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Iowa County staff discuss travel, vehicle use and mileage practice for conferences
Summary
County staff debated following the handbook's guidance that employees use county vehicles for conferences and discussed a voluntary waiver and mileage rules for employees who choose to drive personal vehicles.
County staff discussed how the county handbook applies to travel for conferences, including whether employees should use county vehicles when available and how mileage reimbursement should be handled if they choose to drive personal vehicles.
Speaker 2, a county staff member, said the handbook indicates that if a county vehicle is available for travel to a conference employees should take it. "I think if a county vehicle is available to take the preferences to take it," Speaker 2 said. The staff member suggested using a signed slip to document when an employee voluntarily opts to use a personal vehicle rather than the county vehicle. Under that approach, the employee would acknowledge they were aware a county vehicle was available, that they opted to use their own vehicle, that they would not be reimbursed for gas, and that they accepted driving responsibility.
The discussion also included a note that limited mileage reimbursement could be paid to cover travel to and from a conference (one speaker referenced "like a 100 miles to and a 100 miles back") while travel beyond that for personal reasons would not be reimbursed. Speaker 2 stated the county would not accept responsibility for an accident in a personal vehicle when an employee had the option of taking a county vehicle.
No formal policy change or formal vote was recorded in the transcript excerpt. Staff said they wished to set a consistent precedent and would continue to manage travel arrangements accordingly.
