County defends plan expenses

Flathead County officials have rebutted American Dream Montana's allegations of inappropriate spending by the county Planning Office.

The property-rights group lambasted the Planning Office at a public forum Monday night and circulated petitions calling for an independent investigation of the office and Planning Director Jeff Harris.

Among numerous claims that include open-meeting and open-record law violations, American Dream accused planning officials of lavish spending at conferences and alleged misappropriation of public funds.

"I've talked to the Finance Department and they've rechecked" county warrants for payments made, County Administrative Officer Mike Pence said. "Everything they've told me is that the claims are legitimate."

American Dream member Donna Thornton had questioned county spending associated with a planning conference in Bigfork, pointing to what she considered an exorbitant amount for food - $815 - including $60 for s'mores.

"No Flathead County tax dollars were ultimately used to buy s'mores or any other supplies for the 2008 Montana Association of Planners Conference in Bigfork," Assistant Planning Director BJ Grieve said.

Receipts for supplies totaling $222.98 were charged to the Flathead County credit card, and part of those supplies were s'mores for a campfire social. However, the entire $222.98 was reimbursed to the county by the state planners association, Grieve stressed.

Since the six local planners attending didn't stay on the premises, the Planning Office purchased meal packages of $108 each, which included seven meals for the conference.

The county's policy of allowing a $23 daily meal allowance does not apply to meals that are part of a conference, such as luncheons and dinners with keynote speakers, Grieve said.

Flathead County won the bid for the state conference and by doing so brought in roughly 150 planners, engineers and Realtors, generating $50,000 to $100,000 to the local economy, he pointed out.

Thornton also had questioned a $409 hotel bill for Grieve for the event at Flathead Lake Lodge. He said that because he was the chairman of the conference committee and had to spend long hours at the site, he got the OK to stay on-site. He shared a room with a Missoula planner; the $409 bill covered three nights' lodging and his meals.

In response to Thornton's allegation of duplicate registrations for planners who attended the National Floodplain Managers Conference last year in Reno, Nev., Grieve said a clerical error made it seem as if the registration for local planners attending was submitted twice for payment.

In actuality, the two invoices correctly depict the total spent for registration, fees for planners who took the certified flood-plain manager examination and membership fees for the national group.

Once Grieve learned on Friday that Thornton was questioning spending by the Planning Office, he gathered copies of the records and e-mailed Thornton, offering to meet with her. He then called Thornton on Monday morning and offered to go through the warrants with her.

"She declined to talk to me," Grieve said. "She said her attorney had advised her not to talk about [the warrant issue]. When I offered to just explain things to her so she could just listen, she said she didn't have time."

Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by e-mail at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com