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Ashland council makes move to overhaul policy on limitations for travel, training budget expenses By DANI DODGE ASHLAND -- After several council members unwittingly ran afoul of a 1991 travel and training expenses policy, council members agreed to explore a new policy. "We need something that meets what we do now," said Councilman Steve Hauck. The issue came after a member of the public asked City Recorder Barbara Christensen to check City Council expenditures and find a policy that guided them. She discovered a policy adopted by the council in 1991 that limited council members to $1,000 a year for training unless they got advance approval from the rest of the council. At a study session Thursday, the council directed City Administrator Mike Freeman to write a new policy. The old one had never been made into a resolution or an ordinance, and hadn't been followed for years. Freeman wasn't even aware of it before Christensen found it. Longtime Councilman Don Laws reflected on its origins. "Council members had a feeling that money was being used for purposes that were not appropriate, and that's why it came about," he said. But, he added, it hasn't stayed in the forefront of council members' minds. "It is certainly true that that policy has not been followed since the first year," he said, "and has been ignored ever since.'' Last year, council expenses ranged from nothing for Laws and Cameron Hanson, to $4,657 for Hauck. In the past six years, travel and training expenses have increased from $5,183 in the 1993/94 budget to $10,430 in the most recent budget. Councilwoman Susan Reid, who chairs the League of Oregon Cities energy commission, noted that a trip to Salem that used to cost her $150 is now running about $250. "There has been an increase in the cost of doing this," she said. Councilwoman Carole Wheeldon said the policy needs to be reviewed every year to keep up with costs. Freeman said he would devise a policy that would be more flexible than the 1991 version. It probably will state simply that council members and the mayor can't exceed their travel and training budget. That way the city budget committee can set an appropriate budget for the expenses year to year, he said. It will also differentiate between the cost of doing city business and training. "It's not something that is drafted yet," he said. "I need to play around and hammer something out that meets their needs." Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA