At a meeting of the Page County board, members voted to approve the claims presented on the agenda while one board member raised repeated concerns that reimbursement claims she submitted were not shared with the board for review.

The concern came from a board member who said "there were some claims that I submitted on Friday that are not on here for some mileage to Des Moines and to, for our Isaac training and and a hotel stay up there" and that the claims should have been brought to the board for review. The member added, "She walked them in there and set them down, and I was in and I was told it was plenty of time." The member said similar claims earlier had not been sent to the board and that staff had told her Melissa told them not to give the claim to the board.

The personnel policy manual was discussed during the exchange; a staff speaker said, "The personnel policy manual at the current time does not have a deadline as far as turning in reimbursement claims," and that adding a deadline could be considered in the future. Board members said claims that are turned in should be available to the board for review before payment decisions.

On a roll-call vote to approve the claims as presented, Clark voted yes; Holmes voted yes; Mayor voted yes. The motion passed.

Board members discussed that the claims in question included mileage to Des Moines and training-related hotel stays and that some of the disputed claims were for upcoming January meetings. One member described the situation as a recurring administrative issue that the board needs to address so submitted bills are presented for review.

The board did not adopt a new deadline or formal change to the personnel policy manual at this meeting; staff said the manual currently lacks a claim-deadline provision and that the item could be considered in the future.