06-12-2002 Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

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• To: Chuck Engleken, Chairman of City Finance Audit Committee Finance Audit Committee ~~ From: Peter Griffiths, City Councilman At-Large ~~"''~ Date: July 22, 2002 Subject: Credit Card Report and Audit Cc: Mayor and City Council Mr. Chairman and Audit Committee members: After going over the credit card reports, I can not find areas in which there is a clear form of abuse of power or authority. Yet, I can not firmly state that all transactions were proper or ethical. As mentioned in Mrs. Alexander's memo to the audit committee dated July 19, 2002, the City Manager has requested that a credit card policy be developed. I find this to be accurate and timely, as well as disappointing that our city did not have a policy in place for these transactions when credit cards were first used by the city. My thoughts on a policy for credit cards should include the following: / All person's names who .are in attendance at any meal will be recorded on receipts / No alcohol will be purchased with city funds, including meals with a credit card. / If no receipt is turned in to the city, the employee must reimburse the cost. / All expenses are to be used for the sole purpose of conducting official city business. I continue to have my concerns over spousal airfare expenses for out of town council conferences using city funds. If a spouse is to accompany the councilperson, the city may pay for the registration and any social event in which the couple will both attend, but not airfare. If a spouse does attend and the councilperson pays for the airfare, it should clearly be stated somehow. The city's cost of hotel and per diem should be kept the same with no regard to a spouse attending the conference. These are the same concerns I addressed two years ago in our travel committee. In regards to "per diem," I suggest the current amount to continue for meals, tips, and other incidentals of traveling. If the definition of the "per diem" is improper or inaccurate, i believe another name be used for the allocated amount (i.e. "traveling expense"). Over all, I do not see the use of the city spending an excess amount of money on a separate audit of city financial records due to inconsistencies in reporting of credit card expenses. I feel that the city did a poor job by not originally initiating a policy that clearly dictates the use and expectations of these transactions. I also foresee that the city, by reacting in such a way will set a tone that this council will "jump" every time an accusation is made of improper conduct and force citizen tax dollars to be unfairly wasted. More over, when accusations are perpetuated by individuals or groups who are seemingly trying to discredit a past employer or employee, be it personal or not, the situation is questionable regarding purpose of such actions. Governmental bodies in the past, currently, and in the future, will always be accused by someone of back door deals,