The City of Kissimmee has changed its policy regarding spending city funds on travel.
The European Commission voted unanimously on Tuesday to require travel itineraries and preliminary expense reports to be submitted to the Commission before travel is approved. The vote came after Commissioner Angela Eadie placed a discussion item on the ballot regarding off-budget travel. The discussion took up most of the 25-minute committee meeting.
The existing policy was adopted in 2017 and only required board approval to go on such trips if the trip involved appearing or acting on behalf of the city.
Mr. Eady asked for a discussion to clarify that Mayor Olga Gonzalez attended the event in Washington, D.C., and that the mayor said that the federal It said it was to inquire about receiving funding from the government's faith-based community initiative.
“My goal was to get everyone the same age,” Eadie said. “In most cases, someone from our staff will be there to represent us. I would like to see the itinerary and expense report before we leave.”
City Manager Mike Steigerwald said the city often coordinates such trips with its lobbying team.
“A lot of times they like to have elected officials present,” Steigerwald said.
Gonzalez said the visit was aimed at getting time to speak with the director of the federal Faith-Based Community Initiative, which seeks to extract federal funds for local social service agencies.
“We're just trying to get the word out that there are a lot of churches here in Osceola that need funds to help the community,” she said. “So this is about improving our communities and bringing in more federal funding.”
Eadie said she's concerned that the money Gonzalez is trying to raise won't reach the city until next year anyway because the federal budget has already been approved. Steigerwald said the creation of a faith-based fund needs to be a priority for the city, voted on, and will require a significant investment.
Gonzalez said he wants to start a fund to support the church that will be established after he leaves his term-limited position next year, and told Eady he could submit a travel expense report at the April 16 committee meeting. .
“I'll give it to you before you leave,” Gonzalez told Commissioner Carlos Alvarez during the meeting.
