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Council members weigh rescinding 2019 travel resolution and consider new approach
Summary
Committee members discussed a 2019 council resolution that requires posting informational travel items to agendas and considered rescinding it because the city now uses other leave/travel reporting tools; staff recommended bringing options to a study session.
Audit and Finance Committee members reviewed a 2019 council travel resolution that requires an informational agenda item each time a council member or mayor submits a travel form. Several members said the requirement is cumbersome and not consistently followed.
The City Manager told the committee that when the resolution was adopted the council was taking more varied travel, and the resolution provided additional transparency at the time. Since then the city added an online leave/travel request system that captures trip details, including purpose and benefit to the city, and stores associated receipts and forms. The manager said those tools provide overlap with the 2019 resolution and make parts of it redundant.
Committee members suggested options: rescind the 2019 resolution, narrow it to non‑routine or high‑cost travel, or allocate a nominal per‑member travel allowance (an approach used by neighboring cities such as Lee’s Summit). The manager offered to prepare several policy options and examples from other municipalities for a study session.
Committee members noted the current council travel budget is small: about $8,000 across seven elected officials in the manager’s budget packet. Staff said the mayor’s and council office recommended an additional $5,000 in the proposed budget to allow modest increases for routine legislative and association travel.
The committee asked staff to prepare materials for a study session that would (1) recommend whether to rescind the 2019 resolution, (2) present alternative models for allocating travel authority, and (3) show the budgetary impacts of each model.
