13 City Council (08/14/03) - Laserfiche WebLink

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Regular City Council Meeting August 14, 2003 Page 11 Mayor Fendley advised that the City Council budget would be considered next. City Manager Malone advised that he has not presumed to make a lot of changes to expenditures, but he gave them a handout regarding their budget. City Manager Malone said the first figure is for Workers' Compensation and for a cost of $13.00 the Council can be covered, or for $333.00 annually, they can cover all of the elected and appointed officials on the boards and commissions. City Manager Malone went over the office supply account and postage account. He said in the food account he budgeted $6,500.00. He said the City Council may want to set policies on how they want to set food expenses. Mr. Malone explained that a lot of the meals for the Council have been charged on a credit card, and suggested they might want to set policies regarding business meetings or attendance of events such as the Chamber Banquet, the NAACP, or other things that they might go to. City Manager Malone explained that the City Charter says that Council Members are not compensated but their expenses will be paid. He said he did not feel that staff role is to question the expenses of the Council. He said they will have a question come up about whether you wish to attend the TML meeting, and how you wish to handle that expenditure. He said that hotel reservations can be made and paid by check, and a lot of time they go out to eat as a group and the waitress does not want to give them a lot of tickets and he is looking for guidance in that area. City Manager Malone said they can give you what has been spent in terms of food, travel, and tuition in previous years. Councilman Bell said that every organization that he is a member of has a standardized form and anytime there is a business meeting they pay out of their pocket and submit a reimbursement request with receipts and get the reimbursement. Councilman Bell said they have to say what it was in order to get the reimbursement. He said because the credit cards, with the questions being asked about from The Paris News, they need to look at all the credit cards that the city has and bring them down to a necessary one or two and restrict their usage and go to a voucher or request for reimbursement form.