A councilman accrued the city more than $1,000 in late charges to register for a conference next week in Point Clear, Alabama.
The council on Tuesday approved paying $2,199.36 for Ward 4 Councilman Pierre Beard to attend the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway Conference Aug. 8-11. However, he missed the deadline for early registration, which made the costs increase from $1,118.20.
According to the meeting agenda, the cost covers registration, travel and meal expenses.
“He was originally planning to go to another conference that three other council members are going to on the Gulf Coast,” Mayor Keith Gaskin said Wednesday during a press conference at City Hall. “He found out that you had to have updated shots for COVID, and he (does) not. When he realized he couldn’t attend that one, he checked on this one.”
Interim City Planner George Irby will also attend the conference, Gaskin said. He registered in time for the early rate.
The conference includes Tenn-Tom-related workshops, Gaskin said, as well as networking opportunities with other public officials and professionals who work with the waterway itself.
Gaskin said he had been to the conference once, and Beard had also attended past conferences.
“I had planned to go (this year). When I saw (Irby) was attending, I decided not to go because I felt like with him going to bring back information … that there are other places I might need to travel to on behalf of the city. … But each council member has their own right to go to which meetings they think are appropriate to them.”
Both Gaskin and City Attorney Jeff Turnage said they are unaware of a formal city policy on how to handle late fees for attending conferences or anything that would compel the official registering to repay the city for late charges incurred.
Normally, those conferences are booked well in advance, CFO Jim Brigham told The Dispatch. Because of that, late fees are “very rare.”
Beard did not return a call and message from The Dispatch by press time.
Zack Plair is the managing editor for The Dispatch.
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