RECOMMENDATION

It is recommended that the Agency authorize the Executive Officer to approve claims for payment for:

1. Expenses associated with the California Transportation Commission (CTC) October 30, 2003 meeting in Redding;

2. Expenses for refreshments at various public meetings and hearings; and

3. Out-of-state travel for Agency members.

SUMMARY

To assist with expediting processing in the County Auditor-Controllers office, it is requested that the Agency authorize the Executive Officer to approve claims for refreshments at public meetings, expenses associated with conducting the CTC meeting in October 2003, and for out-of-state travel for Agency members.

DISCUSSION

The California Transportation Commission (CTC) will be holding their October meeting on Thursday, October 30, at the Redding Civic Center in the City Council Chambers. The time allotted for a lunch break will not allow members of the CTC and other attendees to get lunch outside City Hall. Therefore, it has been requested that the Agency make arrangements to have lunch catered. The Agency will be paying for the lunches and will be reimbursed by the CTC and/or other attendees. Staff has arranged caterers to provide box lunches for approximately 125 attendees, at a reimbursement amount of $10.00 per lunch. It is emphasized that the Agency will be reimbursed for the costs of these lunches, but authority is needed to get the bills paid. Although not identified at this time, there may be additional expenses incurred in conducting this meeting. It is requested that the Executive Officer be delegated the authority to pay these bills.

Staff currently has been providing refreshments at the scheduled Agency meetings and other public meetings. Since no specific authorizations exist for these expenditures, they have been “sponsored” by the Executive Officer. If the Agency would like to see this practice continued, then it is requested that the Agency authorize the Executive Officer to approve claims for reimbursement for refreshments, such as snacks and soft drinks. Assuming adoption of the Staff recommendation, refreshments would be provided at Agency meetings and at evening public meetings and public workshops.

Recently, Agency Member Mathena and Dan Kovacich attended a Western COG conference in Bend, Oregon. Out of state travel requires Shasta County CAO approval for all County employees. Since Mr. Mathena is not a County employee, no prior approval was obtained and there is no County policy regarding reimbursing non-County employees for travel expenses. The County Auditor-Controller did reimburse Mr. Mathena, after approval by the County CAO for his expenses, but requested that specific authority be delegated to the Executive Officer to approve these reimbursements in the future. Agency Staff would like to thank the Staff of the County Auditor-Controller’s Office for cooperating on the solution to this issue.

OTHER AGENCY INVOLVEMENT

The Auditor/Controller’s office has reviewed the staff report and concurs with the Staff recommendation. This item was reviewed at the October 7, 2003 TAC meeting.

FINANCING

CTC lunches will be reimbursed to the RTPA by attendees. There is no impact on financing. The annual costs associated with providing refreshments at public meetings and hearings (about $200) will not be significant and adequate resources are available in the RTPA’s Overall Work Program (OWP).

_______________________________________

Daniel J. Kovacich, Executive Officer

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