June 20, 2009 at 9:06 a.m. (Suggest removal)
When you travel to these conventions you usually stay in a hotel that has arranged special pricing for those with the convention; that being said these prices are in line with most conference trips from all over the US. The auditor needs to make sure no alcohol, extra food (guests not at the conference, such as spouses, children, etc.) or extra expenses for others or themselves was paid for by the city/county/state/federal government; that must be paid for by the individual and accounted for also.
Posted by lsumom (anonymous) on June 20, 2009 at 9:25 a.m.
(This comment was removed by the site staff.)
Posted by Hardcorps (anonymous) on June 20, 2009 at 11:13 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I used to go on these trips before the recession for the study of houses and lots. cathouses and lots of whiskey
Posted by southernwoman (anonymous) on June 20, 2009 at noon (Suggest removal)
Why does it take three supervisors to represent Adams County at the conference?
Posted by freedom42 (anonymous) on June 20, 2009 at 12:57 p.m. (Suggest removal)
There were probably several different talks or workshops and by having 3 people go, each area could be covered. My guess anyway.
Posted by speakup (anonymous) on June 20, 2009 at 2:40 p.m. (Suggest removal)
LETS GET THE ND TO GET US A REPORT. IT WOULD HELP MAKE MONDAY'S PAPER 7 PAGES. THEY COULD CUT BACK ON THE AMOUT OF TV GUIDE THAY HAVE IN PAPER...NO JOKE, I DO THINK IT WOULD BE GREAT TO HAVE A REPORT ON WHAT THEY LEARNED.
Posted by southernwoman (anonymous) on June 20, 2009 at 3:25 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Could we see a copy of the conference agenda, please.
Posted by Krogers (anonymous) on June 21, 2009 at 1:08 a.m. (Suggest removal)
good request southernwoman
that was one thing I left out in regards to travel requests and reports - documentation of actually being there by attaching a copy of the conference/convention/meeting/whatever agenda/documentation to the summary report of what was learned and the impact upon future programs it should have, how the meeting would affect future outcomes of work......
there are cases when someone might go to the town/city where the meeting was, but then not attend the meeting and goof off somewhere at a bar or whatever, providing documentation of the event makes it a little harder to get away with being totally irresponsible. I think our people are honestly attending these events by the way, don't get me wrong.
Posted by reneef (anonymous) on June 21, 2009 at 8:37 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I believe attending the meeting could be beneficial to the city. It would be great if the expenses were itemized in the ND when they occur. The expenses for the trip to the coast seem a little high to me. If the prices are that high because they got the room thru the convention then perhaps they should have gotten rooms elsewhere. Let's get real. I took 3 people to Disney World for 2 days for less than $1,000.00 and I stayed in a Disney Property on the grounds... in August.
Posted by skippydammit (anonymous) on June 22, 2009 at 6:56 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Requiring those attending the conferences to
submit a written report is an excellent idea.
No report = no reimbursement.
Simple concept which would separate the
"wheat from the chaff" regarding "essential travel
expenses".
Great idea !
Posted by juju (anonymous) on June 22, 2009 at 12:51 p.m. (Suggest removal)
The only dissemination of these meetings that I've evidenced with a couple of them is those new tans.
Posted by marinefrmntz (anonymous) on June 23, 2009 at 4:07 p.m. (Suggest removal)
lol yall should look at some of the trips my Lt Col and Col take!! c'mon let these people do their jobs. 6800 dollars.. Hey come take a look at military travel expenses then youll have a story!
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