Commissioners clash over D.C. trip as lame-duck travel limit stalls

A proposal to require a public vote before outgoing Grand County commissioners travel on county money stalled Oct. 6, after a sharp exchange over a Washington, D.C., lobbying trip two commissioners took in late September.

No commissioner made a motion, and the commission took no action. Chair Melodie McCandless said she agreed with “the sentiment of the policy” but was “not gonna vote for it in this form. I’m happy to continue to work on it with you.”

Outgoing commissioners would need approval to travel

The draft, listed in the meeting packet under Commissioner Jacques Hadler, would cover a commissioner’s final 90 days in office, or the time after announcing they won’t return after the next election. County-funded travel in that window would need commission approval at a public meeting and would be limited to trips reasonably necessary for official duties or with “a direct and identifiable benefit to Grand County.”

Hadler said many local governments have similar rules, citing aims such as preventing financial waste and protecting incoming administrations.

As drafted, the rule would apply to Commissioner Bill Winfield, who announced July 31 he would not seek re-election. His term ends Jan. 4.

Two commissioners have spent past their travel budgets

Winfield and Commissioner Brian Martinez met with federal agencies and congressional offices Sept. 28-29 with the county’s federal liaison, Cody Stewart, according to Stewart’s report in the packet.

Through Oct. 1, Martinez had spent $9,154 of an amended $7,774 travel budget, and Winfield $8,122 of $7,500, according to the packet. The other five commissioners’ budgets ranged from $1,000 to $4,500, and none had spent more than $1,000. A draft year-end budget amendment in the packet would raise Martinez’s travel line to $9,154 and Winfield’s to $8,122, matching their spending through Oct. 1. Commissioner Trisha Hedin said those totals, which she said she pulled Sept. 29, do not include the Washington trip. The trip’s cost was not in the meeting packet; Moab Sun News has requested the travel vouchers from County Clerk/Auditor Gabe Woytek, who said Wednesday that his office had not yet received or processed expense reports from the trip.

Hedin said other commissioners did not know about the trip. “We’re just a free for all as far as budgets, a free for all as to what you’re doing when you’re in D.C.,” she said, adding, “I think it’s unacceptable.”

Commissioner Mike McCurdy questioned limiting any commissioner: “Up until the day you are done, you should be out there working for Grand County.”

Martinez said “every commissioner holds the exact same constitutional authority for all four years.” He said he was not completely against the idea but objected to the policy’s “direct benefit” standard and asked whether it had gotten legal review.

During public comment, an online commenter criticized the trip, saying the two had already exceeded their budgets and had apparently not consulted the rest of the commission on priorities.

Winfield says the trip helped advance a uranium-site bill

Winfield said a land bill tied to the Moab uranium tailings site had stalled in Washington and that his, Martinez’s and Stewart’s efforts “helped move that along while we were there.” He said he told the chair and county administration his budget would go over and need amending, which he said can be done through year’s end. He said he had notified the chair, and had notified Hadler “a long time ago,” that they were going to Washington.

Referring to Hedin, Hadler and McGann, Winfield said, “We don’t answer to you. … We answer to our constituents that elected us.”

Stewart’s report says the meetings covered S. 1321, the Moab UMTRA Project Transition Act. According to the bill text, it would transfer the site to Grand County once cleanup is far enough along for the land to be conveyed. In a meeting with Sen. John Curtis and his staff, the report says, there was discussion of moving the bill quickly that week, but because of Congressional Budget Office valuation issues it “will need to be considered in the lame duck session,” meaning Congress’s post-election session.

This story was reported from the Oct. 6 Grand County Commission meeting summary.