Hamilton County employees
have used taxpayer-rented vehicles to drive hundreds of miles on their own time
while attending out-of-town conventions, county Auditor Dusty Rhodes says in a
report released Tuesday.
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Travel
guidelines |
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Hamilton County Auditor
Dusty Rhodes told county commissioners Tuesday he would like to see these
travel guidelines in place for county employees: Prior written
justification for vehicle rental. No vehicle rental when employee's
hotel is conference site. Making cab or shuttle fares separate from
employees' $40-per-day meal expenses. Travel expenses ''should never be
approved by employees reporting to the person making such claims.''
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He urges county commissioners to review county travel policies.
Rhodes said that while the rental-car use was not illegal, ''the documentation
and (the employees') responses show a rather liberal interpretation by these
elected officials and employees with respect to what constitutes 'business use'
of rental cars.'' In some cases, cars were rented even when the conference was
held in the same hotel where the employees were staying, Rhodes found. Some
employees responded, however, that rental vehicles can be a necessity even in
that circumstance - depending on the city, the availability of taxis, and
proximity of the hotel to restaurants and the major airport. Commission
President Bob Bedinghaus had not seen Rhodes' report Tuesday, his secretary
said. Rhodes, whose office several years ago was part of a committee that
created the current travel policy, has urged the county commissioners to
revisit that policy with another such panel. His report lists these examples:
County Health Commissioner Timothy Ingram, attending a 1998 National
Environmental Health Association education conference in Las Vegas, arrived
four days before its start and rented a car on which he put 1,132 miles over 11
days. He was charged $415.34 and requested $207.66 reimbursement for six of
those days. He stayed at the conference location. Ingram was unavailable to
comment Tuesday afternoon.
R. Joseph Gunterman, the county's training
and development manager, had approval to attend a March 24-27, 1998, conference
in Chicago. He rented a car upon arrival and ran up 701 miles traveling to
Sturgeon Bay in Door County, Wisc., to discuss with a workplace-violence
program with a colleague. He returned the car March 25, the day auditors say
conference sessions began. Gunterman's boss, county Personnel Director James
Lowry, said Gunterman had told him before the trip he might travel to Wisconsin
to discuss the program because Hamilton County was investigating beginning its
own workplace-violence program. ''He's a manager-level here,'' Lowry said of
Gunterman. ''His record is impeccable, and I would stand it up against
anybody's, including Dusty Rhodes.' ''
When John Baron, Robert Lodge and
Arnold Weathers from the River City Correctional Institution attended an
American Correctional Association gathering in Denver last Aug. 8-12 with
Common Pleas Administrator Michael Walton, Baron's car racked up 4,067 miles.
Auditors confirmed that mileage figure with the rental company but still
believe that figure is incorrect. ''I would have had to drive from Denver to
Cincinnati twice in the time I was out there,'' said Baron, who said the
mileage was definitely wrong. As with many county rentals, the vehicle
agreement was for unlimited mileage. Walton also rented a car and drove 468
miles. Rhodes' report questioned why two vehicles were necessary for four men -
especially when a ''shuttle service from the airport to the hotel was available
at a small charge.'' Walton said cars are needed when restaurants are far from
the hotel: ''Are you going to be held prisoner or captive in your hotel during
the time you're there?''
