The Mayor shall appoint a Travel Committee composed of three City Commissioners and one alternate.
The following rules pertaining to travel and/or meeting expenses and representations of the City by City Commissioners are hereby adopted:
(a) All requests for travel expenses exceeding four hundred dollars ($400.00) shall be forwarded to the Travel Committee for prior approval, accompanied by a detailed agenda and itemization of expected expenses.
If direct representation of the City through votes is involved, the voting delegate shall be the Mayor or Vice Mayor or, in their absence, a Commissioner designated by the full City Commission.
(Res. 95. Passed 3-20-07; Ord. 08-2020. Passed 10-20-20.)
(b) Allowable expenses are limited to:
(1) Transportation to and from the specified location. Air fare within the continental United States shall be coach class.
(2) Hotel accommodations and meals, for the time period of the meeting, including travel there and back; and
(3) Registration fees and other charges incidental to the meeting or seminar.
(c) Responsibilities of the Commissioner are:
(1) A written synopsis covering the salient issues, within thirty days of return, presented to the full Commission; and
(2) Reconcilement of all travel advances, within thirty days of return, with receipts, except for miscellaneous items. Additional transportation, hotel and meal expenses incurred by extending the time and/or scope of the travel are the Commissioner's personal expense.
(Res. 588. Passed 1-20-87.)
(3) Failure by any City Commissioner to provide the written synopsis required by paragraph (c)(1) hereof shall result in no reimbursement for said travel, meeting or representation, or, if expenses have been paid by the City, such expenses shall be reimbursed to the City by the Commissioner promptly, upon request.
Further, a City Commissioner failing to provide the synopsis required by paragraph (c)(1) hereof may be further sanctioned at the discretion of the City Commission.
(Res. 57. Passed 1-7-97.)
(d) The Committee shall be guided in its disposition of travel requests by the validity of the trip, the Commission travel budget and the fiscal year total of expenses incurred by the requesting Commissioner. In the event of travel outside the State, the voting delegate should be given preference.
The Committee shall provide, in a timely manner, a written summary of each request and its disposition to each City Commissioner, accompanied by an updated accounting of the travel expenditures approved for the fiscal year in total and for individual Commissioners.
(e) Any Commissioner may request a full Commission review of any travel request and disposition by requesting the City Manager to prepare a resolution approving the request and placing it on the next Commission agenda. The decision of the Commission on the resolution shall determine the final status of the travel request.
(Res. 588. Passed 1-20-87.)