An employee of the St. Mary's EDC went to the Paris Trade  Show... did he try to talk the French into locating a croissant factory in Ridge?  Adam Knight went to Vegas and among his bills was money for "other".  Did he get a "Happy Ending"?  Inquiring minds want to know!

Hey Big Spenders!

You've read about big spenders in federal government on government travel this week; who is traveling to where in St. Mary's local government and how much are they billing you to pay for them to leave the county on their junkets instead of staying at their jobs and answering the phone when citizens call...but on a regular basis, local staff leave their jobs, leaving unanswered voice mail, email and unprocessed work in order to go to conventions, seminars and conferences, some of which are required and needed and some of which are just plain fun...notice that the Maryland Association of Counties has their annual convention during the height of the tourist season in August in Ocean City when the highest rates are in force while the Maryland Farm Bureau, who's members pay their own way, meet in December.  

St. Mary's County Administrator John Savich, in his capacity as EDC Director, was responsible for approving travel to Paris for a county staffer and didn't bother gaining approval from the Board of Commissioners. Jeff Jackman, happy to go again to Philly!  Next in the lineup of big spenders is Denis Canavan, the director of St. Mary's Land Use and Growth Management.  Canavan's hotel bill in Philly was less than that of his fellow travelers on the trip which cost the taxpayers more than $12,000.  A consultant on local governments says this conference should have been attended by one county staffer, if at all.   Adam Knight had two taxpayer paid vacations in the past year, one to Las Vegas and the other to Myrtle Beach, masquerading as "seminars".  On both occasions he spent county money listed as "other".  Did he receive a "happy ending"?  Only The Shadow knows for sure! Last photo shows the police look-alike badge worn on the belt of Knight as he went about the task of being a zoning code inspector.  Did he also have a blue light for his car, which is an old police car?
 ST. MARY'S TODAY photo
How about the crew from zoning that went to a planning conference in Philly....nice and close but they still dipped into your wallet to the tune of more than $12,000...what a pile of cheese steaks that was!  Its all about how the St. Mary's Commissioners blow your money.... a staffer went for a trip to Paris and the Board didn't even know it! 
 

Vegas, Myrtle Beach, and Paris, France, Playgrounds of St. Mary’s Bureaucrats

By Kenneth C. Rossignol

ST. MARYS TODAY

LEONARDTOWN --- What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, but only if you pay the bill.  If the taxpayers get stuck with the tab, the taxpayers should know why and what for the money they paid in the form of fees, permits, real estate taxes, sales tax, income tax and even dog licenses is spent.

What would a staffer in the St. Mary’s County Economic Development office do on a trip to the Paris Trade Show?  Walk around with a dictionary that translates French into English or maybe a little electronic devise that enables the well-meaning staffer to query folks if they are interested in located a croissant factory in Ridge, a branch of the Louvre in Leonardtown or perhaps an overseas location of the famous notorious Pigalle Place of Paris in Lexington Park as the days are numbered for Rose’s Place.

Hans Welch was the EDC official who went to the Paris Trade Show with airfare of $989, luckily the Concorde is grounded, hotel bills of $2,275, which shows he didn’t get left home alone in New York, and meals which cost the taxpayers $1,092, which shows that he didn’t eat at the Paris McDonalds.  His mileage costs on the trip came to $93.  Hans didn’t list anything for this trip under “other”. This junket cost the poor taxpayers $4,446. (This is the amount that they admit it cost)

Welch could have attended the trade show and walked around and left brochures about St. Mary’s County with all those who attended, given them his business card and maybe even set up a booth at the show, playing the corny promotional film that the county plays on its government TV channel, which is a real hoot.   Just imagine the interest of the attendees at looking at Great Mills Road, the traffic on Rt. 235 and the overflowing sewage plant at Leonardtown.  Except those parts of the county likely are not included, however at any rate, every county has significant historical points, economic advantages and magnificently scenic settings.  Not everyone has Fitzies, Courtney’s or Morris Point Inn, but it is doubtful that they were included.

The other staffers of the Economic Development office took off on trips for seminars, dinners, farm shows, winter conferences, summer conferences, consortiums, marketplaces, even a course for Robin Finnacom, who supposedly is head of private firm developing Lexington Park but still the taxpayers shelled out $985 for her trip for a neighborhood development strategies course last February, which likely was held in a warm and sunny spot and not in Chicago.

John Savich, in his role as the EDC director, personally went on junkets amounting to over $2,000.  Savich is now the county administrator.  The EDC total spent for junkets was
$15,613.94 during fiscal year 2007.

St. Mary’s Commissioner Larry Jarboe (R. Golden Beach) said the Board of Commissioners didn’t know about the Paris Trade Show trip until after it took place and said he would not approve such travel had the board been asked.  Commissioners Raley and Dement did not return calls prior to deadline.

Adam Knight, a code enforcement officer in the Land Use and Growth Management Office of St. Mary’s County, an official who formerly was assigned a shiny badge which he wore on his belt when he sauntered into places of business prior to having the badge taken away by his boss, last October attended a Fire Preservation Institute Conference in Las Vegas.  

Knight, at least perhaps during the day, attended a little known professional association called the Inter. Fire Preservation Institute with the registration costing the county taxpayers $599.00, airfare was $227.00, hotel cost $712.86 , meals a whopping $243.00 and items listed as “other” being $55.00.  Anyone can guess what the “other” might have been.  Every trip to Vegas for many weary travelers has a “happy ending”. 

The total for Adam Knight’s fling in Vegas was $1,837.56.

Adam Knight then took off on another junket, this time to Myrtle Beach, racking up two destinations in a year’s time which many county residents may have never been to in their entire lives. 

But Adam likely took some pictures and can tell folks all about his trip to the Disaster Response Institute at Myrtle Beach last April.  He needed to learn about how to respond to a disaster as the residents of Old Breton Beach found out first hand what it was like to spend two days cleaning up their properties after Hurricane Isabel struck and then had Knight walk up and hammer a “condemned” sign to their homes without any idea of which way to turn for help or permits. But what he needed to learn could have come from the volunteers of the Red Cross or from a Dale Carnegie course.  Even from some of the old ladies of one of the rescue squads or churches could have taught him all he needed to know about how to talk to people and to help them. But a hammer is more fun.

His registration fee in Myrtle Beach was $510, his mileage was interesting at $431.65 along with airfare of $224.00 as he may have rented a vehicle once he flew into the resort in South Carolina, with April being a nice month in that southern coastal city, it’s a nice place to drive around, best with a convertible. 

Adam Knight’s hotel bill was $357.54, his meals were almost as much as his room and outweighed his airfare at $243.00, and his “other” category this time was $25.00, making this trip another $1,791.19 out of the treasury.  

Adam Knight had one other trip in the past year, which was provided to ST. MARY’S TODAY as part of a public information request into the operations of St. Mary’s county government.  This trip cost the taxpayers $65 for a technical conference in Rockville.

Six staffers of the LUGM office took off for five days for a fun little conference of the National American Planning Association Conference in Philadelphia last April.

This junket cost the citizens of the county more than $12,000.  Even though the county has vans capable of carrying a group like this on a trip to a location such as Philadelphia, instead nearly $350 was spent on mileage when fuel in a county-owned vehicle would have cost approximately half that amount.  But who’s counting.

Registration fees for the Philly conference last April, the week before Knight went to Myrtle Beach, ranged from $695 for Conchita Acupanda to $780 for Denis Canavan.  Also attending were Dave Berry, Yvonne Chaillet, Sabrina Hecht and Jeff Jackman. 

Canavan is the director of LUGM but he was outspent on the trip by Hecht, who totaled out at $2,476.92. 

Canavan’s total for hotel, meals, other, registration was $1,661.50 as his hotel bill was half that of the others perhaps meaning that he either found someone to bunk up with or left the conference early. 

Jackman, Chaillet, Berry and Acupanda all had hotel bills of about $1,100 and amazingly, all of them spent the same thing on meals, $256.00. Nobody in this group bunked up or packed lunches. That’s a lot of Philly cheese steaks.  Now if they had stayed home, all of them would have been paying for their own meals but more than a grand was spent to feed them in Philly, the home of the Liberty Bell.

Four county employees went to a defensive driving course in Columbia, Md at a cost of $15 each proving that valuable information can be obtained right here in Maryland without spending the night or breaking the bank.

But Sue Veith and Colleen Bonnel went to the American Planning Association Conference, which is a different group and had a closer conference, at Wilmington, Del.  There was only one hotel bill of $292.50 which indicates that these employees did share a room with the total bill for the pair for a two day conference at $900.

Calvin Strozier hopped a flight to San Diego for a valuable IT conference and spent a total of $2,237.76  with $285.03 of it going for meals.

Jeff Jackman found a cheapie with the Urban Land Institute and must have used a county vehicle as his only charge was $15 for a meeting in Baltimore.

Land Use and Growth Management’s Junket Club blew $23,946.24 on travel, trips, hotels, meals and “happy endings”, making one wonder if anyone figured this into the fiscal cost back in 1974 when St. Mary’s County’s Commissioners voted to implement a zoning ordinance, hire a zoning administrator and a staff to do the work that one person used to do in an office under the steps in the old courthouse. 

The Finance Department, the county’s bean counters, was far more frugal spending $4,593 for out of county travel for 20 different trips for software end user conferences, and other training seminars.

Apparently figuring out how to help old people in St. Mary’s County has become a lot more challenging than it was when Billy McGaharn used run the agency.  Back then it was getting old folks to come to lunches and putting on dances, getting them to the doctor and taking meals out to them.  Now it appears that spending $2,076 on air fare, $3,723 on travel and $352 on meals for staffers, along with $1,581 for registrations somehow makes geezers more agreeable, old bones less creaky and old ladies less cranky. 

To think the only money spent in the old Office of the Aging back in the 1970’s was on medicine, doctors, meals and Depends.  Now part of the budget is spent on leaving the county. 

The county actually spent $1,744.04 to send the Deputy Director to the National Conference on Volunteering.  They could have saved the money and sent this person to have lunch with Betsy Barley.  Barley could have taught her plenty. Were Marie Dyson still alive, Marie could have let this deputy director help her with the monthly old folks lunch at Holy Face.  Those volunteers never went to a national conference but they know how to help the elderly.  A total for the Office on Aging: $7,733.04 as part of the county’s junket club.

Don’t think that just because the county hires the best and the brightest in the computer trade to run the Information Technology office means that they can actually use their computers to communicate with others about how to do their jobs better.  The Information Superhighway still needs a flight to a sunny location for an “end users” conference for Jeff Edgin at a total cost of $2,373.03 with no funds spent on “other”. Airfare was $570 which shows that Jeff didn’t book his flight with his county IT computer using Travelocity.   He didn’t save on his hotel which cost $1,444.97 but he may have been frugal once, for his meals ran $224.00.  Again, no happy endings.

Bob Kelly, Bill Cease and Sue Campbell all went to the H.T.E. Users Group Conference where IT people and dispatchers all sit around and tell the software makers how they are screwing up.   Total junket costs for IT was $6,568.03, which would have bought some handsome computer equipment for the county.

How much does it cost for people who run the county’s personnel office to go to conferences?  

The Human Resources director, Sue Sabo, spent four days in the warm environs of Greenville, South Carolina last March, just the ticket to shake the rainy cold late-winter days of Maryland and also went to the MACO sunny summer conference in Ocean City at a total cost of $2,232.73.  These taxpayer-supplied vacations are in addition to her designated vacation time.

Karen Gates managed to get away to the same event in South Carolina as Sabo as well as a trip to Arlington, Va. for a total cost of $1,036.86.  The total for this department was $5,314.

While Public Works and Transportation is the big spender in the area of letting staff take vehicles home, given the size of the agency, they are more frugal when it comes to blowing money on out of county or even out of country travel.  A total of $6,515.24 for 42 trips including $40 for County Commissioner Larry Jarboe to eat dinner at a conference where they gave him an award for being a Friend of Transit due to his electric car project at the schools and for riding the bus to Leonardtown from Charlotte Hall.  Jarboe should have paid for his own dinner, who would have paid for his meal that night had he stayed home?  Larry should remember to be a friend of the taxpayer and skip making the public feed him for free.

Public Safety, which runs the 911 center under the command of Dave Zylak, the former Sheriff who was hired by his fellow Democrats to run this agency after he was defeated last year by the voters, given a big raise to more than $110,000 along with his retirement as a deputy and still he bills the taxpayers for his fun trips. The dispatchers attend a conference to discuss with the manufacturer of the computer equipment that the county spent millions on, about its ease of use and reliability.  This year, Zylak went too, at a cost of $1,123.70.  He went to the beach at MaCO too, anything to get away from the rolling pin back at home.

The staff of the Public Safety department appears to have spent money frugally and not often at all with a total of $4,791.04.  The money spent by Zylak would have been better spent sending Tim Bennett to the end users conference. 

Christy Holt Chesser, the county attorney only spent $2,199 as she has twins at home and can’t spend a lot of time going on junkets. Plus she is naturally frugal.

More next week on how they are spending your money.