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07-14-2005, 07:02 AM
From The State newspaper
Taxpayers to pay $10,500 for county officials’ Hawaii trip
By GINA SMITH
Staff Writer
2 Richland council members, 2 staffers to attend national meeting
Richland County taxpayers will pay more than $10,500 to send two County Council members, Joyce Dickerson and Doris Corley, and two county staff members to Honolulu for the National Association of Counties annual conference.
In many other states, county leaders are staying home because they worry the public will view a trip to the leisure destination as a vacation rather than a conference to discuss county issues, according to newspaper reports.
No council members in neighboring Kershaw and Lexington counties are attending the conference, which runs Friday through Tuesday.
Also going on the trip is a third Richland County Council member, Damon Jeter, and the county’s clerk of court, Barbara Scott.
But neither of them will cost county taxpayers any money.
Jeter is paying out of his own pocket. Scott’s tab will be picked up by the S.C. Association of Counties because she is a board member.
Dickerson and Corley will pay for their trip out of their discretionary fund accounts, provided by the county. Each year, the 11 members of County Council are allotted $5,000 each for travel, training and to provide services to their residents.
Corley and Dickerson will each use $2,633 out of their accounts to cover airfare, hotel costs, conference fees and food.
“I’m doing this to improve and enhance my leadership ability and to serve my diverse people,” Dickerson said. “I would do anything ... that would make me a more effective and efficient leader.”
Dickerson said she’s particularly interested in the sessions about transportation issues in rural areas, conserving natural resources and managing growth.
“I want all of the information, training and education I can get,” she said.
Attempts to reach Corley on Wednesday were unsuccessful.
Taxpayers will also pay for the trips for clerk of council Michelle Cannon-Finch, who will attend workshops, and GIS director Patrick Bresnahan, who is a speaker at the conference.
About 4,000 attendees from counties across the nation will attend the conference, said Allison Mall of NACo. That’s about average from past years.
Locations for the conferences are chosen seven years in advance, she said.
No County Council members attended last year’s conference in Phoenix. But some members have attended past conferences in Pennsylvania, Charlotte and New Orleans.
This isn’t the first time that a Hawaiian trip has caused a ruckus on County Council.
In 1997, County Council chairwoman Harriet Gardin Fields and vice chairwoman Gwendolyn Kennedy went to Hawaii for a NACo conference for western states.
That same year, both women were voted out, in part because of voter displeasure over the trip.
The two members were also criticized for far outspending other council members in the use of their county expense accounts.
Councilman Joe McEachern won Kennedy’s seat in the 1997 Democratic runoff and remembers how residents felt about the Hawaiian trip.
“They thought it was a tremendous waste of taxpayers’ dollars,” he said.
McEachern said the NACo conferences are good opportunities, especially for new council members. Dickerson was elected to County Council in November and Corley in 2003.
“I’m sure (NACo) has resources and information that can be useful to us. But we have to evaluate whether those benefits equal the costs,” McEachern said. “For me, I’ll just order the book.”
Jeter, also elected in November, says he’ll pay out of his pocket.
“A national conference will give me a chance to learn about the best practices,” he said, noting he’s interested in learning about federal grant opportunities.
Staff writers Kristy Rupon and John O’Connor contributed to this report. Reach Smith at (803) 771-8462 or gnsmith@thestate.com.
Taxpayers to pay $10,500 for county officials’ Hawaii trip
By GINA SMITH
Staff Writer
2 Richland council members, 2 staffers to attend national meeting
Richland County taxpayers will pay more than $10,500 to send two County Council members, Joyce Dickerson and Doris Corley, and two county staff members to Honolulu for the National Association of Counties annual conference.
In many other states, county leaders are staying home because they worry the public will view a trip to the leisure destination as a vacation rather than a conference to discuss county issues, according to newspaper reports.
No council members in neighboring Kershaw and Lexington counties are attending the conference, which runs Friday through Tuesday.
Also going on the trip is a third Richland County Council member, Damon Jeter, and the county’s clerk of court, Barbara Scott.
But neither of them will cost county taxpayers any money.
Jeter is paying out of his own pocket. Scott’s tab will be picked up by the S.C. Association of Counties because she is a board member.
Dickerson and Corley will pay for their trip out of their discretionary fund accounts, provided by the county. Each year, the 11 members of County Council are allotted $5,000 each for travel, training and to provide services to their residents.
Corley and Dickerson will each use $2,633 out of their accounts to cover airfare, hotel costs, conference fees and food.
“I’m doing this to improve and enhance my leadership ability and to serve my diverse people,” Dickerson said. “I would do anything ... that would make me a more effective and efficient leader.”
Dickerson said she’s particularly interested in the sessions about transportation issues in rural areas, conserving natural resources and managing growth.
“I want all of the information, training and education I can get,” she said.
Attempts to reach Corley on Wednesday were unsuccessful.
Taxpayers will also pay for the trips for clerk of council Michelle Cannon-Finch, who will attend workshops, and GIS director Patrick Bresnahan, who is a speaker at the conference.
About 4,000 attendees from counties across the nation will attend the conference, said Allison Mall of NACo. That’s about average from past years.
Locations for the conferences are chosen seven years in advance, she said.
No County Council members attended last year’s conference in Phoenix. But some members have attended past conferences in Pennsylvania, Charlotte and New Orleans.
This isn’t the first time that a Hawaiian trip has caused a ruckus on County Council.
In 1997, County Council chairwoman Harriet Gardin Fields and vice chairwoman Gwendolyn Kennedy went to Hawaii for a NACo conference for western states.
That same year, both women were voted out, in part because of voter displeasure over the trip.
The two members were also criticized for far outspending other council members in the use of their county expense accounts.
Councilman Joe McEachern won Kennedy’s seat in the 1997 Democratic runoff and remembers how residents felt about the Hawaiian trip.
“They thought it was a tremendous waste of taxpayers’ dollars,” he said.
McEachern said the NACo conferences are good opportunities, especially for new council members. Dickerson was elected to County Council in November and Corley in 2003.
“I’m sure (NACo) has resources and information that can be useful to us. But we have to evaluate whether those benefits equal the costs,” McEachern said. “For me, I’ll just order the book.”
Jeter, also elected in November, says he’ll pay out of his pocket.
“A national conference will give me a chance to learn about the best practices,” he said, noting he’s interested in learning about federal grant opportunities.
Staff writers Kristy Rupon and John O’Connor contributed to this report. Reach Smith at (803) 771-8462 or gnsmith@thestate.com.