Agencies detail travel costs

By Kathy Chaffin and Shavonne Potts

kchaffin@salisburypost.com

Embroiled in a dispute last year over the failure of the county's alcohol sales system to generate substantial revenue, Rowan County commissioners requested records related to travel expenses and reimbursements from the Rowan-Kannapolis ABC board.

At first, ABC board members said they wouldn't provide those records. Then, they wanted to charge the county for them. Finally, and at no charge, the ABC system turned over its records, which documented thousands of dollars in credit card charges at hotels and restaurants.

For Sunshine Week, a national initiative to put a spotlight on the importance of open government, the Post decided to ask local governments and agencies for their travel expenses for the calendar year 2009.

Part of the request was meant to document how much they spent, particularly for elected boards such as the Rowan County Board of Commissioners or appointed bodies such as the ABC board, as well as high-ranking bureaucrats in each government or agency.

Another, equally important part was to see how they responded to the requests for this information, which is public under N.C. General Statutes, meaning any citizen should be able to make the same request and expect to get the information.

Today, we're running the responses from agencies including the Rowan-Salisbury School System, the Department of Social Services and the Rowan County Health Department. Tomorrow, we'll print the results from Rowan County and its municipal governments.

Here are their responses and the information they provided:

Rowan-Salisbury Schools

The Rowan-Salisbury School System was asked to provide copies of 2009 travel expenses for the Board of Education, Superintendent Dr. Judy Grissom and her Superintendent's Team.

A Post reporter made the request to Rita Foil, public information officer for the school system, in a telephone call and she gathered the 188 pages of copies and had them ready to be picked up within a few days. Foil and Chief Financial Officer Tara Trexler were cooperative in answering questions about the expenses.

The school system spent a total of $917,531 on travel expenses for its 3,000-plus employees during 2009. This included $672,739 for staff development (including registration fees, conference/workshop costs, meals, etc.) and $244,792 for mileage reimbursement.

Trexler said expenses declined significantly during the second half of the year. "We have started doing a lot of our meetings online," she said, "and trying to limit the number of meetings."

Mileage for the school system — which is set by the state — was 58.5 cents per mile Jan. 1-June 30 of last year and 55 cents per mile July 1-Dec. 31. (The rate was lowered to 50 cents Jan. 1.)

Mileage expenses submitted by the Rowan-Salisbury Board of Education totaled $3,520. Linda Freeze had the most with $1,307 followed by Chairman Dr. Jim Emerson with $1,540.

Bryce Beard did not submit any requests for travel reimbursement.

Another travel expense was $1,128.67 for Karen Carpenter to represent the board at the National School Board Association conference in San Diego, Calif., in May.

The school system also paid $180 for Beard, Carpenter, Emerson, Freeze, Jean Kennedy and Kay Wright Norman to attend the N.C. School Boards Association meeting on Sept. 23, and $2,300 for Emerson, Freeze, Kennedy, Norman and Patty Williams to attend the association's annual conference Nov. 16-18.

Norman received $618 in travel expenses for three conferences in North Carolina.

Grissom had a total of $4,537.73 in travel expenses, $2,135.10 for mileage reimbursement and $2,402.63 for staff development expenses, including conferences, registration fees, hotel accommodations, etc.

"I just want it noted that all of my travel during the last year was required as part of my job as superintendent (state and regional superintendents' meetings)," she said in an e-mail to the Post, "or required as a member of a state board position or local board position. Our staff works extremely hard to share rooms and travel to cut down on expenses, when we must travel.

"No one is traveling as a 'holiday' or taking any family, etc."

Health Department

A Post reporter made a records request by e-mail to Leonard Wood, director of the Rowan County Health Department, on a Tuesday afternoon. At a Board of Health meeting that night, Wood asked the reporter about the need for the records.

In a follow-up e-mail the next morning, Wood said he was working to comply with the records request but noted it involved a lot of information. He e-mailed a spreadsheet with the information shortly after 3 p.m. Friday.

Board of Health members Elia Gegorek and Stephen Fuller accounted for $240 and $280 in travel expenses, respectively.

The county reimbursed the department $200 for food.

Wood said board members do not have travel allowances and the reimbursement is for meetings and a meal that was provided to the board in November.

Wood was reimbursed by the county $602 in travel expenses, $106 for training, $379 for hotels, $186 for food and $205 for registration charges.

Grant money reimbursed him $556 in travel expenses, $154 for training, $475 for hotels, $187 for food, $128 for supplies and $125 for registration charges.

"My travel is for meetings in Raleigh and one in Asheville. There was no out-of-state travel for any of our folks," Wood said.

Lynn Aldridge, the department's environmental health manager, incurred the most travel expense. Aldridge had $5,061 in travel expenses reimbursed by the county, along with $169 for hotel stays, $72 for food and $85 for registration costs.

Jim Cowan, who was head of the Allied Health Services division of the Health Department before returning to active military duty in May, was reimbursed $1,163 for travel through grants. Cowan was also reimbursed $251 for food through grants.

The county reimbursed Cowan $56 for travel and $63 for food.

Total expenses for travel, training, hotel, food and registration costs for the Health Department in 2009 were $12,496.

Social Services

A Post reporter requested travel expenses for the Rowan County Department of Social Services on a Friday and received an e-mailed reply within minutes from

Jane Johnson, a budget analyst for the department, didn't ask why the reporter wanted the information, only how promptly it was needed.

Johnson said the Social Board incurred no travel expenses last year. Director Sandra Wilkes received mileage reimbursement only for in-county travel to department sites and county meetings.