On Eliminating the Commissioner Expense Policy.

Over the past few months, I’ve shared ideas here and here for improving our Commissioner Expense and Mileage Policy to make it more transparent, flexible, and accountable. A tailored policy would ensure Commissioners can fulfill their roles—such as representing Ottawa County at conferences or engaging in professional development—while maintaining public trust through clear guidelines and reporting.

On Tuesday, we are being asked to discontinue the Commissioner Expense and Mileage Policy altogether and rely solely on the employee Purchasing and Mileage Policies. However, since the the Purchasing Policy only provides oversight for procurement procedures, and the Mileage Policy recommends the allowance of all mileage reimbursement for all Commissioners’ 'county business', these policies are simply not effective tools to address the issue of what we can and what we cannot expend funds on, or help us properly report and account to the public for those expenses. Having no dedicated policy thus risks either prohibiting basically all expenses, or eliminating all spending restrictions altogether and with no accountability whatsoever. Neither of these two extremes seem desireable.

I oppose discontinuing the policy without a replacement that ensures transparency, flexibility, and accountability. I urge us to develop a revised Commissioner Expense Policy that builds on these principles to better serve our County and constituents.