A meeting of the county’s board of commissioners recessed Monday when a consensus failed to be reached on what travel expenses the county should pay for, how much and the general process about getting approval. Resuming the meeting Friday, commissioners unanimously approved a plan drawn up by Interim County Manager Richard Hicks.
The specifications are to last until the end of the fiscal year.
Under the plan, Hicks has authority to approve all travel related to licensure, certification of maintaining employment and any travel that doesn’t necessitate county funds. For both, the employee and department head in question have to show documentation of the “essential nature of the travel.”
Decisions handed down by Hicks can be appealed to the full board of commissioners.
Other forms of county employee travel carry a number of restrictions and specifications.
“Basically, we’re saying any annual conferences or training sessions or seminars that anybody wants to go to, we need to try to limit that between now and June 30,” Hicks said. “We have asked for documentation (to) be provided by the employee and the department head explaining the need for travel.”
He added, “We don’t think, at this particular time, that professional development is going to be hindered by just missing a few sessions or anything the next months. There will be more sessions in the future and you can take training next year.”
The following now apply:
n Departments are encouraged to use county vehicles whenever possible
n For personal vehicles, mileage reimbursement is set to 35 cents a mile, down from the Internal Revenue Service rate of 56.5 cents per mile
n Mileage is calculated from the
n No overnight lodging for any travel 75 miles away or less
n Any lodging costs are limited to the U.S. General Services Administration per diem rates
n Meals and incidental expenses are not allowed to exceed 75 percent of USGSA rates
n Travel requests cannot exceed the available funds budgeted
n No travel request is required for any adjacent county
Commissioners also approved a proposal from Groundwater Management Associates for a study on water capacity use area restrictions for
Wes Wolfe can be reached at 252-559-1075 or wes.wolfe@kinston.com. Reach him on Twitter at WolfeReports.