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San Gabriel council splits over paying city manager’s travel expenses to accept Taiwan tourism award; amendment to cut funding fails
Summary
Mayor Wu said Taiwan’s tourism agency will cover most costs for her award trip but asked the council to approve city-paid expenses for City Manager Mark to accompany her; councilmembers split over precedent and fiscal priorities, a vice mayor’s amendment to change funding failed and no final vote on city-paid travel is recorded.
Mayor Wu asked the San Gabriel City Council during a special meeting to approve city-paid expenses for City Manager Mark to accompany her to accept a Taiwan Tourism Administration award and to select lanterns for the city’s festival. She said the Taiwan Tourism Administration will cover the mayor’s travel and shipping of lanterns but would not cover all of the city manager’s airfare and lodging, and staff estimated a city share could be in the range of several thousand dollars.
The request prompted a sharp debate over fiscal responsibility and precedent. Councilmember Chan said the city already receives a net benefit — the lanterns — and that spending even $5,000 on travel is not justified when public-safety or other local priorities exist. "For $10,000, we could give $5,000 to the…
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