LEGISLATIVE, FINANCE, AND ADMINISTRATION COMMITTEE

The Legislative, Finance, and Administration Committee Meeting was held on October 27, 2003, at 5:56 p.m., with Chairman Speed presiding. Members present were Mr. Truitt and Mr. Ritter. Mr. Shelton and Mr. Gorman were absent. Other members of Council present were Mr. McGlumphy, Mr. Carey, Mr. Pitts, Mr. Williams, Mr. Salters, Mr. Ruane, and Mayor Hutchison.

AGENDA ADDITIONS/DELETIONS

Mr. Ritter moved for approval of the agenda, seconded by Mr. Truitt and unanimously carried.

Revised Travel Policy

Resulting from recent concerns regarding allowable expenses and IRS regulations, it was suggested that a revised Travel Policy be developed to clarify these concerns. In July, members of Council and staff were provided a draft revised Travel Policy for their review. As a result, several comments and suggestions were submitted to members for their consideration. Members were reminded that the purpose of the Travel Policy is to provide guidelines under which City of Dover employees, public officials, and appointees will be reimbursed for authorized travel expenses incurred when engaged in authorized travel and who expend City funds for travel purposes.

The City Manager, Mr. DePrima, proposed the following amendments:

Page 3, Section C - Authorized Travel Agent, he recommended that through a competitive bid process, the City designate a travel agency to be used when making travel arrangements; however, also provide language to allow a default agency that offers more competitive rates;

Page 5, Section E - Transportation: Passenger Vehicles, Item 3 - Rental Cars, to avoid (body) size discrimination, he recommended upgrading the allowable vehicle size from compact to mid-size;

Delete all references for the use of recreational vehicles;

Page 7, Meals Allowances - Encourage Plan B;

Page 9, Section H - Cash Advances, he suggested the addition of the following:

             d.          Meal Allowance when choosing Plan A “Per Diem/No Receipts”; and

             e.          Ground transportation to and from hotel, and airport parking when costs have been pre-determined by the Finance Director.

Page 11, Section I - Travel Expense Reimbursement, Item 2 - Receipt Requirements and Other Reimbursement Criteria, he requested the addition of the following:

             j.           Up to two long distance phone calls home, one to advise safe arrival at the travel destination and one to confirm estimated time of arrival home, phone reimbursement shall not exceed ten ($10.00) dollars total.

             k.          Internet Access Costs for city business.

Referring to Page 7, Section G - Meal Allowances, Mr. Speed suggested the elimination of Plan B in an effort to simplify meal allowances.

Mr. Carey proposed the following amendments to Section I, Item 2 - Receipt Requirement and Other Reimbursement Criteria:

Page 10, Paragraph c - Eliminating the words “if over $10” at the end of the sentence; thereby, requiring receipts.

Page 11, Paragraph f(1) Hotel/motel related expenses - In an effort to simplify this section, allow a maximum of $10 per travel day for the bulleted items.

Page 11, Paragraph h, Other Categories, 2^nd paragraph - Eliminate the words “exceeding $10", therefore, requiring receipts.

Referring to Mr. DePrima’s suggested addition of paragraph k on Page 12 to allow for Internet access costs for City business, Mr. Carey felt that this item would be necessary; however, it would need to be monitored closely.

Mr. Ritter moved to recommend amending Section I, Item 2, Paragraph c, on Page 10, by deleting “if over $10" and Section I, Item 2, Paragraph h on Page 11 by deleting “exceeding $10". The motion was seconded by Mr. Truitt and unanimously carried.

Responding to Mr. Ritter, Mr. Speed clarified that the proposed amendment, submitted by the City Manager with regards to Section C - Authorized Travel Agent, on Page 3, was to add language to allow alternatives when making travel arrangements as long as it was proven to be more economically feasible and that a secondary recommendation was to delete all references in the document that referred to an “authorized travel agent”.

Mr. Ritter moved to recommend amending Section C, on Page 3, as suggested by the City Manager that through a competitive bid process, the City designate a travel agency to be used when making travel arrangement; however, also provide language to allow a default agency that offers more competitive rates and to delete all references in the policy that refer to an “authorized travel agent”. The motion was seconded by Mr. Truitt and unanimously carried.

Referring to Page 5, Section E - Transportation: Passenger Vehicles, Item 3 - Rental Cars, Paragraph b - Vehicle Size, Mr. Truitt moved to upgrade the rental of compact vehicles to mid size vehicles. The motion failed due to the lack of a second.

Referring to Page 5, Section E - Transportation: Passenger Vehicles, Item 3 - Rental Cars, Paragraph b - Vehicle Size, Mr. Ritter suggested that any representative of the City requesting to upgrade the size of a rented vehicle be required to provide a written explanation of their reasons and to submit a receipt.

Mr. Ritter moved to recommend amending Section E - Transportation: Passenger Vehicles, Item 3 - Rental Cars, Paragraph b - Vehicle Size, on Page 5, as suggested. The motion was seconded by Mr. Truitt and unanimously carried.

Mr. Ritter moved to recommend amending Section F - Lodging, Item 2 - Accommodations, on Page 6, by deleting Paragraph d in its entirety. The motion was seconded by Mr. Truitt and unanimously carried.

Referring to Section G - Meal Allowances, on Page 8, Mr. Speed suggested that Plan B from Item 1 - General, be deleted and Items 2 - Choice of Meal Plan and 3 - Meal Allowance Adjustments be deleted and replaced with the per diem rates as prescribed by the Federal Government for official travel.

Mr. Truitt moved to recommend amending Section G - Meal Allowances, on Page 8 by deleting Plan B from Item 1 and replacing Items 2 and 3 with the pier diem rates as prescribed by the Federal Government for official travel. The motion was seconded by Mr. Ritter and unanimously carried.

Referring to Page 9, Section H - Cash Advances, Mr. DePrima suggested that the following be inserted:

d.    Meal allowance.

e.    Ground transportation to and from hotel, and airport parking when costs have been pre-determined by the Finance Director.

Mr. Ritter moved to recommend amending Section H - Cash Advances, on Page 9, by inserting paragraphs d and e as suggested. The motion was seconded by Mr. Truitt and unanimously carried.

Referring to Section I - Travel Expense Reimbursement, Item 2 - Receipt Requirements and Other Reimbursement Criteria, on Page 11, Mr. Truitt moved to recommend amending Paragraph f(1) to allow for a maximum of $10 per travel day for incidental items as listed. The motion failed due to the lack of a second.

Referring to Section I - Travel Expense Reimbursement, Item 2 - Receipt Requirements and Other Reimbursement Criteria, on Page 11, Mr. Ritter moved to recommend amending Paragraph f(1) to allow for a total of $10 per trip for incidental items as listed. The motion failed due to the lack of a second.

Mr. Truitt moved to recommend approval of the amendment to Page 11, Section 2, by adding Paragraph k - Internet Access Costs for city business as suggested by the City Manager. The motion was seconded by Mr. Ritter and carried with Mr. Speed voting no.

Mr. Speed indicated that additional provisions should be added the amendment to clarify which types of employees would have this capability.

Mr. Ritter noted that on Page 13, there is an item noted as Exhibit C which provides for an exemption on occupancy tax. In order for City travelers to be exempt from occupancy taxes while traveling, he stated that this exhibit should be amended for the City of Dover.

Mr. Ritter moved to recommend that the Finance Director/Treasurer modify Exhibit C - State of Delaware Exemption Certificate, for the City of Dover. The motion was seconded by Mr. Truitt and unanimously carried.

Mr. Ritter moved to recommend approval of the Revised Travel Policy, as amended (Attachment #1). The motion was seconded by Mr. Truitt and unanimously carried.

Draft Gift Policy

Due to insufficient time, the above mentioned item was deferred until the next committee meeting.

Mr. Ritter moved for adjournment, seconded by Mr. Truitt and unanimously carried.

Meeting Adjourned at 7:12 P.M.

                                                                                    Respectfully submitted,

                                                                                    Stephen R. Speed

                                                                                    Chairman

SRS/jg/lcg

S:ClerksOfficeAgendas&MinutesCommittee-Minutes200310-27-2003-LF&A.min.wpd

Attachment #1 - Revised Travel Policy