Councilman charged up over spending

PALMER — In a closed-door meeting tonight, the city council will discuss concerns raised over spending and promotion practices by City Manager Bill Allen.

Councilman Richard Best said he was contacted by city employees about questionable charges put on city credit cards. Best said he asked the council to do a review of all the accounts, but at an estimated price of $10,000, the council voted it down.

As the account statements are public records, Best said he requested statements from the manager’s account hoping to use them as a benchmark for future reviews. Instead, he found spending that was “confusing” to him, he said.

In particular, Best said, it looks as if Allen used city funds to pay for expenses associated with various boards of directors he sits on.

“For the Alaska Airlines board meeting in Seattle, he charged the city for his room and board and airfare,” Best said.

While the manager does have a $5,000 expense account for discretionary funds, this is only for use on city business. Allen may have had discussions about the city while in Seattle, Best conceded, but his original intent was to go to the board meeting.

“Charge us a percentage of the trip, not the whole thing,” Best said. “I think we’re paying more than our fair share.”

Best also made a public document request for copies of the internal memorandums regarding employee performance evaluations. They show employees were consistently given multiple-step pay raises after their six-month probationary period instead of the one-step raise called for in the city’s employee manual.

“I think there’s enough to ask questions,” Best said. “I’m a stickler on public funds. These are funds we forcibly extract from the citizens. I think we should be extremely conservative.”

Following the city code, the review is in executive session because the matter could “prejudice the reputation and character of any person.”

For his part, Allen said he could not comment because the matter is still in executive session.

“The councilman shouldn’t have commented either,” Allen said. “He commented knowing I couldn’t respond.”

Best said while he understood the protections of executive session, he has only discussed matters of public knowledge and information. Anyone can request the documents he has reviewed, he said, and he feels the public has a right to answers.

“I’m not one to just go to that person and ask for justification,” Best said. “I would like that in a public forum. I don’t like that being behind closed doors.”

Mayor John Combs said the city clerk and attorney determined Best did not legally violate executive session. However, Combs said he wished Best had held off making his questions public.

“He has made a conclusion and then released the information. A man needs a chance to respond to that material,” Combs said. “Now, we have a one-sided view of everything that’s out there.”

Councilman Michael Chmielewski agreed it is necessary to question city expenses, and the key question is what the total amount is. The council is in the process of evaluating the city manager and is well aware of all the information in question. But, Chmielewski agreed with Combs, it is unfortunate this information has been made public.

“My personal opinion is that when you are in the midst of an evaluation as an arena of executive session, that discussion you want to err on the side of being cautious,” Chmielewski said. “This puts everybody in a difficult position.”

All members of the council agreed their findings would be made public after they come to a conclusion in executive session. Combs hoped to have the matter finished after tonight’s meeting, but he said the discussion could extend to the next council meeting on Aug. 25.

Allen has agreed to respond as soon as the findings are released.