AUBURN - As a result of last week's unanimously approved resolution requiring approval from the Auburn City Council for all travel and training expenses, councilors were called in for an emergency meeting Tuesday to approve a travel request by Mayor Tim Lattimore.
City Manager John Salomone called the meeting, saying that he had received a consensus from the council that the travel and training requirement would apply to travel requests both by staff and by council members.
“I want to make sure we're consistent,” Salomone said. “We want to make sure the resolutions passed by the city council are adhered to.”
Lattimore said he had “spoken about this trip for some time,” though Salomone said it had only been discussed informally so the request fell under the new requirements set by council last week.
Lattimore put in a travel reimbursement request that would amount to about $450 in order to fly to Washington, D.C., today for meetings with Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and U.S. Rep. Sherwood Boehlert to discuss grant opportunities for the city's alternative energy projects. An emergency meeting had to be called because of the short time frame - normally the requests would be approved during weekly council meetings.
Councilors approved the request 3-2, with councilors Thomas McNabb and David
Dempsey voting against the request.
“This is a total waste of taxpayer money,” Dempsey said, before voting against the request.
Following the meeting, Lattimore said Dempsey's comment was “unwarranted,” saying that he has been successful in drawing grant money for city projects through trips to Washington and Albany in the past.
Councilors also discussed modifying the travel and training requirement to prevent emergency meeting situations in the future, though they arrived at no consensus.
Dempsey said he had heard concerns from people in the city's planning office that the requirement was causing problems as far as scheduling day trips,
which Salomone said could be an issue.
“That's where it will be a problem,” Salomone said, noting that employees in the planning office may be called to meet with developers out of town on short notice.
Dempsey said he thought the requirement should either be rescinded or modified to account for those concerns. Lattimore responded that he doesn't ask to be reimbursed for every trip he makes in his capacity as mayor, only the larger travel expenses. Though following the meeting, he said he would be open to considering changes to the requirement in order to address that concern.
“We'll probably have to tweak (the language),” he said. “We don't want to hinder progress.”
Lattimore also questioned whether the council would be approving expenses for the New York Conference of Mayors meeting this month - he and McNabb are planning on attending, and Salomone said last Thursday that he was considering attending but said Tuesday he had decided not to go.
Salomone said since the expenses for the conference had already been incurred, he was under the impression that they did not need to be approved by council.
Lattimore also wanted to ensure that all of Salomone's travel and training expenses would require council approval, despite provisions in his contract allowing for those expenses. Salomone said he would adhere to the same rules as everyone else.
“I certainly don't want to be different than anyone else,” Salomone said.
Staff writer Anne Gleason can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 248 or at anne.gleason@lee.net
“I want to make sure we're consistent,” Salomone said. “We want to make sure the resolutions passed by the city council are adhered to.”
Lattimore said he had “spoken about this trip for some time,” though Salomone said it had only been discussed informally so the request fell under the new requirements set by council last week.
Lattimore put in a travel reimbursement request that would amount to about $450 in order to fly to Washington, D.C., today for meetings with Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and U.S. Rep. Sherwood Boehlert to discuss grant opportunities for the city's alternative energy projects. An emergency meeting had to be called because of the short time frame - normally the requests would be approved during weekly council meetings.
Councilors approved the request 3-2, with councilors Thomas McNabb and David
Dempsey voting against the request.
“This is a total waste of taxpayer money,” Dempsey said, before voting against the request.
Following the meeting, Lattimore said Dempsey's comment was “unwarranted,” saying that he has been successful in drawing grant money for city projects through trips to Washington and Albany in the past.
Councilors also discussed modifying the travel and training requirement to prevent emergency meeting situations in the future, though they arrived at no consensus.
Dempsey said he had heard concerns from people in the city's planning office that the requirement was causing problems as far as scheduling day trips,
which Salomone said could be an issue.
“That's where it will be a problem,” Salomone said, noting that employees in the planning office may be called to meet with developers out of town on short notice.
Dempsey said he thought the requirement should either be rescinded or modified to account for those concerns. Lattimore responded that he doesn't ask to be reimbursed for every trip he makes in his capacity as mayor, only the larger travel expenses. Though following the meeting, he said he would be open to considering changes to the requirement in order to address that concern.
“We'll probably have to tweak (the language),” he said. “We don't want to hinder progress.”
Lattimore also questioned whether the council would be approving expenses for the New York Conference of Mayors meeting this month - he and McNabb are planning on attending, and Salomone said last Thursday that he was considering attending but said Tuesday he had decided not to go.
Salomone said since the expenses for the conference had already been incurred, he was under the impression that they did not need to be approved by council.
Lattimore also wanted to ensure that all of Salomone's travel and training expenses would require council approval, despite provisions in his contract allowing for those expenses. Salomone said he would adhere to the same rules as everyone else.
“I certainly don't want to be different than anyone else,” Salomone said.
Staff writer Anne Gleason can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 248 or at anne.gleason@lee.net